KPhotoAlbum on Knoppix

Whenever I carry some of my photos on CDs to friends of mine, I wish I could use KPA to pick specific photos. Unfortunately most of my friends use Windows, so KPA won't work there.

While Linux live-CDs (like Knoppix) make it possible to boot Linux from CD/DVD, I know of no version containing KPA.

This Wiki page describes a way to have KPA available using Knoppix and how to create it yourself, to adapt it to other live-CD/DVD systems.

Basis of the image

Newer Knoppix versions have a feature to create a image file (e.g. on memory stick) and mount this "on top" of the CD/DVD image. (UnionFS) This makes it possible to add additional software to the packages coming with the CD/DVD. (Without the need to install anything on the computer Knoppix runs on)

I have created a image for Knoppix (5.2) containing KPA 3.0.2 and the missing dependencies. I used the Knoppix DVD which came with Herman CT magazine 7/2007. I hope it also works for other versions as well.

Usage of available image file

• Get the (compressed) image from my homepage: (35 MByte)
• uncompress the image:

bunzip2 knoppix.img.bz2

• copy the resulting image-file to the root-directory of one partition available to knoppix later on. (I put it on my memory stick). Knoppix searches all root directories of all partitions it finds on boot for a file named knoppix.img)
• Boot from the Knoppix CD/DVD
• On boot, Knoppix will ask whether to mount the image it found. The default is not to mount it, so you most agree to this. (The mounting is a potential security risk, because you now rely on the contents not being malicious; If you want to have a look "inside" the image file, have a look at "do-it-yourself" later on)
• After log in, you now can start KPA from the command line. Because it is installed as /usr/bin/kphotoalbum, it should be on the path.
• Enjoy ! There should be all features present (EXIF-DB, kipi-plugins, translations, video) *except* the video preview; sorry I didn't find, what it takes to get this to work. All tips welcome.

Do-it-yourself

How to look "inside" the image file

(Assuming here, /tmpmnt is a directory)

sudo mount -o loop -t ext2 knoppix.img  /tmpmnt

This will mount the image on /tmpmnt. You now can look inside the image. You will find dirs like /etc/network/if-up.d/ (and many more) beside the obvious KPA files. These results from activities of Knoppix, which changed these files, so they ended up in the image too. I tried to get rid of these, but this always destroyed the image. (Tips here also welcome)

Creating your own image file from scratch

I installed mostly from source, because I already had those available. The alternative would be to download most things as installable package, e.g. .deb for Knoppix.

Get the needed files

Get the files and save them on a partition later available on Knoppix. What you need may differ, depending on the version you are using and if you are using a CD or DVD version. I assume that you are familiar with the usual way to compile and install configure-based open source SW.

• sqlite-2.8.16
• libqt3-mt-sqlite_3.3.7-4_i386.deb

For the following see the KPA homepage

• exiv2
• libkexif
• libkexiv2
• libkipi
• kipi-plugins
• kphotoalbum

Create an image file

(The exact steps depend on your Knoppix version. My description here is based on Knoppix 5.2. The titles are back-translated from my German version)

• Boot the Knoppix CD/DVD
• On the KDE desktop click the penguin icon on the KDE bar (second left after the K-icon)
• Choose "Configuration/Install permanent Knoppix-image"
• Confirm message
• Choose the partition, the image will be created on
• Answer the question for encryption with no.
• Enter size for the image (you'll need approximately something between 60 and 70 Mbyte; so 70 MByte seems good) Note: The image now gets created, but not mounted, until the next reboot.

Installing KPA in the image file

• Reboot the knoppix CD/DVD and confirm the mounting of the image file.
• Compile and install sqlite
• Install libqt3-mt-sqlite_3.3.7-4_i386.deb using

dpkg -i libqt3-mt-sqlite_3.3.7-4_i386.deb

• Install the remaining packages in the order
  • exiv2
  • libkexif
  • libkexiv2
  • libkipi
  • kipi-plugins
  • kphotoalbum

Now KPA should be working and installed in the image. (You might need additional packages, depending on your version) Next time just the image file is needed, as described above.