>I'm also glad it exists but have never figured out how to use it on MacOS
* 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.
This is the correct answer. I actually switched to Linux from macOS partly to be able to run darktable in a more native setting.
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?
Here's a little list of the problems Pace can cause:
http://web.archive.org/web/20071009193327/http://www.paceap....
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.
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.)