[solved - parial] f-spot crash on start

[Algeorge]

Hi typically this happens when you have imported some pictures you will come back to f-spot and it will open, then crash.
I found the solution elsewhere, but the problem keeps occurring, this is just a temporary workaround, also there is a bug report in at Ubuntu so it will be resolved eventually:
#in term

Code: Select all

cd ~/.config/f-spot
cp photos.db photos.db.incaseiwannarecover
sqlite3 photos.db "select * from photos where time < 0;"
sqlite3 photos.db "delete from photos where time < 0;"

Term may ask you to install sqlite3 which you do, its a small install. Once done the last two lines can be run again and presto.

Well worth doing I am impressed with f-spot it has a basic but smart interface.
Alistair.
PS this was reinforced on another machine once many photos are being imported the db gets screwed up and it wont start (at least on f-spot .8.0

[Algeorge]

F-spot is good, but the instability problem continues, which has elsewhere been attributed to Mono code.

A major problem I found with both softwares were their date parsing of the photo collection. With incorrect EXIF information, they both sort pictures into EXIF date. This causes common problem which could be resolved by having a date Tool within the program which allows a bunch of wrong dated EXIF files to be changed to their Modify date, or Creation date.
The date problem is caused by older cameras which require a battery to hold the date, rather than a charge capacitor in new cameras, which lets the battery be changed without effecting the correct date.

Personal preferences:
Shotwell has a 'Photos' icon on the left tree which enables all pictures in the right pane. Very similar to F-spot in default browse mode, but IMHO, better as below that you can pick any date range out of the tree. However, I do like the date slider that F-spot implements as well; it would be nice if the same feature was in Shotwell in 'Photos' mode which scrolled through the Photos page to the set date range.

Shotwell seems to have as many, if not more options as F-spot, but the interface seems more user-friendly than F-spot.

F-Spot has a better changes to picture history; it allows you to revert back to several changes of the same picture. Shotwell allows you to revert back to original only.

Shotwell has a sendto function for email which did not work for me until I applied a script to Nautilus. This is not Shotwell problem, its Gnome/Linux Mint.

Speed and stability. Using F-Spot V.8.0 and Shotwell .8.1 Shotwell wins hands down. I have posted elsewhere about F-Spot crashing when importing pictures. Many others mention this too, and it keeps happening even after a known 'fix'. F-Spot uses Mono which seems to be a more cludgy programming language than Vala; which I have never heard of before, but it works very well under Gnome.

I'll keep updating this post, but at this stage I would give Shotwell
http://www.yorba.org/shotwell/
8 out of 10
F-Spot
http://f-spot.org/
6 out of 10.
Cheers,
Alistair.