F-Spot as default for importing photos

[Matt Thompson]

As of edgy, F-Spot has been installed since install, yet gThumb is still being used by default to import photos from cameras.

I feel F-Spot would be a better default choice for this.

F-Sport has many advantages:

 * It is quicker
 * It looks slicker (Important on the new user front)
 * It supports photo touch ups
 * It supports exporting to the web
 * Plus much much more...

[Áron Sisak (asisak)]

However, F-Spot needs Mono, I guess. I am not really sure that it is really faster.
GThumb also support tagging (more exactly: Categories).

I think this issue should be discussed

[Matt Thompson (mattthompson)]

In my experience f-spot runs faster than gThumb, but that might just be me.

I forgot about gThumb categories to be honest, I'll remove that one.

Thanks :)

[Dave Morley (davmor2)]

If that is the case then i think one or the other should be default why have two? There are better email app than evolution but it is the most complete and similar to outlook, which is why it is default. Why are we having such a tough time with a photo app?

[Áron Sisak (asisak)]

What about letting the user choose the one in the Preferred Applications dialog? Actually in Removable Drives and Media Preferences it is now possible to set up the application you like (however not in a very userfriendly way).

I think we should now file a specification about this, it is not a "real bug report" any more. There might be something similar filed already.

[Matt Thompson (mattthompson)]

>If that is the case then i think one or the other should be default why have two? >There are better email app than evolution but it is the most complete and >similar to outlook, which is why it is default. Why are we having such a tough >time with a photo app?

I think we should let the user have the best available by default, and if they want to change to an older application that's their choice.

>I think we should now file a specification about this, it is not a "real bug report" >any more. There might be something similar filed already.

That's true, I'll get onto it when I've got my exams over and done with (tomorrow). If anyone wants to make a start I see no reason why not. :)

[Matt Thompson (mattthompson)]

I've drafted up the spec page: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/change-default-photo-manager

There it is, any critique would be good.

[Mark Stosberg (markstos)]

I also like F-spot better and think it is a better default, although maybe the dependency on Mono makes it too big to fit on the single Live/Install CD.

In any case, the UI in the preference area should be improved. You should just able to select 'Gthumb', 'F-Spot', or "Digikam", and it would apply the right importing command without the user needed to know that technical detail.

[Roshan Shariff (roshan.shariff)]

> I also like F-spot better and think it is a better default, although
> maybe the dependency on Mono makes it too big to fit on the single
> Live/Install CD.

F-spot is already included on the CD, since Edgy I think. Its utility
is diminished, however, because it is not the default app for
importing photos in Gnome. I don't see the point of it taking up space
on the CD if it isn't the default, since Ubuntu is supposed to include
only one "best of breed" program for each task.

[Kevin Dupuy (kdupuy9)]

I agree that F-Spot should be defaulted as importing camera photos. If F-Spot is to be used as the main photo-browsing app, as it seems it is, then importing into GThumb and then importing those into F-Spot is not exactly what I would call 'user-friendly;

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

I heavily object against this in F-Spot's current state. It crashes very often, import into a selected directory does not work (instead it always puts them into ~/Photos), the UI is mostly disabled and thus unusable for me in directory browsing mode, and the directory structure it creates in ~/Photos is anything but sane and manageable (such as ~/Photos/2007/08/03/1234.jpg).

OTOH g-thumb does not 0wn your photos, has an easy and working import, some basic features like lossless rotating and EXIF parsing, and does not crash.

[Roshan Shariff (roshan.shariff)]

On 8/8/07, Martin Pitt <email address hidden> wrote:
> I heavily object against this in F-Spot's current state.

I agree with every one of those objections; that of course makes a
poor case for keeping F-Spot on the CD. The only reason I started
using it is because I thought Ubuntu's endorsement indicated its
superior quality. There's no reason users should have the same
misconception in the future.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the usecase is not the same as an image viewer, it's there to manage a photo collection

[Alexander van Loon (avanloon)]

I agree with making F-Spot the default for importing photos and removing gThumb from the CD. Just let F-spot act as the photo management application and, let Eye of GNOME be used for image viewing. Having two applications for photo management, both F-Spot and gThumb, is unnecessary duplication and a waste of CD space. Sure F-Spot is not perfect, I've filed a lot of bugreports for it on GNOME's Bugzilla, but I haven't experienced the rampant crashing described by Martin Pitt. If people complain about F-Spot so much, maybe we could wait until it develops further, and then review this case again?

[Tim (timothy-malone)]

I think Gthumb should be the default. It is a very mature application that I personally have used off and on for many years without a single problem. F-Spot on the other hand crashes constantly, always in new and interesting ways. I mean, I find that exciting, a sort of adventure. How will F-Spot crash today? Who knows. That is why I use it. However, as a default application it may not be the best as not all users like the adventure of random crashes in basic functions of the application, like importing photos. I do think it has promise and should be kept in the repository though. It shouldn't be installed by default, nor should it be the default application for anything. Really, it shouldn't even be recommended. I do hope that someday soon it is mature enough for every day use, but that isn't the case right now. F-spot does have the cool factor and is a very slick application when it's working properly. Eventually it should be the default, but please make sure it is stable before making it the default.

[Andreas Nilsson (andreasn)]

This is still a issue in Gutsy. Having two nearly identical applications installed by default is just silly. Pick only one to be installed/used by default, the other one is still available in the repositories.
Unlike Tim, I haven't experienced any crashes in f-spot yet. Does it have a lot of crasher bugs?

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

This bug was nominated for Gutsy but does currently not qualify for a 7.10 stable release update (SRU) and the nomination is therefore declined.

According the the SRU policy, the fix should already be deployed and tested in the current development version before an update to the stable releases will be considered. With 7.10 now released, that policy applies to this bug. See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates

The bug is not being closed as work will continue on fixing it for the next release, Hardy Heron (8.04). If the state of this bug should change such that it qualifies for the SRU process, please contact the person who originally declined it and ask them to re-evaluate it. To help improve the state of this bug see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage

[Daeng Bo (daengbo)]

Agreed that we should choose one or the other. It appears that Ubuntu has made the choice to go with F-Spot, so import should be through F-Spot, as well. There's no need to import photos via GThumb (which isn't even on the menu by default), then import again into F-Spot. It's just confusing for the user.

If we choose GThumb, then F-Spot should be removed and GThumb should be added back into the menu.

My vote is for f-spot-import, though.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

F-Spot is the default in Hardy now.

[Daeng Bo (daengbo)]

I read that in the IRC notes. Glad that one got solved.

[wilbur.harvey (wilbur-harvey)]

I would like the option of using GThumb.

I simply want to import the photos from my Canon Powershot G9 into a directory, not part of a photo viewing system. I cannot find a way to do this with F-Spot.

Now when I try to use GThumb it hangs.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

> I simply want to import the photos from my Canon Powershot G9 into a
> directory, not part of a photo viewing system. I cannot find a way to do
> this with F-Spot.

In Hardy I added a "Target directory" selector to the import dialog.

[Vytas (vytas)]

Personally I don't like F-Spot because it offers importing various files (some description XMLs) from camera by default, not only image files

[hemebond (hemebond)]

Just my 2 cents; I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 and I've removed F-Spot and installed gThumb. It's much faster and usable.