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Comment by jseliger | Hacker News Reader

I'm also glad it exists but have never figured out how to use it on MacOS. I believe I somehow imported my entire /pictures folder at some point, producing many thousands of images in a film roll; I just downloaded 4.0.0 and have spent some time trying to figure out how to reset the film roll, or darktable altogether. Or how to create a new library. There's no typical top toolbar on MacOS.

In clicking around, I've selected "add to library," and darktable is now beachballed. CaptureOne will continue to be my default.

(Before someone points this out, let me acknowledge that the apparent problems with darktable are undoubtedly my fault in some capacity and that I'm Using It Wrong, or that I can't properly read the manual, or that I should watch more videos on how to use darktable.)

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  >I'm also glad it exists but have never figured out how to use it on MacOS

Same here. I just downloaded V4 to see if there was any improvement from last time I tried to use it

* Open app, Select 'Add to Library' --> spinning beachball of doom

delete the ~/.config/darktable directory, to give me a clean start...

* Open app. App opens in a weird window the full width of my screen but only half the depth. I try to resize the window. It won't rezise, even though I get resize arrows when hovering over the corner. Finally manage to make it usable by hitting the fullscreen widget.

* Try 'Add to Library' again. This time it allows me to select my photos archive folder. I see there's a tickbox marked 'Recursive' so I click on that as I have subfolders in my photos archive. I can't select the box. Then the spinning beachball of doom starts again...

* Force quit

* Delete app.

Life's just too short to mess about with an app that hangs twice, requiring a force quit, before I've even managed to do a single thing with it.

It's Linux software. Support for other operating systems is an afterthought. You guys have to deal with Adobe, or use a less advanced alternative.

For RAW editing DXO is great and runs native on Apple silicon. Recently bought ON1 and Affinity photos as well so there are other alternatives to Adobe, at least in the processing stage of RAW development.

MacOS supports RAW images as well. I’m wondering if DarkTable could/should leverage it.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212821

Yep. I use the spacebar a lot for that ; )

Does DXO still bundle rootkits (PACE) with their software?

I’m sorry don’t even know what the question means in this context or what pace is.

Google suggests https://paceap.com/ i.e. DRM.

Pace Interlock is the virulent DRM that DxO chose to bundle with all their software – even the trial versions. It's been so long I don't remember the details, but it's far more intrusive than Adobe's license management stuff. Especially in the context of open source software suggesting DxO anything is in poor taste unless they've ditched Pace.

Here's a little list of the problems Pace can cause:

http://web.archive.org/web/20071009193327/http://www.paceap....

> It's Linux software. Support for other operating systems is an afterthought.

This is the correct answer. I actually switched to Linux from macOS partly to be able to run darktable in a more native setting.

> It's Linux software. Support for other operating systems is an afterthought. >>This is the correct answer...

We're not talking non-MacOS [or non-Windows?] -like behaviour here. But the app not actually functioning. So why offer versions for other OSes, if it's Linux only software?

To reset Darktable’s databases, delete the two databases (files ending in “.db”) in the equivalent to ~/.config/darktable on your Mac.

One contains your custom configurations like presets, the other contains info about file locations, ratings, film rolls, etc.

Deleting and reimport takes time when a lot of files are involved, but is my preferred way of handling the changes of large scale file operations.

But film rolls might not be the best way to manage files.

After six years, I found searching the database using tags and Exif data such as camera and date ranges with the collection tool works better for me.

What also helps me is never deleting or moving an image file.

That way the database stays current and I avoid the busy work of file and folder manager.

To put it another way, for me flat search is better than hierarchy navigation.

fwiw - darktable 3.8.1 runs for me on macos 10.13.6 (2011 17" mbp) and macos 10.15.7 (2013 27" iMac). App launch takes some moments on both, but responsiveness and performance is fine+ once running. Imports (without copy) works well enough for me. The *collections* and *film rolls* I've imported from non-local sources (NFS, SMB, ssh/sftp) 'complain' with a strikethrough on re-launch, but the thumbnails and metadata remain present locally even when disconnected.

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