picurl-client Command-Line-Interface

  1. picurl-client Command-Line-Interface
    1. About Stores in picurl
    2. Accessing & Configuring a store
    3. Getting information from a store
    4. Copying and purging stores

Currently, all picurl-client functionality can only be accessed via command line under a Linux/MacOS X shell or a DOS box under Windows.

About Stores in picurl

picurl refers to media or services that host/save your photos as store. Currently, picurl can access photos hosted on the following stores:

  • hard disk folders
  • FTP Servers
  • HTTP Servers (especially Web Server directory listings)
  • Flickr accounts

We plan to add support for Google Picasa and removeable Media (DVD/CD-Rs, USB-Sticks) soon.

In general, there are two approaches to access a store in picurl:

  1. You can use its URL for quick access like 
       http://www.example.com/photos

   http://flickr.com/photos/flickr_user_name/  #picurl will auto-detect this url as flickr account

   ftp://username:password@ftp.example.com/upload/photos

   file://./photos/ or file://c:\photos\new  #local folder access under linux and windows
  2. Configure a store: Enter all configuration data for the store once and save this information permanentely under an alias. This is the preferred way, as it can save you a lot of time, furthermore some features are only available for configured stores. And it's easy, as picurl asks all required data from you. You only need to provide an alias name and one of the following schemes, so that picurl knows which store you want to configure: file http httpdir ftp flickr

Some important remarks concerning stores:

  • The ~shorthand character points directly to you home directory. file://~/Desktop/ points to c:\Documents and Settings\Username\Desktop on Windows or /home/username/Desktop on Linux.
  • If your directory path contains spaces, you have to use quotation marks under Windows like "file://c:\My Photos"
  • The httpdir-Scheme refers to a webserver directory listing, contrary to the normal http store it allows directory recursion.

Accessing & Configuring a store

picurl-client list-aliases 
   List all aliases that have been configured 
   example: picurl-client list-aliases 

picurl-client delete-alias [alias] 
   Removes a previously created alias 
   example: picurl-client delete-alias MyServer 

picurl-client edit-alias [alias] 
   Edits a previously created alias 
   example: picurl-client edit-alias MyServer

picurl-client config [alias] [scheme] 
   Configure a new alias for later use 
   example: picurl-client config MyServer ftp

Getting information from a store

picurl-client list [store or alias] 
   Lists images in a store 
   example: picurl-client list file://~/Desktop/photos/ 

picurl-client get-metadata [store or alias] 
   Gets a list of image metadata from a store 
   example: picurl-client get-metadata file://./photos/

Copying and purging stores

picurl-client copy [source_store or alias] [dest_store or alias] 
   Copies all images from source_store to dest_store 
   example: picurl-client copy file://./new/ file://~/archive/incoming/ 

picurl-client purge [store or alias] 
   Removes images from store 
   example: picurl-client purge file://./temp_photos/