Photo Importer

A command-line tool and standalone web server for importing, renaming, and rotating photos and videos from cameras, USB drives, and memory cards.

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Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Acknowledgements

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Features

photo-importer (CLI)

• Scans directories for media files (images, video, audio)
• Detects capture time via EXIF metadata, filename patterns, or file attributes
• Organises files into a configurable date-based directory hierarchy
• Renames files according to capture timestamp
• Performs lossless JPEG rotation (via exiftran or jpegtran)
• Supports dry-run mode for previewing changes without modifying files

photo-importer-server (Web UI)

• Standalone web server for use on headless machines (e.g. a home server or Raspberry Pi)
• Detects mounted removable storage by path mask
• Provides one-click mount, import, and unmount via a browser interface
• Same import pipeline as the CLI tool

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Installation

Requirements

• Python 3.6+

Supported Platforms

Platform	Support
Debian-based Linux	Full (CLI + Web)
Other Linux	Unofficial (likely works)
Windows 7+	CLI + Web
macOS (with Homebrew)	CLI only

System Dependencies

Dependency	Purpose
exiftool	EXIF metadata reading
exiftran or jpegtran	Lossless JPEG rotation
pmount	Storage mount/unmount (server only)

Python Dependencies

• PyExifTool
• progressbar
• psutil
• pypiwin32 (Windows only)

Installing via PyPI (recommended)

sudo apt install exiftran exiftool pmount pip
sudo pip install photo-importer

Installing as a Debian Package

debuild -b
sudo apt install pip python3-exif python3-progressbar exiftran python3-psutil
sudo pip install PyExifTool
sudo dpkg -i ../photo-importer_*.deb

Installing from Source

sudo apt install exiftran exiftool pmount pip
sudo pip install PyExifTool progressbar psutil
sudo python3 ./setup.py install

Installing on Windows

1. Download and install Python 3
2. Download and install ExifTool
3. Download and extract jpegtran into the photo_importer folder
4. Install the package and its Windows dependencies:

python -m pip install pypiwin32 photo-importer

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Usage

Command-Line Interface

In-place processing — rename and rotate files without moving them:

photo-importer /path/to/media/files

Import to output directory — move (or copy) files into a date-based hierarchy:

photo-importer /path/to/media/files /output/path

Files are moved by default. To copy instead, set move_mode = 0 in the config file.

CLI options:

Option	Description
in_path	Source directory to scan (required)
out_path	Destination directory (optional; in-place mode if omitted)
-c, --config FILE	Path to a custom config file
-l, --logfile FILE	Log file path (default: log.txt)
-d, --dryrun	Dry run — preview actions without modifying files

Web Interface

1. Attach a USB drive or insert a memory card
2. Open http://<hostname>:8080 in a browser
3. Click Mount
4. Click Import
5. Click Unmount

Windows — Command Line

cd photo_importer
python run.py -c ..\photo-importer-win.cfg path\to\media\files \output\path

Windows — Web Server

photo-importer-server.bat

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Configuration

Scope	Default config file
CLI tool	~/.photo-importer.cfg
Web server	/etc/photo-importer.cfg

A custom config file can be passed to the CLI with the -c option.

All available options are documented with comments inside the config file itself.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to everyone who tested the tool and provided feedback.

Bug reports, suggestions, and pull requests are welcome!

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