Re: GSOC 2011

[Peter Kaminski <kaminski istori com>]

Simon,

I think it's a worthwhile project, certainly.  I've dabbled with F-Spot 
as a user, but I don't really use it.  However, if it were 
cloud-enabled, I might be able to make good use of it.

Another option, 3: Use a server-side SQLite 
<http://www.sqlite.org/cvstrac/wiki?p=SqliteNetwork> instead of a local 
SQLite.  Then like #1, synchronize the picture folder on a file-by-file 
basis.  Rationale: I think you want a single master to store the 
metadata.  Once you have multiple copies of it, things might get really 
messed up.

I guess you could get a similar result, and maybe make it even more 
generally useful, by using a remote MySQL instead of SQLite.

And a crazy (but cool) option, 4: use Flickr as the primary image 
store.  Probably with a server-side SQLite to handle metadata, and of 
course, local thumbs and optional synchronizing of local/remote full images.

Pete

On 3/23/11 13:54 PM, Simon Lindgren wrote:

> Okay, so the basic ways to go are:
> 1. Store all metadata inside the image files or as sidecars, and then
> synchronize the picture folder on a file-by-file basis.
> 2. Create a specialized server software to handle the metadata syncing
> and file transfers.
>
> Option one could be tricky to use for implementing some features, like
> adding tags and new versions of photos but it does not require a
> separate server installation, merely a network filesystem.
>
> I think option two would be more desirable from an extensibility
> standpoint, and it could also have some other potential benefits.
>
> So, currently, this is what I think the deliverables of this project
> would be:
>   * Well written protocol specification.
>   * Server implementation of this protocol.
>   * F-Spot plugin to use the protocol and the server.
>   * (If needed) F-Spot refactorings to support the plugin.
>
> The requirements of the protocol would be the ones stated in my previous
> mail (re-posted and slightly rephrased here for clarity):
>   * Support the full range of f-spot metadata (including data supplied by
> plugins (if that is supported by F-Spot)).
>   * Support the full range of operations available inside f-spot (ie.
> create new version, add images, add tags, ...)
>   * Support downloading pre-generated thumbnails for a set of images.
>
> That last requirement may not be very useful, because F-Spot might need
> refactorings before it can download the images on demand, ie the plugin
> might have to ensure that all images exist on the drive all the time.
>
> So, are there any thoughts on this? Is it a worthwhile project?