Re:Criteria for Importing

[Matthew Rasnake <matt coffeemonk com>]

Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:49:28 -0300
From: Conscious User <conscioususer aol com>

The mystery here is why things worked before. I know that I'm not
following an expected workflow, but things worked perfectly before
0.8: I could give as the import directory the same directory where
I keep all my pictures, and the import window would only offer to
import the pictures that weren't already in the database.

I have always used the workflow you describe. I never let a photo manager "manage" my photo directories for me, preferring rather to establish my own structure. Then, each time I add new photos to my collection, I either import from the collection's root, or from the specific sub-directory I've updated.

F-Spot has always (in the past) handled duplicate detection, not re-importing photos that already exist in the database. And, since there are obviously options to facilitate this kind of use-case, I fail to see how it could be an "unexpected" one.

My understanding was always that F-Spot checked multiple aspects of the images (filename/path, EXIF creation date/time, file modification date/time, possibly the image data itself) to determine dupes on import. I had always assumed this included the md5sum, but I've never looked at F-Spot's code, so it really is just an assumption.

To be quite honest, I've found it almost impossible to use F-Spot for my photo management since about version 0.7.5 or so... it's been terribly broken in various and different ways with each revision since, which has pushed me toward the (also broken) Shotwell, and finally to Lightroom.

I would love to see F-Spot actually become stable and usable again, as I've determined that I can't switch to Mac OS X in good conscience considering Apple's recent draconian bent, but I'm stuck with Lightroom as my only viable option for a comprehensive photographic workflow.

Still, I appreciate all the developers work on this, and will continue to follow the progress, and try out new versions as they're released.