Catalog 'hangs', no photos displayed

[Frederic]

Hi,
I really would like to test PM6+, as I have been using PM for many years, almost daily to manage large collections of pictures. I am currently using PM6.
I have installed both the 2994 and now the 3029 versions of PM6+ on 2 different PC (Windows 10, everything up-to-date as far as I know) and have same symptoms :
PM6+ starts and behaves normally as long as the catalog features are not used.
With version 2994 I have been able to create new catalogs and add pictures. The process seemed to work OK (PC busy for some time).
But I have never been able to have the Organizer displays theses photos: the right par of the screen is empty (except only once on my laptop, then nothing):
 
The button + to add more searching items does nothing also.

When I try to quit PM6+ I have always this popup:

The Catalog System is taking awhile to stop ...
 

And when I try to start it again:

 The Catalog System is taking awhile to start ...
 

I must reboot the PC to start PM with catalog ‘active’.

The symptoms are now different with version 3023: none of the dialog screens ‘Manage catalogs’, ‘Catalogs status’ …. are displayed, (but the Organizer tab behaves as described above).

Could you help me on solving that, if you think this can be helpful for you (something to add in PMDebug.txt ?)
I can perfectly wait for another versions and see if this problem will disappear, but perhaps there is really an interesting problem here …
As a long time software developer I wish you good luck and really hope you will fix all these troubles
Best regards
Frederic

[Hayo Baan]

What is the status of the tasks in the task panel? (lower left of PM main window)

[Frederic]

On PC with 3029 I have been able to display the 'Scan to catalog' form and restart cataloging. After awhile, all tasks green , except 'Catalog Metadat updates' which stays brown and 'Updating 2 of 2, 110 batches remaining'

After, it is impossible to 'Start again' the scan. It seems that the catalog part of PM6 becomes unresponsive

Note: I have always noticed that there were some 'batches' remaining 'for ever', no activity on the PC

[Hayo Baan]

I and others have also experienced catalog hangs like you describe. In my case after quitting and restarting PM one or more times, this resolved itself (you'll likely get a message box stating the catalog takes long, you can press no there and then PM will quit eventually).

Have you already tried quitting and restarting PM?

[Frederic]

Hi Hayo,

It told you that there were always 'batches remaining' in the 'Catalog Metada Updates' task bar.
So I suspected something wrong in the catalog databases, so I have deleted all catalogs, including the 'default' one created automatically.
I have created a new (and only one) catalog, and now scanning goes to completion at least after the first scan (all tasks bars green) AND the Organizer panel is behaving as expected, for sometimes then hangs after the next scan (with batches remaining in Catalog Metadat Updates'.
So the probem is with the metadata update function, perhaps due to something special in my data (mix of pictures NEF, RW2, JPG ...): when there are batches remaining, the catalog hangs

For me, the problem is partially closed (this is a beta version), but I can investigate further if this could be helpful for the development team.

Thank you for your help

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Frederic, yes, I understood there were still lingering tasks. That was the same in my case. What I wanted to know specifically is: does the number of remaining batches go down after quitting and restarting PM? It always did for me (eventually).

[Frederic]

Answer to last question is NO.

In fact I have discovered that the catalog is hanging ('Catalog Metadata Updates' task never ended) when scanning specific pictures folders (I have tried since my first tests to create a catalog on a folder containing around 30 sub_folders each with roughly 1000 photos).

When scaning individually these sub-folders (after recreating a fresh catalog each time), some (most) folders are scanned OK, but at least two of them make the catalog to hang.
So for me obviously I have some files/photos that the catalog does'nt like at all.

So I will play with what I can catalog, and I am ready to help if there is a way to identify what is wrong with my data

Regards
Frederic

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Frederic, thanks for checking this.

Another photographer, Soizic actually found a number of files that consistently made the catalog ingest hang. Upon investigation, I found they had corrupted metadata. Not sure if this is the cause of the hang, but it might be worth a try on your end to see if perhaps this is also the cause at your end. If you have exiftool, you might try its validate function to see if you also have corrupted metadata.

Cheers,
Hayo

[Frederic]

Than you Hayo,
I will do that ... as soon as I will have time, which is not right now. I will keep you informed asap
Regards
Frederic

[Frederic]

Hi Hayo,
I have ran exiftools on one of the folders which is failing (contains 1000 photos + same amount in sub-folder ......)
Only warnings ...
Log files attached (3)

Note: I have added folders one at a time to the catalog, eliminating the ones which make the catalog hangs (alaway some batches remaing in 'Metadata Upates' task bar.)
Now I have a catalog to play with.

Cheers

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Frederic,

While it is not uncommon for files to have some (minor) structural issues (I have those too, all written at the time by faulty software), there could very well be some issues that cause PM to hang at the moment. Could you perhaps share a couple of examples so that the Camerabits team can have a look to see if they can reproduce the issues?

I see a couple of “flavours” of erroneous files, it would be nice if an example of each flavour could be shared.

Thanks!

[Frederic]

Hi Hayo,

I agree with you, but my problem is to select the files causing the trouble, as I catalog whole folders with hundreds of files. These folders are handled without problem with ACDSee Pro, Light Room CC, Bridge and of course PM5/6.

Is there a way to look at some log files ?

I have to find a method (and time !) to pinpoint which file to send to CameraBits

Cheers

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Frederic,

If by log files, you mean the PM log files, you can indeed view them; they are simple text files and are located in the ~/Library/Caches/Photo Mechanic/ folder on a Mac. For windows, the location should be similar (~ is the user's home directory). Look for files called PM.log, dyn.log, and dyn.<x>.log (where <x> is a number).

But since you already ran the exiftool validation, I actually suggest you look in the files you sent; there you can see which ones (most, actually) had some data issues and what type of issue this was. I think a couple of images that have at least some non-minor warnings are likely candidates for the cause of the hang so I'd begin with those.

[Frederic]

Thank you Hayo
I will do that asap

[Frederic]

Hi,

At last, I have found a file which make the catalog hang when scanning... This file is straight (I think) from LR Classic  (Pano). This is not my best picture!

http://dl.free.fr/rq4XSi3dr

Good luck
Frederic