Building R&Darktable

R&Darktable diverges from upstream darktable at commit 1bdf797445639f536f4f6effbb44ed40c678a810 (7th May 2022) which is the first of the reverting commits of darktable's lighttable filters.

Therefore, if you checkout on tags or commits published before this date (like git checkout release-3.8.1 or git checkout release-3.9.0) on this repository, you will get upstream darktable.

Building R&Darktable synced with upstream

TL;DR: git checkout master or git pull https://github.com/aurelienpierre/R-Darktable.git master

R&Darktable exists for now only in the master branch. This master branch is kept in sync with upstream darktable (at least twice a month, but not real-time) for everything related to pixel code, such that you can transparently edit images with one or the other, and switch to the other later, without breaking edits.

Keep in mind that the difference between R&Darktable and darktable is only in the GUI code and in some presets/preferences. Pixel modules are the same. In any case, the master branch is still an unstable branch (as in "the branch where new stuff gets merged for general testing, pending a release") both on upstream darktable and here.

Building R&Darktable with bleeding edge stuff

TL;DR: git checkout dev or git pull https://github.com/aurelienpierre/R-Darktable.git dev

The experimental new modules and other things that will break your edits and not be compatible with upstream darktable master are merged in the dev branch since 2018. This is the branch I personally use for my editing because I understand what's going on in there, but I don't recommend anybody else to use it on a daily basis or for serious work.

The dev branch is basically R&Darktable's master in which I merge the topic branches where I develop new stuff that gets submitted as PR (pull requests). To use it, you need to git checkout dev and backup your database and XMP sidecars before doing anything.

Actually installing R&Darktable

R&Darktable uses the same scripts and building stack as upstream darktable, so everything works the same but you need to be aware that it will get installed in place of darktable and as darktable, so it uses the same pathes and default config/database directories. The CLI commands are all the same and R&Darktable will be registered as darktable as far as your OS is concerned.

I'm not sure at this point if it's worth it or even desirable to have it installed somewhere else and using different config pathes and CLI commands.