Ok, what is your thought on the hook request?

flop25 wrote:

we are currently migrating to github so you also could wait to submit PR then

(that's not done yet, one thing at a time :-)

I'm gently dipping my toe in the water as I think I understand the two design choices, and it leads to a question for me.

Option 1 -- physical structure resembling a simple hard drive where folders = albums, files = pictures, basically 1:1 setup;

Option 2 -- virtual structure where index maps albums and files.

If I understand Serge's point, he prefers Option 1 because it is easy structure to understand, and even upload to because you could upload images, or folders, etc., not unlike say WordPress allows you to upload a plugin and the system just reads the directory and adds to database of "installed plugins". More importantly, backups and replications are easy to do because it's a simple "copy" / download. You could have an images directory and everything under it mirrors your virtual hierarchy too.

If I understand current design, it is more secure and is all about the back-end vs. front end -- a user doesn't care where you stored a file or how it is structured on the backend, it just cares which ones it should show when you access that virtual album. So just as CMS have moved in part away from FOLDER/FILE structures to be more like php?id=2546 to pull up a blog post, the computer maintains an index of which is "next".

Again, if I understand both, both designs are equally valid, and as pwg noted, it's a design choice. However, it leads to my question -- what's the easiest way to do a backup? Serge seems to suggest a physical structure would allow simple backup and regeneration if index is lost, but since we don't have that, it seems I need 2-3 things:

1. Backup option for the actual database (which includes the index);
2. Potentially a backup install of the actual PWG installation or as little customization as possible so future install would mirror; and,
3. Backup of the image file folders in the same exact upload/file structure.

So I think I need #1 to get index and #3 so reinstall would look in the right places? Or regular Exporting?

And at the risk of confusing myself, am I correct that if I use FTP and SYNCH, the physical and virtual would be the same?

FYI, part of my concern is that I've now gone "all in" on Piwigo and don't want to have a crash that I have to recreate everything from scratch at some point, so I'm trying to figure out what I need for proper backup. I feel a little weird with my structure as I have 1500 photos across 121 albums, of which 2 are physical (not sure how or why but they are, must have FTP in early days). Hope that won't make things unstable...

PolyWogg

Piwigo version
        Piwigo 2.7.2

Environment
        Operating system: Linux
        PHP: 5.3.13 (Show info) [2014-12-19 14:23:07]
        MySQL: 5.5.32-log [2014-12-19 14:23:07]
        Graphics Library: External ImageMagick 6.3.3

Database

        1522 photos (first photo added on Saturday 16 August 2014)
        121 albums included 2 physical and 119 virtual (1522 associations)
        12 tags (600 associations)