Catalog Metadata Updates is hanging

[Darrin Zammit Lupi]

Can anyone help out with this?  After updating Photo Mechanic Plus on my iMac, my catalog needed to update itself.  The catalog is stored on my iMac's hard drive, not externally, and Photo Mechanic should take up to half an hour.  But it's been stuck for several hours now and I'm not sure what the hang up is.  Any ideas?  I've tried restarting Photo Mechanic, restarting the Mac.  Doesn't love the problem.  Thanks.

[Kirk Baker]

Darrin,

Can anyone help out with this?  After updating Photo Mechanic Plus on my iMac, my catalog needed to update itself.  The catalog is stored on my iMac's hard drive, not externally, and Photo Mechanic should take up to half an hour.  But it's been stuck for several hours now and I'm not sure what the hang up is.  Any ideas?  I've tried restarting Photo Mechanic, restarting the Mac.  Doesn't solve the problem.  Thanks.

What was the last build that you had used before you updated?  What build are you currently using?

-Kirk

[Darrin Zammit Lupi]

Hi Kirk,
Thanks for your reply.
I updated to Photo Mechanic Plus Version 6.0, build 6245 (14de08a).  Not sure what the previous one was (is there some way of checking?), but I always update whenever I get a notification that there's a new update, so I'm assuming it was the last available one.

[Kirk Baker]

Darrin,

I updated to Photo Mechanic Plus Version 6.0, build 6245 (14de08a).  Not sure what the previous one was (is there some way of checking?), but I always update whenever I get a notification that there's a new update, so I'm assuming it was the last available one.

I'd like to see your Photo Mechanic Plus log.  In Photo Mechanic Plus go to the Help menu and choose "Reveal Support Data..." and moments later a Finder window will come forward with the zipped log file selected.  Use the 'Attachments and other options' link when you're composing your reply to this message and there you'll be able to upload your zipped PM log file.

I'll be able to see the build numbers in the log.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[Darrin Zammit Lupi]

Thanks Kirk,
PM Log zip attached.

[Kirk Baker]

Darrin,

Thanks for the log.  Your last build was 5438 which was released on December 16, 2020.  You missed out on thirteen builds between 5438 and 6245.

That said, I consider it a bug for a catalog update to fail, no matter how old your prior build of Photo Mechanic Plus was.

I'm looking into the issue.

In the meantime, I have noticed that there are a large number of occurrences of the spellchecker failing (the built-in spell checker provided by Apple in macOS).  Are you finding that spellchecking isn't working reliably?

EDIT: I have looked at all of the log data.  I now have more questions/comments:

1) When you quit and restart the app, does the catalog upgrade start spontaneously, or do you have to start it?
2) If you have to start it yourself, before you do so, can you double click on the red Catalog Metadata Updates task and then click on the two "Stop" buttons?
3) Then I'd like for you to turn CATALOG_DEBUG_LOGGING on.

To do so:

Go to the Help menu.  Choose "Edit Debug Settings..."  Then in the window that appears, set the checkbox on "CATALOG_DEBUG_LOGGING".  If it doesn't exist, then create it by entering CATALOG_DEBUG_LOGGING in the 'New debug setting:' field and then click the Add button.  If it isn't already set, set the checkbox.  Then click the Close button and restart the app.

4) Start the Update Catalog Version.  If it fails to complete, please get me the updated logs by repeating the steps in http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=14834.msg73019#msg73019

Thanks,

-Kirk

[Darrin Zammit Lupi]

Thank you Kirk,
Never realised I'd missed so many updates.  That's embarrassing after I said I always keep it up to date.  Weird as I'm supposed to always get an automatic notification when there's an update available, aren't I?  I've had it set to check weekly for that.

Just started off Photo Mechanic again, and the Red Catalog Metadata Updates task shows up, but going into Catalog Management shows it's not actually running, so I've followed the procedure you mentioned.

Still fails to complete, so here's the updated log.

Re spellchecker, I'll have to keep my eyes open for that now that I'm aware of it and try a few tests, see what it does.

Thank you

[Kirk Baker]

Darrin,

Never realised I'd missed so many updates.  That's embarrassing after I said I always keep it up to date.  Weird as I'm supposed to always get an automatic notification when there's an update available, aren't I?  I've had it set to check weekly for that.

I expect that something on your system or network is preventing the application from reaching out and contacting our server to check for updates.

Just started off Photo Mechanic again, and the Red Catalog Metadata Updates task shows up, but going into Catalog Management shows it's not actually running, so I've followed the procedure you mentioned.

You double-clicked on that task and then clicked on the two Stop buttons in the Catalog Status window that appeared?

I will examine the log and get back to you later.

-Kirk

[Kirk Baker]

Darrin,

I need you to get those tasks to stop trying to do their work by stopping them as I have outlined above.

I can see the upgrade to the catalog starting (there are five individual catalog updates in total) and there are no errors in the log beyond the failure of those tasks to complete.  So let's get them stopped first.

-Kirk

[Darrin Zammit Lupi]

Hi Kirk,
I had stopped the tasks before extracting the log.
I'm repeating the procedure, let's see what happens

Darrin

[Kirk Baker]

Darrin,

I had stopped the tasks before extracting the log.
I'm repeating the procedure, let's see what happens

Thanks.  I can see in the log where you stopped the tasks.  But it appears that they continued, correct?  The task stayed red?

-Kirk

[Darrin Zammit Lupi]

Kirk,
Yes, it's still red

[Kirk Baker]

Darrin,

Yes, it's still red

OK, It's looking like something has gone awry with the catalog state database file.  Make sure Photo Mechanic Plus isn't running and then do the following:

In the Finder choose "Go to Folder..." on the Go menu.  Copy and paste the following into the "Go to the folder:" field:

~/Library/Application Support

And click the "Go" button.  Then open the "Camera Bits, Inc" folder followed by the "Photo Mechanic" folder.  Finally, open the "catalog" folder followed by the "state" folder.

There should be a "cat_state.sq3" file in the "state" folder.  Rename it by putting an 'x' at the start of its name.

Then relaunch Photo Mechanic Plus and continue.  If you can send me your "xcat_state.sq3" file, I'd like to investigate it.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[Darrin Zammit Lupi]

Kirk,
Been trying since yesterday to send you the file you requested, tried using a couple of different browsers, and the post just isn't working.  Wondering if this post will, without the attachment.

Meanwhile, Catalog Metadata Updates is now Green/Idle

Should I restart Update Catalog Version or shall I wait till you've investigated the file, once I manage to attach and send it?

Thanks
darrin

[Kirk Baker]

Darrin,

Been trying since yesterday to send you the file you requested, tried using a couple of different browsers, and the post just isn't working.  Wondering if this post will, without the attachment.

There is a limit to the size of files that are posted.  There are other ways to get the file to me.  One would be to use a file sharing service like DropBox where you upload the file and then share a link to the file with me.  The other would be for me to give you the login information to our FTP server and then you can use a FTP client to upload the file.

Meanwhile, Catalog Metadata Updates is now Green/Idle

Good.

Should I restart Update Catalog Version or shall I wait till you've investigated the file, once I manage to attach and send it?

I suggest making a backup of the catalog.pmdb file (you don't need to backup the whole catalog folder).  Then you can try the upgrade.  If it fails, you still have the backup and we can go from there.

You can contact me privately by clicking on my name to the left of this message and use the "Personal Message" link to send me private messages.  There we can work out the details on how to get the file to me.

Thanks,

-Kirk