Re: Roadmap to 1.0

[Daniel Falk <f-spot mbx zapto org>]

Brian J. Murrell wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-05-11 at 01:08 +0000, João Paulo Rechi Vita wrote:
>   
> > Michael Wayne Goodman <goodman.m.w <at> gmail.com> writes:
> >
> >     
> > > A while ago I wrote a patch to allow customization of the directory
> > > structure of imported items, which Alessio Gaeta graciously updated.
> > > http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=329040
> > >
> > > Is such behavior (if not this patch) going to be included in the
> > > import process?
> > >       
> > IMHO, this is the most missing feature f-spot has so far. Keep up the good work!
> >     
>
> I'd argue that true shared/multi-user/machine access to the database and
> photos repository is more in demand than the above.
>   

Probably true, though even designing a spec for that is probably going 
to be difficult.  At least designing one that will be 
one-size-fits-all.  Here are some examples of challenging use cases, 
which should all be accounted for in any sufficiently advanced system:
- Working offline with photos on a laptop, syncing with a home computer 
(which might have been changed by someone else in the meanwhile).
- Working in remote locations over the internet
- Working in the same database as another user simultaneously
> Who really cares how the photos are stored if one is always using f-spot
> to access them?  IMHO, you were not meant to go trawling through the
> structure that f-spot creates and if you need to, for whatever reason,
> then a feature is missing from f-spot.
>
> b.
>
>   

I question whether hiding the photos away is the full intent of f-spot.  
If that were the case it would make it simpler if the photos were put in 
the same place as the database, perhaps even in the database.  It would 
simplify migration and diminish the possibility of people doing things 
like deleting pictures outside of f-spot.

No.  If I had to guess the intent of F-spot based on how it's coded 
today, I'd say that you are definitely meant to be able to trawl through 
the structure.

And I, for one, like it that way.  Let's assume you're right--that if 
you need to trawl through the structure then f-spot is missing a 
feature.  Well fine.  But f-spot will always be missing features.  It 
just always will.  There will always be some cool thing that program X 
is doing but hasn't been integrated into f-spot yet.  Realize that not 
all these features can be used even by calling out to external programs 
by using the "Open with" feature of f-spot.  So if it will be missing 
features, it doesn't make it difficult or impossible for people to 
browse specific photos.  I'm not saying that f-spot makes it difficult, 
and it certainly isn't impossible, but following this philosophy, 
there's no reason it wouldn't be made impossible in the future.

Also, every time someone creates a new web site that presents a file 
upload box for a photo, a user has to trawl through the  directories in 
order to browse to the photo.  If you're as big as facebook, well then 
you get a plugin to make the uploading easier.  But even that is a 
plugin and not an integral part of the app last time I checked.

If a user is truly not meant to trawl through directories, then I think 
you'd have to modify the file browse dialog to support the browsing of 
f-spot photos in addition to browsing one's home directory.  Now that 
would be really cool, but is it practical?