digiKam 5.6.0 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu

The digiKam photo management software has reached the new stable 5.6.0 release with exciting new features and more than 81 issues closed.

New features in digiKam 5.6.0 according to the announcement:

• The HTML gallery and Video Slideshow tools are back and available via tools menu.
• database shrinking is also possible for MySQL databases.
• improved the grouping items feature
• support for custom sidecars
• Geolocation Bookmarks has been rewritten to work with bundle version of digiKam (e.g., Appimage).

How to Install digiKam 5.6.0 in Ubuntu 17.04:

Due to requirement of higher Qt5 library version, digiKam 5.6.0 is only available for Ubuntu 17.04 through PPA.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T, then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:philip5/extra

Type your password when prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade digiKam via Software Updater (Update Manager):

or simply run commands in terminal to install /upgrade the software:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install digikam

Install digiKam 5.6.0 in Ubuntu 16.04:

For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, and old versions download the AppImage from the link below:

[ac-button size=”large” url=”https://download.kde.org/stable/digikam/” target=”_blank”]Download digiKam (AppImage)[/ac-button]

AppImage is a single executable package, give its permission from file’s ‘Properties’ window:

Then run the file to launch digiKam (don’t see ‘Run’ option? go to menu Edit -> Preferences -> Behavior -> Run Executable text files when they are opened):

The first launch will ask you if to install a shortcut for the AppImage.