P: Restore Import from external catalog over LAN?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

After the update to Lightroom Classic CC on both of my systems I am not able to import from the catalog on the other computer via ethernet. I get an error message that the external catalog seems to be a non valid Lightroom-catalog. On the other computer the catalog works.

I run Lightroom on an iMac and a MacBook. Usually I import pictures to my MacBook to sort and develop them - for example when I am traveling. From time to time I use the functionality "import from another catalog" on my iMac to get the new pictures from the catalog which is stored on the MacBook via LAN/WLAN. In the previous version this was working fine. Since the update to Lightroom Classic CC I see the error message above.

When I copy the catalog and the negative files from my MacBook into a folder on my iMac I am able to import them into the iMac catalog. So the issue should have to do with access via network.

[ChristophvS]

@thomas
How right.
Professional photographies are valuables. If they have to be kept outside my venues, than in a bank save and certainly not on a cloud. the very name of this digital "thing" says how undefined and unstable it is (meant to be).

[ChristophvS]

Eric, there is a step between. I just tested following a bit lesser pain in the ass:
Be connected to my notebook through finder. 
Copy the external catalog as you do.
Open it and search the missing image files on the notebook.
Open the main catalog.
Proceed the import with the now local catalog
The files are then on the main computer with the edits.

I still don't know how to set the image-path to avoid moving the files one more time to have them at the right place in the main structure.

Perhaps, when Adobe, some day, comes back from the cloud, pays analystes and programmer instead of marketing managers and lawyers, we will be able to have:
- several catalogs open at the same time
- the ability of moving and copying from one catalog to another without headache. 
- and by the way, be able to remove, with proper precaution, at least empty folders from the disk structure.

[ChristophvS]

Oops I underestimated The remaining programmers. It works know!
It removes empty folders. Of course with no information to the user at all.
Wy bother?
At least there is a message that the structure and files will be kept when a folder isn't empty. That at least, is even clever.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

What kind of time frame are we looking at for a fix to this issue?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Sunil, what is Adobe planning on doing to fix this? Any time frame?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I to am having this problem.  Sunil is your last comment of ADOBE is not fixing it still standing?  If so what other solutions can you suggest?  

[KarelU]

Hi Sunil,

So from Adobe's view this is a "technical limitation"? Basicly you have removed a feature that was present is previous versions and was a feature that saved me a lot of time in the past! Now I have to export the files needed as an catalog, move it (over the same network!) to my main computer and import it there..

Karel.

[KarelU]

Since the introduction of Lightroom Classic it's not possible anymore to import a Catalogue stored on another computer over a network.

This is very frustrating and results in time loss as I have to copy the catalogue (over the network!!!!) to my local machine and then do an import...

Please put this on your (long!) bugfix for 7.3.2

Karel.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Karel,

Access to catalogs on non-local drives is not supported. If this worked in prior versions of Lightroom I suspect that was a bug and has been fixed. 

Consider adding your request to this thread: https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/multi_user_multi_computer

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hey Rikk,

I'm having a hard time not being angry over Adobe's stance on this issue. It feels like Adobe is more interested in justifying their choices rather than listening to the needs of their users. 

I have to say, I  can't agree with you that this was a bug that was fixed. Lightroom CC Classic broke much more than it ever fixed. Support for import over a network was never a bug. It was a feature added to address the user communities desire for network implementation of LR. 

I can understand why a networked version of LR would be problematic and expensive, as far as licensing for the stepped-up SQL license.  This is why Adobe gave us import catalog as a compromise that was cost effective and offered a stable solution to studios with multiple photographers and workstations. 

I'm not buying this was a "bug" that was fixed and I'm not buying that this can not be resolved. 

Your solution was to send Karel to the black hole of Adobe LR feature requests. We've been requesting a networked version of LR since its creation. We know it's not going to happen any time soon and Adobe knows the same. 

Your development team broke a feature we relied on heavily and has shown how unwilling they are to address the needs of the LR community by passing us off and shading over that this was ever a feature to begin with. 

I'm incredibly disappointed and I have a feeling I'm not alone. Just some genuine honesty from Adobe would go a long way but what would go much further is an inkling of effort in showing Adobe actually cares about this problem and wants to help. 

None of that has happened so far. 

I just don't get it. It seems like your development team is more interested in adding fluff features at the cost of stability and usability. 

If I had a pathway I would switch from you guys today. But I don't. And that's what makes me so angry is you all know that and exploit it. 

It is shameful how Adobe has given up on their professional users. 

[KarelU]

Brandon,

Thanks for your support. If importing of a catalog was a bug and not a feature then I wonder what Adobe regards as a real bug!
It's just a waste of time that I have to copy the catalog over from my Macbook Air towards my iMac and then do an import instead of just import the catalog over the (wired) network. It worked for a long time until Adobe decided to rip out that feature. 

Since LR Classic 7.3.1 it's been dreadful to work with LR.. and I do hope that they update the current version with some serious bug-fixing. Hell... at this moment I don't need new features... Just bug-fix it and do some further speed optimization. A lot of photo professionals (most of them) would welcome an update which allows them to speed up their workflow instead of all the current frustration with new features resulting in (big) bugs in previous well working features.

Adobe... I'm paying a descent amount of $ / € / £ / .. and I'm expecting quality products as a result.

Karel.

[johnrellis]

It would take a just a few lines of code to restore the ability of Import From Another Catalog to access catalogs stored on network filesystems (aka network drives or NAS).

Gory details:

LR catalogs are implemented using SQLite databases. Adobe changed the way LR 7 opens these databases, using SQLite's write-ahead logging (WAL) journal mode. WAL is significantly faster than the default journal mode used in LR 6 and earlier, but it doesn't work with databases (catalogs) residing on network filesystems. Thus, as a consequence of speeding up catalog access, Adobe also disabled the ability of Import From Another Catalog to read catalogs stored on network filesystems.

No one who knows has indicated whether this sacrifice of functionality in favor of catalog performance was thought through ahead of time or was an afterthought.

But there is a simple fix that allows both the use of WAL and importing from catalogs on network filesystems. Normally, SQLite stores the WAL journal mode inside the database itself, and once stored in the database, there is no way for a program to open a database stored on a network filesystem to turn off the mode. But it's a very simple matter for LR to always keep the database in the default delete mode whenever the database is closed, putting it into WAL mode only when it is on a local disk and open.

Right after opening a database, LR would do:

if not pathIsOnNetworkVolume (catalog.path) then 
    do SQL command "pragma journal_mode=WAL"

This provides the desirable performance improvement if the catalog resides on a local disk, but still allows catalogs on network filesystems to be opened. 

Right before closing the database on exit, LR would put the database back into default mode:

do SQL command "pragma journal_mode=DELETE"

With this, the Import From Another Catalog command would once again be able to import catalogs stored on network filesystems, as it has been doing in all versions prior to LR 7.

Now, some engineers with a little knowledge might object that the developers of SQLite warn against accessing SQLite databases over the network, due to deficiencies in some implementations of network file locking. In general, that's a complicated subject as it applies to LR. But for importing from a network catalog, it's a non-issue, since the SQLite warning only applies to writing network databases, while the Import From Another Catalog command only reads the databases.

I tested the feasibility of this solution with MacOS LR 7.3.1, using SQLite to remove to remove the WAL journal mode from a catalog, and LR was able to successfully import from it, just like LR 6.

[Todd Shaner]

No one who knows hasindicated whether this sacrifice of functionality in favor of catalogperformance was thought through ahead of time or was an afterthought.

Given the LR updates bug history I'd have to say with regret it was the latter. John, good analysis of the situation with a viable solution! If Adobe is worried about "protecting" users from potential catalog corruption due to network issues they could offer it as a Preferences option. Adobe could implement a warning popup with reference to potential issues and perhaps a Web link with more details when it's selected. Then it's up to the user to decide yea or nay!

[johnrellis]

Those warnings might be appropriate for allowing LR to open catalogs on network filesystems, but they're not necessary for importing from catalogs over the network. The SQLite documentation makes clear that the problem is faulty implementations of POSIX file locking -- if two processes or threads simultaneously modify the database at the same time, and the locking is faulty, then corruption could occur. But read-only accesses can't possibly cause corruption, regardless of the locking.

[Todd Shaner]

Thanks for clarifying. So there should be no issues with restoring this capability as you've outlined. Hopefully someone from Adobe Engineering is reading this post!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Thank you so much for taking time to share a solution to this problem! I really hope Adobe is looking into this and takes it seriously enough to implement it. 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Any update on a fix for this, Adobe?

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

The issue is still open but I do not have an ETA to share. I have escalated with the team. 

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

The team has carefully reviewed the outstanding issue regarding import from an external catalog over a LAN and will not be making any further changes in current (7.x) functionality or planned future functionality in this regard. Though we realize it may have been possible to do this in previous versions, Lightroom was not designed nor intended to allow the import of an external catalog over a LAN.

Thank you for your patience while we researched this request.

(Note: edited to include versions beyond 7.x)

[garyrowe]

So when will 8.x functionality be available? The idea of a program in this day and age not being able to access a file over a network is risible.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Gary, I've edited the official reply to address future versions so it is clearer. 

[KarelU]

"Though we realize it may have been possible to do this in previous versions". May? It WAS possible. And it's a pity that it was left out. Importing over network is a read-only situation.So corruption of the to-be imported catalog is a no-issue.

Anyway... I hope that in a future Lightroom Classic edition it will be implemented again and I do understand that this function will not be a 7.x feature.

Karel.

[KarelU]

Just giving this thread a bump in order to keep it alive.

Over the weekend shoots on location. Imported the shoots into Lighroom Classic from my camera onto my Macbook. Did first selection and first edits.

Came home and had to export the catalog onto a USB drive, attach the USB disk to my iMac and then import the catalog into my main catalog on my iMac. Waisted valuable time!

Come on Adobe... Untill the release of Lightroom CC we had the possibility to import a catalog over the network. Since the release of Lightroom CC (Classic) this feature was removed and we were told that this was a "bug"...

Please implement the bug again.

Kind regards,
Pro Photographers around the world.

[KarelU]

Bump this thread.
Any news on importing LR Catalogs over network? It has been stated in this thread (and also demonstrated) that importing a (closed) LR Catalogue over network cannot result in corruption as it is being read in read only mode.
Importing over network woud save alot of time for photographers.

Kind regards,
Karel.

[Ian Lyons]

I believe the answer marked as the 'Correct Answer' makes it clear that this particular 'Feature Request' is not planned for.