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which photo organizer / catalog software are you using to organize your digital photos under linux?
I'm using gthumb but if there is any better i will change... i don't like that information about photo comments and catalog are stored in text files in absolut paths, so I can't change file location on disk

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A brief, practical update (2025) to the old discussion: ’s concern about gThumb keeping catalog/comment files that break when you move photos is valid — gThumb keeps catalogs under your user data (for example ~/.local/share/gthumb/catalogs), so moving or renaming folders can leave those catalogs orphaned. For long-term portability the key is to store captions/tags/ratings in standardized metadata (embedded EXIF/XMP or XMP sidecar files) rather than only in an app-specific catalog. (discourse.gnome.org)

Which tools to consider now (short): digiKam — full-featured, actively maintained, supports databases and reads XMP sidecars so it can populate a new library from sidecars/embedded metadata. (good for large collections and advanced tagging). (docs.digikam.org)
Shotwell — simple GNOME-focused importer/organizer for straightforward workflows. (shotwell-project.org)
darktable — non‑destructive RAW-focused workflow that also manages image metadata and uses sidecars; choose this if RAW editing plus cataloging is the goal. (darktable.org)
PhotoPrism — modern, self‑hosted web library (Docker) with powerful indexing/AI search — good for server/NAS setups. (photoprism.app)
Note: F‑Spot and Google Picasa are legacy choices (F‑Spot is effectively abandoned; Google retired Picasa), so prefer current projects above. (en.wikipedia.org)

A short migration recipe (always backup first):

  • Inspect a sample file’s metadata: 
    exiftool -G -a -s IMG_0001.jpg
  • Create XMP sidecar files for a tree of JPEGs (safe first step): 
    exiftool -ext jpg -o %d%f.xmp -r /path/to/photos
  • Point digiKam (or another manager) at the top-level folder; it will read XMP sidecars to populate its DB. (exiftool.org)
  • To write sidecars back into files (after testing): 
    exiftool -tagsFromFile %d%f.xmp -all:all -overwrite_original -r /path/to/photos

    Try the commands on a small subset first, confirm results, and keep a full backup until satisfied.

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Member Avatar for mepnoob2005

which photo organizer / catalog software are you using to organize your digital photos under linux?
I'm using gthumb but if there is any better i will change... i don't like that information about photo comments and catalog are stored in text files in absolut paths, so I can't change file location on disk

Hello,
I use digikam it is easy to use and easy to make albums.It's good for fixing poor color and lighting,red eye,etc.It came with mepis but I'm sure you can get it from apt-get or synaptic ,kpackage,etc. May as well just try mepis.I use simlpyMepis 3.3 2004 issue.I like it better than the latest mepis.Less bugs and more stable.It does everything that I want so why change?...have fun...k
:) :)

Member Avatar for pty

i know this reply is late but f-spot is fantastic

Member Avatar for bakss

what about picasa2 of google

Member Avatar for Member #2466

I have to second f-spot. It's spot on.

Member Avatar for SLM-Manu

Google Picasa is Good one. Give it a try.

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