Ansel, a photo organizer software for linux

Software
8

I’ve just tried to start ansel but got this error:

$ ./ansel 
A JavaScript error occurred in the main process
Uncaught Exception:
Error: libraw.so.9: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I’ve installed all packages with:
$ sudo apt-get install libudev-dev libraw-dev

But I think I’ve a to new version:

$ locate libraw.so
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libraw.so.10
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libraw.so.10.0.0

Could could perhaps document the version you need?

9

Hi @Tobias,

can you tell me what linux distribution you are running?

Have you tried installing libraw9 or libraw10?

sudo apt-get install libraw9

or

sudo apt-get install libraw10

10

Hi,

I’m using Ubuntu 15.10 (latest) and it only has libraw10.

$ apt-cache search libraw
libiec61883-0 - an partial implementation of IEC 61883
libiec61883-dev - an partial implementation of IEC 61883
libraw-dev - raw image decoder library (development files)
libraw-doc - raw image decoder library (documentation)
libraw10 - raw image decoder library
libraw1394-11 - library for direct access to IEEE 1394 bus (aka FireWire)
libraw1394-11-dbg - debugging symbols for libraw1394-11
libraw1394-dev - library for direct access to IEEE 1394 bus - development files
libraw1394-doc - Reference manual and documentation about libraw1394
libraw1394-tools - library for direct access to IEEE 1394 bus (aka FireWire)
digikam - digital photo management application for KDE
libkdcraw-data - RAW picture decoding library -- data files
libkdcraw-dev - RAW picture decoding library -- development files
libkdcraw23 - RAW picture decoding library
libkdcraw23-dbg - RAW picture decoding library -- debugging symbols
libraw-bin - raw image decoder library (tools)
librcc-dev - Library for autoconvert codepages development files
darktable - Virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers
11

You need to install libraw10

12

I have libraw10 installed, you are lokking for libraw.so.9 and not libraw.so.10. Have a loook at the error message is posted.

13

Hey @Tobias,

I’ve poked around with Ubuntu 15.10 in a virtual machine.

Right now it seems I can’t compile the node.js libRaw bindings against the libRaw version shipped in Ubuntu Wily.

So for now, I can’t get Ansel to run on Ubuntu 15.10.

14

Hey @m0g,

thanks for the work. I hope you can find a solution. Perhaps you can add a build flag to disable the libraw functions. That would make Ansel less useful, but I could at least play with it.

15

Non-destructive infers that the original data will not be touched … If you are not using ‘sidecar’ XMP files how are you tagging?

16

Since you deliver a 60mb (I assume) statically compiled binary anyways, couldn’t you just statically link in libraw too?

17

@davidvj all the relevant information (including versioning) are stored in a SQLite database. In future releases, I want to be able to read the tag from the XMP as well as to write them.

@Jonas_Wagner I have been working on it in the past. But I couldn’t manage to get node-gyp to properly compile and link the library: GitHub - m0g/node-libraw at batteries

edit: typo

18

Regarding XMP and other metadata, check out the MWG Guidelines. Following those is critical, I think, for any management application.

19

Hi m0g,

I what ways will Ansel differ from the capabilities of DigiKam as a DAM, which is what I am using currently?

20

Hey @Gewitty,

Ansel is more thought as a replacement for Shotwell. I was just growing tired of all the crashing and the general slowness.

Considering Digikam I never really bothered to really try it. Maybe the UI is a bit confusing or it simply takes time to understand it.

The things I am really interested into, and that Ansel currently supports are versioning and diff view.

1366×744 377 KB

Another feature to come is collection (like in Lightroom), but I haven’t worked on it yet.

So both Shotwell & Lightroom are a source of inspiration.

But then honestly, the best way to make yourself an opinion is to try it.

For @asp and @davidvj, I have started working on the XMP tag import using exiv2

21

I agree that Shotwell is a bit unexciting. But take a close look at digiKam, which has many of the features you mention, including Light Table and diff view. I use this as the primary app for my workflow, with GIMP for heavyweight image manipulation. Between these two I get pretty much all the functionality I need, although I also use Hugin for panoramas and Luminance HDR when necessary.

Good luck with the development. I’ll certainly give it a go and keep an eye on progress.

22

@m0g Hello, any progress/changes?

1 Like
23

Still working on it.

Have you had the opportunity to try it?

24

Not yet. I’m not on Ubuntu, I’m on Arch Linux and I don’t know if it will work straight.

25

If you are familiar with node.js, I would suggest you build the app from the source.

26

I don’t even know what it is…

27

Just a little update, I’ve released ansel v0.3.0

In this new version, the various C++ libraries upon which Ansel is built are now bundled within the app. This will increase the overall payload but also ensure that Ansel will work on various Linux distributions.

Reading XMP tags in photos is now possible thanks to the exiv2 library.

Please feel free to test the application with the provided binary and don’t forget to open a GitHub issue if something isn’t working as expected.

@sguyader I’ve tried with the latest binaries and it works on Manjaro linux (arch linux based).

Thanks

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