I need to revert to dt 4.0 to get some work done before I repair my dt 4.2 from crashing on start-up. I found a very clear post on how to revert from @kofa that helped me locate my back-up files. He said to copy the back-up files of the dt version you want and past them into the data.db and library.db. Perfectly reasonable. But where are they located? I have been unable to locate an such file- only back-up files. I am clearly not looking for the right name in the right place… I’m running dt on Windows 10.
I have been following this forum for 3-4 years and want to compliment all the users for making and keeping it such a great place to learn about dt. The software is remarkable and the responsiveness of developers to problems and requests is simply unbelievable. I also must observe that without this forum, it may well be impossible to learn how to utilize many of the more hidden possibilities that dt contains. @s7habo’s videos are all remarkable in both their creative approach and their clear presentation. Without the additional discussion on how to apply his approach to other situations or how to solve certain problems, much of the potential learning would be lost. Thanks to everyone for their posts!
Thanks for your reply!
Yes, they are there, just not with the .db file extension.
I have installed dt 4.0.1 but when I copy/past data.db-pre-4.0.1 and library.db-pre-4.0.1 into data.db and library.db I get a file named “data.db-pre-4.0 - kopie.1” and similar for “library.db”. This does not work…
Is there a special cut/paste procedure? Must I delete files after 4.0.1 for dt to find the correct file to load? How can 4.0.1 know not to load say, 4.2?
Ok- you are getting points for making good suggestions!!!
But I still get kopies when I cut/paste. When I copy/past data.db-pre-4.0.1 and library.db-pre-4.0.1 into data.db and library.db I get a file named “data.db-pre-4.0 - kopie.1” and similar for “library.db”. This does not work…
Is there a special cut/paste procedure? Must I delete files after 4.0.1 for dt to find the correct file to load? How can 4.0.1 know not to load say, 4.2?
Just rename them after copying. Or, first rename data.db to data-42.db, and library.db similarly, then do the copying.
Windows used to prompt users whether to overwrite or to create a new copy, that that has changed, it seems.
If you were familiar with Norton Commander in the ‘good old (DOS) days’, try the free file manager MultiCommander. Even if not, I think a good Commander is worth learning.
Thanks for the tip on MultiCommander! I sure do remember the DOS days and they were not pretty! I complain all the time that I cannot understand what knowledgeable computer wizards are doing these days but don’t let anyone suggest going back to the “good old days”…
I have renamed the data.db file as described but I cannot paste into it. Same with the library.db. I just get another copy. I have about 4 copies .db 4.0 now but no working dt!
Thanks for your example! I makes perfect sense. I have tried it and dt says it is updating its data base and it could take along time… so I’m waiting. But seems to have solved my problem. I’ll have wait and see! Thanks!
I know it wasn’t your request but personally I would have just installed the latest version as it is the most refined yet… Install it in its own directory… run it so that it uses a configdir that you specify for the install and just import the files that you need to work on and then gradually migrate up… 4.42 has fixed so many little issues that were quite irksome in those older versions that I think this would be very easy and worth a try…
Hi Todd-
The idea sounds interesting to me. It would then be a “self-contained” version. I’m not sure how to implement it. Would you open a new folder to put the install into when the installer asks where to install? Where would you put it in my Windows 10 file system? I must confess that I don’t know how to specify the configdir. I would be willing to work on it because it sounds like a more contained system for controlling problems!
Okay so you are on windows… Not too hard when you run the installer then you just make sure that you edit the directory to something like DT442 or your choice but change it from c:\ProgramFiles\darktable… and don’t uninstall the other version when it asks… Then you just need to create a shortcut for this one… so go to the bin folder in the new folder you make …ie in this case ProgramFiles\DT442\bin\ and right click to make a DT short cut… No just edit the properties of this shortcut and add to the run line --configdir “path” and create a new folder. It can be wherever you like and subst it for where I used the word path…so use the quotes and the directory named…
Dt will run the new version and create a database etc in the new folder… Just be careful. The edits once made won’t likely work in the older version. I don’t think you will need to go back if all this works well so that may not be an issue… You could just in the file system copy a few files to a directory with their xmp files and try things out with them…
If all goes well and your old version is corrupt or possibly compromised then you can just import all your images into the new one once you are happy that it is working …
Ya in the end you are basically telling DT to install in its own directory not the default one where your current version is and then to use a non default location for the config files … so its pretty easy to do you just have to know that edits once updated are a lot harder to go back than forward…
You may want to also disable writing xmp sidecar files in 4.4, as files from 4.4 will not be readable by 4.2. Those files are next to the input images and cannot be kept separate.
Ya that is why I said try it on a few copies first to see if it was worthy solution… Then I think he could just commit to the upgrade and upgrade all the current xmp files… but maybe that was not clear… your extra step would protect those files from an accidental access that would prematurely invoke that maybe on the whole library so its a good precaution…
