digiKam Recipes 5.0.1 Released and digiKam AppImage Package Coming

Hot on the heels of the major digiKam 5.x.x release comes a thoroughly revised version of the digiKam Recipes book. Although it doesn’t include any new material, the entire content and all screenshots have been revised and updated to reflect changes in the latest version of digiKam. In addition to that, some obsolete content has been removed. But a shiny new book cover featuring catchy colors makes up for that.

You can learn more about digiKam Recipes, and buy the book via Gumroad or Google Play Store.

Speaking of digiKam releases, the upcoming version 5.3.0 will be available as an AppImage 64-bit package. While this may not sound overly exciting, this is actually a pretty big deal. Right now, if you want to run the latest version of digiKam, you either need to compile the application from source or wait till its packaged version appears in the software repositories of your Linux distribution. digiKam delivered as an AppImage package solves this problem by bundling everything the application needs to run (i.e., libraries, settings, dependencies, plugins, etc.) into a single executable file. Better still, the AppImage package doesn’t need to be installed, and it doesn’t require root privileges in order to run.

In practical terms this means that you will be able to download digiKam as a single executable and run the application by launching the file. And it’s gets better: AppImage packages run on practically any 64-bit Linux distribution. So whether you’re using Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, or another distro, you will be able to run the latest version of digiKam with no effort at all.

Can’t wait to try it for yourself? digiKam’s lead developer Gilles Caulier has made an AppImage package of the latest beta version of digiKam 5.3.0 available for your downloading pleasure.

Give it a go, and if you encounter any problems or bugs, make sure to report them to the digiKam developers.

I write about Linux and Open Source for a living. I’m an amateur photographer, and I use Linux as my photography platform. I’m the author of the digiKam Recipes and Linux Photography books.