A bash script to convert the directory tree and image files created by iphoto in to a flat single directory. This is useful for people who no longer use iphotos, and want to more easily view their old photos on a Linux computer. It copies the old files in to flattened version of the directory tree structure created by iphotos. It gives each file a unique name based on it's location in the original directory structure.
If the input source directory contains directories and files like this:
./pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Masters/2014/11/23/1234/birthday.mov, ./pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Masters/2016/03/16/1234/barbecue.jpg, ./pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Masters/2017/09/03/1234/beach.png
This script will output the following in to the destination directory:
2014-11-23-1234-birthday.mov, 2016-03-16-1234-barbecue.jpg, 2017-09-03-1234-beach.png
./convert_files.sh by default (Meaning no source or destination directory arguments given) is run in test mode. Test mode will create a 'Masters/' directory and a 'converted_files/' directory in the current working directory. 'Masters/' will contain 4 folders, with 5 jpgs located in the end/bottom directory of each. Test will then copy/rename the 20 files over in to 'converted_files/'.
I recommend you try out the test mode first, to make sure it works the way that you want it to.
-
Clone the repository locally to your machine.
- Open up terminal
- Go to desired directory e.g.
cd ~\myNewDirectory - Enter in
git clone https://github.com/ryanpaixao/iphoto-dirtree-to-flat-tree
-
Go into newly cloned repository's directory
- Enter in
cd ./iphoto-dirtree-to-flat-tree
- Enter in
-
Run the convert_files.sh script in the default test mode
- Enter in
./convert_files.sh- A prompt will appear asking if you want to run it in test mode.
- Enter in
y
- Enter in
-
Check that the test mode created the source directory 'Masters/' and the destination directory 'converted_files/'
- Use
lsto see that both directories are present - Enter in
cd ./Mastersto check 'Masters/' directory contains 4 directories - Enter in
cd ../converted_files, and see that there are 20 files present (created from 4 different folders containing 5 files) - Return to the parent directory by entering in
cd ..
- Use
-
Once you have check that test worked sucessfully, run the convert_files.sh script. Make sure to supply it with the source directory location and the destination directory location.
- The source directory should not be a sub-directory of iphoto's 'Masters/' directory. For this to work you have to specifiy the exact location of 'Masters/'.
- e.g. If source is './my/old/source/directory/Masters' and the destination is './my/new/destination/directory' then you would use the command:
./convert_files.sh ./my/old/source/directory ./my/new/destination/directory
-
Check your destination directory. All you files should be there, copied over, and renamed!!
- Fix space character in dir/file name issue.
- Add error handling. Add LICENSE.
- initial version
Before the copying process starts, a 'convert_files_error.log' file is created with the time and date at the top of the log. If an error occurs during the copy process, the source and destination paths/name will be recorded in the log. Check the log after the copying is finished.
- If you attempt to run
./convert_files.shand you get an error message saying "Permission denied", do the following:- enter in
sudo chmod 755 ./run_first.sh- You will have to enter in your root password
- enter in
./run_first.sh- The scripts should now have full permission to run
- enter in
- If you're still getting "Permission denied" messages, try running
sudo ./convert_files.sh. It's possible that your source directory requires higher permission levels to have the files copied.