Since v4.1, any media added to Gramps has had a checksum automatically generated. The Media Verify Tool stands a good chance of finding these files and fixing the paths.
Files that have had their checksums changed after being added to Gramps will not be found. For example, you may have edited a file or replaced it with a different version.
OK, this is nice, if it works, because the wiki page suggests otherwise here:
You should run this after you have added or changed any media files.
And I believed that.
So @Allan can you check if the Verify button gives you a list of files that were moved, and can be fixed? If they exist, you can see those in the Moved/Renamed Files tab.
I would be happy to do so. If only I could install Media Verify.
I think it makes sense to let Gramps look after the deployment. And the Plugin (which I’m assuming Media Verify is) Manager lists ten with Media in their titles none of which is verify.
And I have looked for it elsewhere.
Call me stoopid but where is it?
I never install add-ons with the plug-in manager, but always use Preferences to install the latest:
This is the dialog as it looks in 5.1, but yours will probably be quite similar. Clicking the Check button at the botton shows all new and updated add-ons, and I often simply select all, so that I can figure out what they do later.
After installation, you will see a Media Verify entry in the Tools/Utilities menu.
@Allan You may need to uncheck the Do not ask about previously notified addons.
O.K. Happily, finally, that worked. Thank you(s). Unchecking ticked.
Verify gives a list of “missing” files - veracity assumed. But, surprisingly, and worryingly, only some NOT all the files in a sub-folder (e.g Media/Births). I don’t understand how that could be possible.
So, again assuming the veracity of the output, I think I have two options.
1 for me to find the missing files and put them where Media Verify thinks they should be
or
2 let “Fix” (try to) deal with it and, I imagine, end up with a hard to manage list of potentially many paths (rather than the one path I (think I) would like to have).
Difficult choice?
If the checksums do not agree, what Gramps stored when you first added the media record and the raw file (you edited the image), Verify will list it as missing but also as an additional file not yet added to Gramps.
The Fix option is one of Verify’s best function but only works in one scenario. If Verify lists a record as either moved or renamed, Verify will update the path field so everything agrees. In this scenario the checksums must agree to make this happen.
My Census folder was becoming unwieldly, so I split the files into folders by country/state and in some cases additionally by year. Because the checksums agreed, Verify found all the files and updated their Gramps’ records.
Difficult? Maybe yes, so you may need some time to draw up a plan.
Here are a few things to consider:
If the Verify tool thinks that a file is missing, it will scan all files withing the base path and subdirectories to find one that has the same checksum. And if that works, that file will show up in the Fix tab, or whatever that’s called in English. The consequence can be that a strategically chosen base path may result in more fixable files. Changing the base path when you have media with relative paths may not be a good idea however.
If you have many media files that are registered as in path A, and now are in path B, as can happen when you move or rename directories, you can use the media manager to do a search and replace of directory names. That often works if you can find a string that’s specific enough.
If you have older backups with media, you may find that they still have the files in the right place. The tree data in those backups may be too old, but it’s quite likely that you’ve only added media over time, so the old media files can still be valid.
Can you gives us some numbers, like how many media files you have now, how many are missing, or have moved? And how many backups are there?
And did you already make a choice about which (restored) backup should be promoted to be your actual work tree?
I have Gramps back ups but can’t claim to have many Media back ups given my erroneous assumption that they’re not subject to change.
There’s about 6,000 media files. Unfortunately Media Verify doesn’t give a count of the MIAs (a future enhancement perhaps?) but for sure it’s many hundreds.
I think I want all of them to be in one place. So I’ll try moving the missing that I can find.
Is there an attribute that could be searched for a failed Preview thumbnail?
If there was, it would certainly give the count.
And users could export the view to a CSV as the worklist. Which could be used to generate a batch file for moving files too.
OK, I hoped that you had some old (and large) backups with media in their original place, i.e. before you moved them to specific sub-folders, like that Media/Births. That way, you could generate missing checksums, and then run the verify process again on a tree with moved files.
Missing files are quite easy to count, if you use the Export button in the Verify dialog, and look at the text file showing the missing files, and the extras.
So, via Media Manager substring replacement, I changed the errant paths.
I moved all the media files I could find to newly referenced folder.
I ran Media Verify > Verify and found it still listed a bunch of problems.
I checked some of these randomly and found the files where they were supposed to be.
I ran Media Verify Fix and it did not appear to change anything on the list.
I then tried to open files on the Gramps Media tab - and found EVERY ONE of them is missing.
I’ve closed and re-opened Gramps a couple of time and nothing has changed.
I’ve been a bit paranoid about having a Gramps data base program disaster. It now would appear justifiably so.
Assuming that your 4.2.8 is not that different from my 5.1.6, this looks like there is a major oversight in the process, which is quite hard to see without a real life example. Can you give such a thing?
What I mean is, that if you have a base path, I’d like to see what it is, and I also like to see some lines from your media tab. And if you’re sure that your media are in the right place, a screenshot of Nemo showing some files, and their full directory path.
And just to make sure: What types are they? JPEG?
Looks like I don’t need to do that.
Subsequent to my last post I was aimlessly, mindlessly pushing buttons, opening and closing Gramps and whatever … and suddenly I was presented with a new list of missing files. A listing of pairs of files separated by “->”. For the first time! And so I tried “Fix” again. And it worked!! Everything is back to “normal”.
My take on this is that Media Verify is a bit flaky. A less generous take would be that it’s me that deserves that characterization.
But whatever the case, finally the issue is resolved. Thanks to Enno, emyoulation, DaveSch and Nick-Hall for their knowledge, assistance and patience.
I tend to agree. Once it did what I needed it to do I lost interest.
It could do with someone to have another look at it.
And as user I don’t blame you, because I don’t need it that much. And on my system it works well for pictures, in the rare cases that I move those.
I do see a problem with PDF and DOCX files, which are reported as missing, even though they exist, and are not reported as missing by Check & Repair.
I’m glad that it finally worked, also because I was running out of clues here too.
Just one question left: Is there a reason why you’re still using Gramps 4.2.8? I’m running Mint 21.3 here, and the software manager has Gramps 5.1.5 available for direct installation, and even 5.2.1 if you accept Flatpaks. You can also download 5.1.6 from our site as a Debian package.
Yup, there’s a reason. Some apathy - and a dash of some more of that paranoia.
I’ve been more than happy with 4.2 for, as you will surmise, a VERY l-o-n-g time. And have had neither the need nor the desire to upgrade/date it.
Added to which also some nursed Murphy’s Law syndrome. If anything can go wrong (in the upgrade process) it probably will.
Once again thanks for all the help.
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