After 2.5 years of development and triple the code of version 0.4.11, the first beta of Rapid Photo Downloader 0.9 is released.

Unlike the previous alpha releases, all the features that are going into the 0.9 release are now included. No new features will be added until after 0.9 is released.

What’s needed now is for people to test it and help ferret out any problems. If you’re able to help, please do!

Error reports

The primary new feature is the error report window. It’s one of those things you don’t need until you really do need it. Error reports are now grouped by task: scanning a device, copying from a device, finalizing download subfolder and file names, and backing up. For example:

Furthermore, reports now contain hyperlinks to the files on the filesystem and/or cameras, allowing easy access to them using a file manager:

In the screenshot above I’ve clicked on the hyperlink of the existing file.

##Other new features

Improved install.py script, adding openSUSE and the Fedora derivative

Korora to list of supported distros. Moreover, the script now installs

all program requirements without having to be manually restarted.

A message dialog window is now displayed if back ups will not occur or if

the download destinations have a problem.

Added ‘Program Warnings’ section to the preferences dialog window.

Optimized icon sizes in dialog windows.

Check for new version using secure connection.

Added an option to issue a warning if a file type unknown to the program is

found on a download device.

Added an option to program preferences dialog to ignore DNG date/time

metadata when downloading from MTP devices (like cellphones and tablets).

When it is ignored, the DNG file’s modification time is used instead. Many

(if not all) Android 6 and 7 devices create bogus DNG metadata values.

Since the first alpha release, by default the program ignores the DNG

date/time metadata when downloading from MTP devices.

Changed the count that appears above the program’s icon when running on the

Unity desktop to show how many files are checked for download, instead of

how many new files are available for download.

Fixed a bug where device scan would indicate a device was empty when the

preference value ‘Ignored Paths on Devices’ contained no paths to ignore.

Fixed a bug where opening a file on an MTP device in a file browser would

sometimes fail when the storage name component of the path was incorrectly

identified.

Fixed bug where the case of the extension for XMP files, THM files and WAV

files was not matching file renaming preferences.

Unusual bugs

Two bugs I’ve never been able to replicate:

A bug that seems to be related to reading the metadata of certain Fuji cameras: