[Shotwell] deleting photos : confusion + gimp integration

[Lucas Beeler]

> Ive been using shotwell quite a lot the
> past week or so. A nice solid alternative.

Thank you!


> Could someone explain in detail the delete
> photo and subsequent "empty waste basket"
> operation. This isn't overly clear.

You're not the first person to point this out. Indeed, we at Yorba think
that the whole thing could be clearer too -- we even have a feature request
on this topic here: http://redmine.yorba.org/issues/2645.

First, a few things to keep in mind. Shotwell has the notion of a "library
directory," which is the folder on disk where the photo files in Shotwell's
library are stored (provided you selected the default "Copy to Library"
option when you imported the photos). Second, Shotwell has its own
Wastebasket that is separate from the system Wastebasket. When you select
some photos in Shotwell and then press the "Delete" key on your keyboard,
the photos are moved to Shotwell's private Wastebasket. While the photos
change locations within Shotwell, the location of the photo files on your
hard disk does not change. In particular, Shotwell does not move the photo
files into the system Wastebasket on your desktop. The photo files stay
right where they were -- in your library directory. Now, let's say that
after a few hours of using Shotwell, you've reached the point where you're
really, really, terribly sure that you do actually want to delete the
photos in Shotwell's private Wastebasket. In this case, once again,
"delete" means "delete from Shotwell" and not "delete the actual photo file
on disk." To do this, in Shotwell, you switch to the Wastebasket page and
click the "Empty Wastebasket" button. At this point, you will have deleted
the photos from within Shotwell, but this says nothing about what happens
to the actual photo files on disk. So Shotwell asks you "Do you want to
move the file(s) to the system Wastebasket?" This question pertains to the
photo files. If you say yes, the photo files will be moved from your
library directory into the system wastebasket. If you say no, the photo
files will stay put in the library directory. Either way, the photos will
be deleted from within Shotwell.


> In addition, is there any ongoing integration
> of Gimp? If I can see a jpg and there is a
> correspondingly named xcf in the same
> directory I would like to be prompted to
> open the xcf file with Gimp.

There are no immediate plans to more closely integrate Shotwell and Gimp.
But if you turn on library monitoring, you can get most of what you want
from Shotwell. In particular, if you open an XCF and then export it from
Gimp as a JPEG, writing it over an existing JPEG that Shotwell manages,
even if Shotwell didn't launch Gimp for you, Shotwell will detect that the
JPEG has changed and re-import it.

Regards,
Lucas