ImgData

AV_ImgData is a Synology DSM package intended to support the transfer of metadata stored in image files. Its current focus is on person-related metadata, especially workflows where face names embedded in images are reviewed, matched against Synology Photos people, mapped to known names, and assigned into Synology Photos.

Features

• Show person statistics from Synology Photos.
• Match unknown Synology Photos faces against face names stored in image metadata.
• Assign a matched face to an existing Photos person.
• Create a new Photos person from a matched file face.
• Delete a metadata face from image XMP via ExifTool from the checks view.
• Maintain persistent name mappings for recurring metadata name variants.
• Edit runtime configuration from the package UI.

Supported Environment

• DSM 7.3 or newer
• Package architecture: noarch
• Synology toolkit / pkgscripts-ng
• A prepared build environment for the target platform, for example geminilake
• The latest available Synology Photos package on the target system

The current package metadata is defined in INFO.sh.

Download

Prebuilt packages are available under GitHub Releases.

Installation

1. Download the desired .spk from the GitHub Releases page.
2. Open DSM Package Center.
3. Choose manual installation.
4. Select the downloaded package file.
5. Complete the DSM installation flow.

After installation, DSM exposes the desktop UI defined under ui/.

ExifTool can also be installed from within the package UI, but this is optional. If ExifTool is already available on the system or not required for your workflow, no additional ExifTool installation is needed.

Build From Source

The package is built with the Synology toolkit and pkgscripts-ng.

The expected toolkit workspace layout is:

toolkit/
├── pkgscripts-ng/
└── source/
    └── av_imgdata/

Use the package build wrapper from the toolkit root:

source/av_imgdata/tools/build-package.sh -v 7.3 -p geminilake

The wrapper performs the required preflight steps before invoking the Synology toolkit package build:

1. run structure checks
2. run the Python test suite
3. invoke pkgscripts-ng/PkgCreate.py for the av_imgdata package with the provided options

The UI build is intentionally executed by the Synology toolkit build chain via the package Makefiles. This keeps the tested package build path identical to the actual DSM package build path.

If any structure check, Python test, UI build, or toolkit package build step fails, the package build fails.

Arguments passed to build-package.sh are forwarded to PkgCreate.py as options. The package name is always appended by the wrapper as av_imgdata, so do not pass -c av_imgdata yourself. For example:

source/av_imgdata/tools/build-package.sh -v 7.3 -p apollolake

Before the first build, prepare the Synology toolkit environment, for example:

cd pkgscripts-ng
./EnvDeploy -v 7.3 -p geminilake
cd ..
source/av_imgdata/tools/build-package.sh -v 7.3 -p geminilake

Generated packages are collected by the toolkit in:

result_spk/

Depending on the toolkit configuration, both a regular package and a _debug.spk may be generated.

Runtime Database

All mutable package state is stored in the package-local SQLite database. This includes name mappings, suppressions, check findings, face-match findings, internal candidate snapshots, runtime progress, and the latest analysis result:

${SYNOPKG_PKGVAR}/imgdata.sqlite3

Existing name_mappings.json, findings JSON files, runtime-state JSON files, file_analysis.json, and check-ignore text files are imported exactly once during the SQLite upgrade migration. Operational reads and writes then use SQLite exclusively. The legacy source files are retained, while subsequent changes are written only to SQLite. Backups should include imgdata.sqlite3 and, when present, imgdata.sqlite3-wal and imgdata.sqlite3-shm.

The active face-match findings can be queried over DSM SSH with:

sudo sqlite3 -header -column /var/packages/AV_ImgData/var/imgdata.sqlite3 \
  "SELECT position, action, image_path, source_name FROM face_match_finding_entries ORDER BY position;"

Check findings and persisted runtime state can be queried with:

sudo sqlite3 -header -column /var/packages/AV_ImgData/var/imgdata.sqlite3 \
  "SELECT finding_type, entry_count, status FROM persisted_findings ORDER BY finding_type;"

sudo sqlite3 -header -column /var/packages/AV_ImgData/var/imgdata.sqlite3 \
  "SELECT key, updated_at FROM app_state ORDER BY key;"

The package does not keep a continuously growing server.log. Uvicorn access logging and routine shell logging are disabled. Existing legacy server.log files are removed when the package starts. Optional backend diagnostics remain available through the separately bounded backend-debug.log.

UI Development

The package UI is located in ui/ and is based on Vue 2 with Synology DSM UI components.

Useful commands for UI-only development:

cd ui
pnpm install
pnpm run build

For package builds, use the package build wrapper instead:

cd ../..
source/av_imgdata/tools/build-package.sh -v 7.3 -p geminilake

The wrapper runs structure checks and Python tests before invoking the Synology toolkit. The UI is then built by the toolkit through the same Makefile path used for the final package.

Notes:

• The package build itself is driven by the Synology toolkit.
• The DSM desktop app configuration is defined in ui/app.config.
• UI texts follow Synology's texts/<locale>/strings structure.

Runtime Configuration

The default package configuration is shipped in var/config.json.

At runtime, DSM uses a writable package-var directory. The active configuration is typically stored at:

/var/packages/AV_ImgData/var/config.json

Depending on the DSM environment, SYNOPKG_PKGVAR may point to another package-var location such as /volume1/@appdata/AV_ImgData/.

The currently supported configuration areas include:

• files.USE_EXIFTOOL
• files.PATHEXIFTOOL
• metadata.SCHEMAS.ACD
• metadata.SCHEMAS.MICROSOFT
• metadata.SCHEMAS.MWG_REGIONS
• photos.MAX_PHOTOS_PERSONS

Name mappings are stored in the package-local SQLite database:

/var/packages/AV_ImgData/var/imgdata.sqlite3

An existing name_mappings.json is retained as a migration source and imported exactly once.

Package Layout

• src/: backend code
• ui/: DSM desktop UI
• scripts/: Synology package lifecycle scripts
• SynoBuildConf/: Synology build instructions
• conf/: package privilege/resource config

Localization

The primary project language for documentation and defaults is English.

Current UI locales:

• enu
• ger

Support

If you like this work, or if it inspires you or your AI to build something new, please support the project.

• Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/andreasvilippus
• Donate via PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QNGJ8D92V99GN
• Support development

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.