Commons talk:CropTool

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	Maintenance notice
	Maintenance for this tool is at https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool - please do not report bugs in Phabricator tasks. You can see the last edit it tagged here.

Lossless mode no longer working?

@Danmichaelo, is lossless mode still working. I used to get messages that the crop size had been adjusted because I wasn't starting on a multiple of 8 or 16, but this has gone away. Similarly, there's a bug report on github (#170) reporting that files that should be uncroppable in lossless mode are now working, but produce the same files as if they were in precise mode. Is the tool silently falling back to precise when lossless doesn't work (which would be undesirable), or is something else going on here? Perhaps a bug introduced in the September 2020 refactoring? Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 14:59, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Looking into the code more, it seems like the September 2020 refactor fundamentally broke things. The various types of crop were broken out into subclasses (for example, lossless Jpeg cropping was broken out into JpegFile and Gif cropping to GifFile), but as far as I can tell the only subclasses that are actually being called out by the program in FileRepository.php are TiffFile, DjvuFile, PdfFile, and SvgFile, all of which return errors instead of actually working. All other file types are being handled by the generic imagemagick call in File.php.

This is why lossless crops are no longer lossless, Gif files say they are being cropped with precise or lossless mode instead of "gif mode", and TIFFs, PDFs, and DJVUs no longer work.

If these issues aren't easy to resolve, perhaps to the tool should be rolled back to 1.4 (before the refactoring). Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 14:18, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

just confirming this issue persists 2023-01.--RZuo (talk) 11:53, 15 January 2023 (UTC)

Since about 9-2021 Danmichaelo's only contributions have been edits to wikidata and some edits in norwegian and finnish wikipedia about some meta-topics (bot problems, ...). I seem to remember that them was unhappy with a decission at english wikipedia. That leaves two ways of action: Appease them to return to wikipedia, or find a new maintainer for croptool. Just waiting woll not help. C.Suthorn (talk) 15:34, 15 January 2023 (UTC)

sigh :/

there were a few commits https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool/commits/master .

i know someone might have to take over, but i reposted this thread because this is a major issue which should not be archived until it's resolved. RZuo (talk) 18:25, 15 January 2023 (UTC)

Bumping thread Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 19:19, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

i think, with https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool/pull/182 merged 2 days ago, lossless mode has now returned. i just tried previewing random crops in lossless mode and they were now being augmented to the left and the top again.

thx a lot @Danmichaelo, @Christoph Jauera (WMDE) and @TMg! RZuo (talk) 14:35, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

User:Danmichaelo Crop from .svg files still not working. Was this supposed to fix it? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 15:34, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

Structured Data

Is it possible to also copy structured data while cropping? Currently, if some data is only stored in structured data, it is lost. As an example, please see the coordinates for this picture: File:Bagdad Mine in Yavapai County, Arizona - ISS048-E-17035 - View of Arizona (cropped).jpg Schlurcher (talk) 18:54, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

If this is done, there needs to be some control over it: for example, we don't necessarily want to copy "depicts" for things that are outside of the resulting crop. - Jmabel ! talk 20:52, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

yes this is a major problem. older post: Commons talk:CropTool/Archive 3#Structured data.

i think for now best solution is have a bot copy the most important stuff over, e.g. date, caption, coords...

when i cropped https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Meiji_Chelsea_Yogurt_Scotch_2011.jpg&oldid=857923707 i got a blank template because all the data were stored in sdc. RZuo (talk) 23:39, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

Feature request re updating of Template:Image extracted

Currently this tool will usefully add or update {{Image extracted}} on existing file pages when a crop is generated. However, this is unnecessary when the new crop overrides an existing one, and which is already listed in the template at the source file page. A useful feature request is to suppress the updating of {{Image extracted}} when the cropped image is already listed there. — RAVENPVFF · talk · 16:57, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

Grid engine will shut down on December 14th, tool will stop working

@Danmichaelo, per https://grid-deprecation.toolforge.org/t/croptool, croptool is still running on Grid Engine. This will be shutting down in less than two weeks unless the developer applies for an extension, in which case it would shut down next February. Unless something is done, this tool will stop functioning at that time. See https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/VIWWQKMSQO2ED3TVUR7KPPWRTOBYBVOA/ Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 15:53, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

This seems quite important, and I will also post it on the Village pump.- Jmabel ! talk 17:58, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

See also wikitech:News/Toolforge Grid Engine deprecation.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 13:32, 3 December 2023 (UTC)

Issue logged at https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool/issues/190 - Jmabel ! talk 19:07, 3 December 2023 (UTC)

i saw a commit last year called "Move jobs to kubernetes" https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool/commit/9a8e9a2849d3df0513b84137c8b863199fad9dc1 . :/ --RZuo (talk) 06:30, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

I’m surprised, and concerned, that this hasn’t attracted more attention so far. Is this good news, though? -- Tuválkin ✉ ✇ 16:07, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

@Tuvalkin: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T319653#9387586 certainly is.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 02:50, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

what's happening on 14 dec? is the tool migrated? or is it extended to 14 feb? RZuo (talk) 18:45, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

@RZuo: Extended unless phab:T319653 is completed in time.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 19:15, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

i saw https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool/pull/182 . i was wondering, since migration is still being worked out, would User:Christoph Jauera (WMDE) and User:TMg maybe want to consider forking and rehosting the tool, in case it's at risk of being discontinued? RZuo (talk) 19:28, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

@Danmichaelo, @RZuo, @Jeff G.,

What is the current status of the Commons crop tool? Has Grid Engine been migrated over to Kubernetes yet? Is this relevant- https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T313550 ? -- Ooligan (talk) 17:24, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

@Ooligan: From what I can see, Dan has been given more tools, we are waiting for him.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 10:23, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

@Jeff G., @Ahecht@, It is February 14th and CropTool is not working.

• Is this tool still in the process of migrating away from Grid Engine?
• When will this tool be available to use? Thanks, --

Ooligan (talk) 14:54, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Crop Tool has not been working for hours today.

Fyi, @Danmichaelo, @RZuo @Jeff G. After clicking, the tool does not load the image to be cropped. Thanks, -- Ooligan (talk) 05:44, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

same for me. https://croptool.toolforge.org keeps loading without any progress. RZuo (talk) 09:25, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

@Ooligan: Right, you had the last upload 00:01, 21 January 2024 (UTC), ten hours ago. That URL times out for me.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 10:02, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Not working!

For me, visiting the Toolforge site or clicking the tool on the sidebar results in a screen saying "Wikimedia Toolforge Error" BhamBoi (talk) 23:41, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

@BhamBoi: Right, "Wikimedia Toolforge Error

This Grid Engine web service cannot be reached. Please contact a maintainer of this tool."   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 00:55, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Yes, that's the message I've see, too. --Rosiestep (talk) 13:17, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Same for me. Any idea when this will be fixed? TurboGUY (talk) 13:39, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

@Rosiestep, @BhamBoi,@TurboGUY,@Jeff G., @Leonprimer. See https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T314664

This link has a volunteer in April 2023 noting that "Migrate remaining tools off Gridengine" is "in progress" here: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T313405 (and still in progress with regards to the popular and unique CropTool), while the "GridEngine" was noted on 22 January by fnegri as Toolforge: Decommission the Grid Engine infrastructure.

Question: I'm not technically astute, but shouldn't the "in progress" tool migration off the GridEngine be completed or "closed" before "decommisioning" that GridEngine?

Additionally, the Category:Extracted images has 651,000+ files. I'm guessing the vast majority related to the currently orphaned and still needed- CropTool. Thank you, Ooligan (talk) 01:54, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Also, The Wikitech "timeline" states that GridEngine will stop on February 14, 2024, not January 21, 2024 (three weeks premature?) here: https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Toolforge_Grid_Engine_deprecation Ooligan (talk) 02:10, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

@Ooligan: Yes, of course the "in progress" tool migration off the GridEngine should be completed or "closed" before "decommisioning" that GridEngine.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 02:21, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

From yesterday the tool doesn't work. I opened an issue at https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool/issues but it seems @Danmichaelo: didn't read it. Does know anybody how to reach him? He's the developer of the tool. Leonprimer (talk) 16:22, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Please note that Dan has not edited Commons since 15:18, 14 November 2023 (UTC), 2 months, 8 days, 11 hours and 51 minutes ago (69 days).   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 03:09, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Tool seems to be back up. Sjoerd de Bruin (talk) 08:33, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Working for me now too. I wonder what the problem was? TurboGUY (talk) 10:35, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

@Sjoerddebruin and TurboGUY: Responding for me, too. The first upload in three days was today at 08:08 (UTC). Thanks for the reports.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 11:07, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Just want to say thank you, as I use this tool almost every day. --Rosiestep (talk) 18:34, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

February 14

is the latest apparent deadline for final resolution of CropTool's future, per https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T319653 ----- Quote: "The [[ https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Toolforge_Grid_Engine_deprecation | planned grid shutdown date ]] is February 14th.

Seems like right now the webservice [[ https://sal.toolforge.org/log/vwRYNY0BxE1_1c7syK2M | just needed a restart ]], at least the interface loads now.''"

• So, what is the plan to get this CropTool migration completed and resolved?
• Can or should Wikimedia Foundation staff help to "save" CropTool? --Ooligan (talk) 15:30, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
  • @Sannita (WMF): any chance someone can look into this before it quite likely becomes a crisis in three weeks? - Jmabel ! talk 20:14, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

    and someone cites "Valentine's Day" as a reason to procrastinate.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 23:06, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

    @Jmabel to be completely honest, it's hardly possible to fix this problem in such a short time. It's extremely difficult that WMF will overtake the development of CropTool, as well as postponing the deprecation of the engine. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 12:28, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

    • @Sannita (WMF): have you (or anyone you know of) heard anything from Dan on this? I'm wondering whether we should presume he is working on this or if it would make more sense to presume that the tool is abandoned. - Jmabel ! talk 18:59, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

      from what i can tell in the phab tasks, migration to k8s is stalled due to missing dependencies? https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T313550

      but User:Taavi closed that task.

      Dan says, "On Toolforge, I'm trying to get djvu working in CropTool again after having moved to kubernetes, but having a hard time. There's no compilers in the php7.4 image, so I was recommended to try the rub27 image. I was able to compile things there, but not to get the binaries to run in the php7.4 image due to missing shared libraries. It's probably possible to create fully standalone binaries that don't depend on shared libraries, but it's a bit beyond my knowledge (I tried adding a --disable-shared flag). It would be very helpful if compilers could be added to the php7.4 image, what's the process for requesting that?" https://wm-bot.wmcloud.org/logs/%23wikimedia-cloud/20220721.txt

      take note this chat was back in july 2022... RZuo (talk) 20:28, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

      @Jmabel I have no news about it, and nobody I asked to has info on that. :( Sannita (WMF) (talk) 10:51, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

      Drop the smilies and do your job. -- Tuválkin ✉ ✇ 20:29, 28 January 2024 (UTC)

      @Tuválkin: I understand your frustration, but the fact is that WMF did not create this tool and the team Sannita works with have never been formally asked to be responsible for it. Yes, it would be nice to have paid staff with a general responsibility to support tools for Commons. No, that staff does not exist. I don't know your background, but anyone who's worked in the software industry would say that there are few organizations where anyone much below VP level has the authority to take on a sizeable project that was not assigned to them and expend resources on it.

      The person who seems to have dropped the ball here is danmichaelo, who took on this responsibility and seems to have let go of it without informing anyone that he had done so. I believe that as recently as October everyone presumed he was on top of this and would provide a timely solution, and even when we got an extension in early December to buy time, the general presumption that was that we were buying time for him to complete this task. For all I know, he might yet plan to fix this, but if so he is sure not letting anyone know what is going on, and clearly at this point we have to presume he will not do this. I've posted a note at the Village pump hoping to find someone who will at least assess the task, if not take it on.

      In the larger picture: yes, this situation where individual volunteers take on responsibility for a tool, with no management structure, not even mutual management by peers, is insane, and I've said so before. We keep having broken tools and having to scramble to even work out who might solve the problem. As recently as October, the tool that propagates {{Move cat}} requests for the Delinker was broken, and the only reason it got fixed was I ran into someone at WikiConference North America who was able to make the needed fix then and there, but had no interest in taking over responsibility, and warned that the tool will probably break again in a matter of months because of continual changes in the operating environment. And, as far as I know, nothing ever went any further, so it will break again. - Jmabel ! talk 04:01, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      Thanks, Jmabel. I replied to him below. I understand ths situation, but we either make a huge stink and get this fixed now, or we won’t have an integrated image cropper in two weeks time. I don’t blame Sannita nor Danmichaelo nor anyone individually — I blame those who ever thought that migrating to Kubernetes could/should be done without a guarantee that it would be seamess for the user and everything will still work after the change. Accepting that such migrations always have losses, widespread as it is, is totally unacceptable.

      As for basic functionalities that are in the hands of individual users, well maybe Mediawiki should be working on integrating them in a the basic package? Image cropping and category moving surely are more important for a wiki to offer than some of the stuff they are currently planning to introduce (I bet there at people there drooling at the prospect of adding so called AI to the next major mediawiki version…).

      -- Tuválkin ✉ ✇ 15:54, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      As far as I remember Danmichaelo was alienated by a decision at the english (?) Wikipedia more than a year ago. Even if something is done to overcome this alienation, it may well be that them has started other activities by now, and I assume it unlikely that them will return and put the effort into croptool, that is needed to keep it running in the long run. So either @Sannita (WMF) makes maintainance a priority of WMF, or a volunteer takes over CropTool or it is a dead tool. C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 20:40, 28 January 2024 (UTC)

      • How would one even be able to take over such a tool? Jmabel ! talk 22:32, 28 January 2024 (UTC)

        If the maintainer (all maintainers if there is more than one) of a tool is inactive, a new maintainer can be assigned (provided there is someone who actually wants to become the maintainer). In worst case someone could do a fork of the tool (povided someone wants to do a fork and become its maintainer). C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 00:14, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      "I believe that as recently as October everyone presumed he was on top of this and would provide a timely solution, and even when we got an extension in early December to buy time, the general presumption that was that we were buying time for him to complete this task."

      that's certainly not true. anyone who has tried to understand problems croptool has, or even contribute to the code, would have visited the github repo and found out that Dan has probably proactively stopped working on this for a few years already. i dont know the reason, but i've seen C.Suthorn and also other users talking about an incident/conflict/... that drove Dan away.

      the blame should certainly be on the website development. on one hand, a widely used functionality has to remain maintained solely by volunteers for a decade. on the other hand, wmf cries for money every single year and has stacked up hundreds of millions.

      volunteers are volunteers. they can stop working however they like and dont have any responsibility and dont have obligation to tell anyone.

      not wanting to gossip, but i'm curious (but wont be surprised since i also fell victim) about what alienated Dan. RZuo (talk) 06:57, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      @RZuo: maybe some people knew Dan had "left the building" but I sure didn't. I don't remember seeing any posts saying "no one seems to be maintaining CropBot, is someone interested in taking it over" prior to my posting that on the Village pump yesterday, when I became aware of the situation. If others knew, it would have been wise to bring it up and seek a solution.

      Are there other important tools that you believe have been abandoned? The only other one I'm aware of is the one that handles "move cat" for the Delinker. - Jmabel ! talk 19:04, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      @Tuvalkin I understand the frustration over the lack of maintenance of a tool that I used too as a volunteer, but I can't do anything but repeat that there is hardly the chance that WMF can step in, especially with such a short notice. WMF taking over tools maintained by the community -- this tool, as well as any other tool -- would require a major decision from top management, as @Jmabel correctly notes, since we're talking either understanding how a tool not developed by insiders works or re-do it from scratch. Either way it's going to take time, effort, and in the end money I'm in no position whatsoever to commit (for as much as I would like, and I can tell that I would like it very much). This is a periodical discussion within and with the Foundation, and my unfortunate position is the one I'm in: telling people that WMF cannot do anything for the moment, and that I will try to pass it on to the higher-ups that we need to take a decision on it for the next fiscal years (plural intended). I hope this clarifies my position, and that my options are unfortunately limited to the extreme. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 09:49, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      You job as Community Liason is to keep the editing community feeling happy about the WMF. Are we happy? We’re not. So, either do your job, or quit. (I’d quit, if I were you. I quit cushier jobs for worst bosses. I’m poor now, but at least I’m not coding for scamming crooks nor for major polluters.)

      Don’t give us that company line about not wanting to step on the toes of the user community who’s sovereign in their own tool management. The WMF certainly didn’t feel that way about MediaViewer and VisualEditor and all that nonsense you forced on us.

      Besides, nobody’s asking the WMF to create nor mantain an image cropping tool: We’s asking the WMF to be able to migrate instrastructure without jeoperdizing existent functionalities. It’s not to much to ask, it’s the lowest possible bar, and it’s time the WMF leadership understands that the «break everything» philosophy doesn’t cut for a mature wiki ecosystem. If they rather be disruption brats, they should quit and join Musk somewhere cozy — we’ll easily elect someone better.

      (Also, fix Global Login already? It’s been 10 years. I’m typing this and the preview shows my IP, while in other windows I’m logged in. Can you be less incompetent?)

      -- Tuválkin ✉ ✇ 15:43, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      @Tuvalkin Thanks for your comment. I will make sure it will be heard, to underline that community is serious about this issue. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 16:47, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      Thanks for your attention on this problem! I think stating that it is too soon a deadline for WMF to help is true, and I definitely understand the difficult situation you are in. However, I do think the tool is widely used by the userbase (I use it daily or close to it) and should be considered a top priority by WMF. I think it should be brought to leadership as such, and hopefully you can find a new developer to work on the tool, even if it is after the tool expires next month. If necessary, I think putting a bounty on this type of problem in a developer community, like StackOverflow, can be helpful. The technical issues at hand appear fairly complex. --Engineerchange (talk) 15:58, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

      @Engineerchange People involved with the GridEngine deprecation on Toolforge already know about this situation, I made sure of it. I will keep an eye on the situation, and I will help -- in my volunteer capacity -- to try to find someone who can support the tool for the foreseeable future. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 16:44, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for your help and for staying cool when the flaming gets hot. --SJ+ 21:13, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

maybe we can solve this step by step.

according to https://wm-bot.wmcloud.org/logs/%23wikimedia-cloud/20220721.txt

"djvulibre, imagemagick and ghostscript" are missing in Kubernetes (k8s).

i think the first step we should take is making imagemagick work. that will make croptool work for images. dont care about the djvu and pdf for now.

or as Dan said, "could probably do without imagemagick if I used built-in php methods, but it requires a small rewrite". someone good at php can rewrite the code to do without magick. RZuo (talk) 07:16, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

May I take it that besides imagemagick, it also lacks graphicsmagick? Because for simple purposes they are more or less interchangeable, and it would be trivial to switch from one to the other. - Jmabel ! talk

Ad hoc alternative

https://jpegclub.org/losslessapps.html

so, which one of these can be recommended as an alternative for users?--RZuo (talk) 07:02, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

i've only used "cPicture [Jürgen Eidt] (Windows 10+) - Windows Photo Explorer, supports JPEG 9" which is ok, except two problems: i dont know how to zoom in while setting the frame to crop; an intermittent popup problem.--RZuo (talk) 07:02, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

You mean this as an alternative way to keep the existing tool and workflow, yes? (And not as a separate standalone piece of software, I mean.) -- Tuválkin ✉ ✇ 15:57, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Movement on the repo

FYI, there's been some movement the last day or so in a PR on the repo. So, we may been in luck! --Engineerchange (talk) 14:07, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

🎉 Sohom (talk) 17:33, 3 February 2024 (UTC)

Hello all! A bit late to the discussion, but I bring some good news. The first one you already know, someone stepped in for the migration of CropTool from GridEngine to Kubernetes, and we all thank them for it!

The other good news is that the team who is in charge of the framework migration confirmed me that an extension of the deadline will be granted to allow the user to complete the migration. Of course, there still is a fixed deadline to switch off GridEngine, that is March 14, so the migration should happen in a reasonable amount of time, but at least some more time can be bought.

More generally, the team confirmed me that tool maintainers who are actively working on the Toolforge migration can receive as well an extension to the deadline, if they ask for it. If they need help during the migration, they can also ask the team for help, by using the "help wanted" tag on Phabricator. For more info, there are also the FAQs about the migration.

On the not-so-bright side, tools that are unmaintained are risking deactivation, unless someone steps in. About this, there is little that we can do.

If you have any questions, please ping me, and I'll try to help out as much as I can. Also, if you know of other similar situations, please list them, so that we can try to find a solution together. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 14:37, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

@Sannita (WMF) Now we just need to get https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool/pull/182 merged to finally fix lossless cropping. Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 19:41, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

@Danmichaelo @Sohom Datta could you please take a look at https://github.com/danmichaelo/croptool/pulls ? :) RZuo (talk) 20:54, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

@Sohom Datta, @Sannita (WMF), @Danmichaelo - Please, resolve this open ticket: [1]. Thank you all your efforts. --Ooligan (talk) 06:54, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

I don't think there is a lot I can do here, the PR should be fine to merge (imo). I don't have access to merge or deploy anything right now. Sohom (talk) 14:25, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

Same here. I don't have access to merge or deploy anything, but it will be done by the original maintainer. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 15:48, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

Magic border locator: not working?

Tool in general seems to be working, but I don't have much luck with the "magic border locator" option. Is it a general issue or just for me? Enhancing999 (talk) 15:28, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

@Enhancing999: Could you give a concrete example of an image for which you would expect it to work and it doesn't? - Jmabel ! talk 20:02, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

I think it happens with any image. Did you get it to work recently? You can try a photo with a fairly obvious frame, e.g. [2]. Enhancing999 (talk) 21:54, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

You are correct. It looks like there is a new release today, and it isn't working. This is probably part of the migration, and apparently this broke. I'd suggest you report it in phabricator. - Jmabel ! talk 22:53, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

If they are still trying to get it to work .. I suppose WMF reads here too. Enhancing999 (talk) 13:16, 6 February 2024 (UTC)

Looks like this is a issue with some deprecations in the newer PHP version, will take a look. Sohom (talk) 12:29, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for looking into this. It was a fairly reliable feature and handy when cropping dozens of images at once. Enhancing999 (talk) 10:38, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

File «Karl Alfons Jurasky, Gebiete - Reinberger Linde 01.tif» not found on «de.wikipedia.org».

Hi I am trying to crop an image but the tool just gives me the error message above after I pasted the URL. The file is available here. So why is it not found?--Marcel Rogge (talk) 17:25, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Did this previously work on files not on Commons? I never even thought to try such a thing. - Jmabel ! talk 22:48, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Probably yes, see: Commons:CropTool#Install on other projects. I tried this for the first time too.--Marcel Rogge (talk) 09:17, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

Rotation as uploaded does not match rotation as shown in the tool

One of these things is not like the other. This shouldn't be happening.

Danmichaelo, or anyone else: Is this a known problem?

Screenshot showing correct orientation

What was actually uploaded

WhatamIdoing (talk) 07:08, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

@WhatamIdoing: I fixed the uploaded file for you by rotating another 270°.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 14:46, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

Thank you. Is the CropTool uploading something different from what it shows in the tool a known problem? I'm pretty sure that I've seen this once before. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:38, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

@WhatamIdoing: It seems to remove nonstandard rotation commands from the uploads, but sometimes does not preview rotated images correctly. There is too much error in this trial-and-error process for my taste.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 19:51, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

If memory serves, the problem appeared in the first screen: the CropTool showed it as rotated when it shouldn't have been. I "un-rotated" it (back to what I the original image looked like), told it which parts to crop out, and what it uploaded did not match what was on my screen. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:54, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

CropTool is not working with a particular image

If I try to create a cropped version of this image with CropTool, it gets stuck in the loading screen for a while before coming to a page that says "What to crop? Enter the URL or filename for an image you would like to crop." And if I enter the URL or filename on that page, the same cycle continues. I have not had issues like this with other images so far. Do others have this issue as well, and is there anything that can be done to fix it? Carfan568 (talk) 19:11, 23 February 2024 (UTC)

I've had miscellaneous failures from it recently. Sometimes if I go back to the file page & try again it works, but it also sometimes fails at the point of saving the image. Lately, I've mostly been downloading to my own machine & using GIMP. Yes, it would be nice if this were properly working.

Do we even know who is now maintaining CropTool? - Jmabel ! talk 20:38, 23 February 2024 (UTC)

I've continued having intermittent problems, mostly at the point where it goes into "preview" (or, more to the point, fails to go into "preview"). - Jmabel ! talk 17:03, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Unable to crop quality images

I usually contribute on Wikimedia projects (including Commons) with my smartphone. While I'm able to crop most photographs to create Wikivoyage banners, I'm unable to do so for quality images like Bhadrachalam temple 04122016.jpg and Muttukadu Bridge Boat House Siruseri Tamilnadu Aug21 D72 20693-94.jpg. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 05:16, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Ja, das ist so gewollt. Wenn ein Bild ein Accessment wie "quality" hat, weigert das CropTool sich, dieses Bild zu überschreiben. Es ist ja dafür ausgezeichnet so zu sein, wie es ist und nicht ein Crop davon. Ein eingebauter Vandalismusschutz. C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 06:54, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

@Sbb1413: Are you trying to overwrite them? If so, please don't. A "(banner)" suffix should be fine for the new filename.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me}🇺🇦 01:45, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Feature request: cropped pictures from DJVU and PDF files are almost never {{Book}}s themselves

See the most recent upload by CropTool. It's not a {{Book}}, but it uses the same template. Metadata info will almost always be wrong, but I don't expect this tool to solve this.

Instead, I propose the following: 1) Change {{Book}} for {{Artwork}} when cropping from books. 2) Remove the |Wikidata= parameter, as 100% of the time the Wikidata entity refers to the edition of the book, and not the cropped artwork. 3) Remove PDF/DJVU Files, Book by year and country categories. Other changes would need to be manually done, but this is a great start.

Relatedly, Category:Books and its subcategories is full of cropped artworks from this tool, for this very reason. Maybe we will need a bot to clean that. I might do this if approved. Ignacio Rodríguez (talk) 15:55, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

"Enter the URL or filename for an image you would like to crop."

Intermittently in the past few days, I am seeing the message above when I try to use the CropTool from a Commons file page. I have entered the "URL" as well as the "filename" for the Commons image, but nothing happens. In the recent past, the CropTool performs normally again after an unknown period of time.

• Can this intermittent issue be resolved?

• What is the cause of this issue?

Thanks, --Ooligan (talk) 18:36, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

Just a remark: if you use the back button, then try the CropTool again, it is usually OK. - Jmabel ! talk 22:54, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

I will try that. Thanks --Ooligan (talk) 05:33, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

I have the same problem. Are we loosing another piece of this tool?

Funnily it even offers a hint: "Tip: You can open CropTool directly from a media file. Learn more at Commons." Enhancing999 (talk) 21:20, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Up till today, the back button and try again worked. Now this is failing as described for me as well, and that workaround does not help. - Jmabel ! talk 23:08, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Maybe it has something to do with the filesize. A new way of failing when the file is too large? Enhancing999 (talk) 10:46, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

It could be failing to get the file from Commons timely, thus timing out too soon.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 10:50, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

@Enhancing999.No, it is not about file size. The CropTool is failing right now. I am trying to crop a file that is "normal" size from the United States Department of State.

@Jmabel, your suggestion appeared to work once, but I have repeatedly tried this, but the tool is just not responding. The CropTool continues to show an unusual page that asks,

"What to crop? Enter the URL or filename for an image you would like to crop." I have repeatedly entered the "URL" and CropTool fails, then repeatedly entered the "filename" and CropTool fails. Please, note that this intermediate page does show in green writing below that acknowledges "this file exists on Commons."

@Jeff G., Is the following related to your "timing out" comment? There appears to be some error with the CropTool itself. The problem is intermittent in that it happens apparently anytime for unknown reason(s), but after some unknown time period, the CropTool starts working again.

CropTool has had this particular malfunction, regularly, for the last several weeks.

I have noticed this malfunction occurs during the daytime within the United States. I mention this in case it is a high-demand related issue. If the CropTool maintainer could check incoming requests for cropping, perhaps the tool is "overloaded" and starts to malfunction for volunteers with new requests. Just a guess, but I hope it helps to resolve this issue. --Ooligan (talk) 20:29, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Pinging @Sannita (WMF)- are you aware of this recurrent issue? Thanks, --Ooligan (talk) 20:40, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

@Ooligan: I doubt there is anything Sannita can do here: this is not a WMF thing, it's a volunteer-maintained tool. There could be some specific timeout test that might be changed, but it probably runs deeper. - Jmabel ! talk 21:10, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

@Ooligan Exactly as Jmabel said, I can't do anything on this tool, since it's not maintained by WMF. Sorry. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 13:12, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Ok. I mistakenly thought you had some connection with this tool.

@Sannita (WMF), Is there a process where I can make a suggestion to the Wikimedia Foundation to officially adopt and maintain this tool? Thank you, -- Ooligan (talk) 13:39, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

@Ooligan We already received requests about this, and unfortunately it's not in the current nor future plans to adopt community-maintained tools. There are a good number of reasons behind this decision, but the main reason is that it would require a lot of time and effort to either understand how a tool works, or to rebuild it from scratch. I tried to advocate for this, and will keep trying, but don't hold your breath waiting. Sannita (WMF) (talk) 18:39, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Thank you @Sannita (WMF) for continuing to advocate for positive change.

You wrote that "... the main reason is that it would require a lot of time and effort to either understand how a tool works, or to rebuild it from scratch"

From a volunteer point-of-view, I think of all the 1,000's of hours of time given by volunteers at no cost to the Wikimedia Foundation to create the over 670,000+ cropped images found here at extracted images. I'm guessing most from CropTool use. The "time and effort" you mention that the WMF has a monetary value, for example, the cost per hour for code writers multiplied by the total hours to write a new version of CropTool.

An author and attorney wrote, "How much is all this volunteer time worth? A lot. The organization Independent Sector estimates that the value of volunteer time for 2019 was $25.43 per hour."

So, the WMF adoption of "community-maintained tools" is an investment that pays dividends in the form of increased productivity for all those valuable volunteers.

Just some information for your next chat with the Wikimedia Foundation representatives or staff. Thanks again. Respectfully, -- Ooligan (talk) 00:05, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

Shouldn't the WMF POV be whether this is functionality Commons should have or not? Who initially wrote it and whether current staff is qualified or not is secondary. Enhancing999 (talk) 07:07, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

@Ooligan *standing ovation* Joalbertine (talk) 16:55, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

At some point, I could do a smaller file, but not a large one. Maybe it's also a caching issue. If files gradually fill up memory, at some point no new files can be handled. Enhancing999 (talk) 21:44, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Maybe a sample helps. I could crop:

• 97 MB: File:Swisstopo Landeskarte Arolla 283 1968 LT LK 283 1968.tif to get File:Tête Blanche (Swisstopo Landeskarte 50000 Blatt 283, 1968.tiff

the same from others fails:

• 123 MB: File:1347 Matterhorn.jpg
• 169 MB: File:Swisstopo Skiroutenkarte Arolla LT LK 283 S 1950.jpg
• 562 MB: File:Swisstopo Skiroutenkarte Arolla LT LK 283 S 1950.tif

Enhancing999 (talk) 12:45, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

@Enhancing999: I concur. In each case, it displays "Please wait while fetching image data and metadata... This might take some time depending on the image size..." and then either functions normally or returns to display "What to crop?" and "Enter the URL or filename for an image you would like to crop."   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 13:26, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Exactly! It happens to me too! I try to crop other files every time it happens, just to make sure the problem isn't limited to a single file. It never works on any file. The problem just goes away on its own after a while. It's so frustrating. Joalbertine (talk) 16:51, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

Authorization Error

I can't get past the authorization steps (jumping back from step 3 to step 2, as listed in the project page). I've used CropTool many times in the past but not for a while, so not sure if this is due to some code changes. Any ideas how to solve this? Joalbertine (talk) 12:14, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Sometimes it takes me several attempts (after restarting from the beginning) Enhancing999 (talk) 12:38, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

I tried several times. It didn't work, unfortunately. Joalbertine (talk) 13:39, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

@Joalbertine: Do you have cross-site scripting enabled, at least for commons.wikimedia.org, croptool.toolforge.org, and www.mediawiki.org? Revealing your browser name and version, and same for your OS, may help.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 12:43, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

I don't know, but don't think I changed anything, and it used to work fine. How can I check and change it if necessary? I use Windows 10 Pro and Firefox 123. Joalbertine (talk) 13:41, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

I have had the same problem for months and it's really frustrating. I'm stuck in authorization hell, too! Edelseider (talk) 12:34, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

@Edelseider: I just authorized fine, it shows "Authorized as Jeff G." in the top right corner.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 13:32, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

I'm happy for you, @Jeff G.: you are one of the lucky ones. I am unable to access the tool because the authorization always fails. Edelseider (talk) 13:39, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

Just adding here. This is occurring once or twice every week. CropTool starts working again after a period of up to two days- for unknown reason(s). -- Ooligan (talk) 21:03, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

I managed to overcome the problem by switching from Firefox to Edge. Why it works on Edge and not on Firefox - I have absolutely no idea. But there's another error that appears from time to time: when I enter the tool from a specific file, it takes me to the "What to crop?" screen (with a search engine). Even after I search the file name, nothing happens - the page simply reloads. I tried refreshing, closing and opening the browser again, even restarting my computer, but nothing works. It happened a few times so far and eventually went back to normal for no apparent reason. Anybody else? Joalbertine (talk) 16:32, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

croptool not listed among tools

Hello, I can't find the Croptool listed among the tools. إيان (talk) 01:36, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Listed where? - Jmabel ! talk 07:47, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

What tool list? Please, provide a link. Thanks, -- Ooligan (talk) 05:27, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

@Jmabel Presumably, the Tools drop-down menu that appears above the image on its file page: Read / Edit / View History / Fave / Tools. "CropTool" is supposed to be in the General section. (It's listed as normal for me...) Joalbertine (talk) 16:44, 11 May 2024 (UTC)

Pinging, @إيان -- Ooligan (talk) 21:05, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

Rotation triggers "[Error] undefined" (preview step)

Rotating this image (tiff, 29 MB) triggered an "[Error] undefined" error when previewing (the image should be rotated by 0.34°). Enhancing999 (talk) 13:36, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

@Enhancing999: I got the same error.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 13:54, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

rotating 0/90/180/270 degree should work. Rotating of smaller images also. See my error report in the archive ot this page. C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 14:29, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

I think the limit was much higher (see my report above). 29MB isn't really that large and rotating 180° wont help. Enhancing999 (talk) 17:40, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

29MB is a file size. The image is 30.2 MP (>30 Megapixel, the size of a 7K display). C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 17:50, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

I get the same error when I try rotate a bit more this tiff that worked 2 years ago. Enhancing999 (talk) 18:07, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

In the last two years the program code of the tool has changed, the hardware and os version the tool is running on has probably changed, and as far as I know there is now a new maintainer. C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 19:35, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

Not sure, I got the impression the code remained mostly unchanged and the tool lacks a maintainer. It was moved to other infrastructure. We are just keeping track of more and more pieces that break. Eventually, I think we should find a (WMF) replacement for the tool. Enhancing999 (talk) 21:14, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

I think this was discussed in Reparatursommer, but not sure. C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 21:30, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

@C.Suthorn, "Reparatursommer?" Do you have a link? Thanks, -- Ooligan (talk) 05:31, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

@Ooligan https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reparatursommer#CropTool C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 07:27, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

Thanks you, C.Suthorn -- Ooligan (talk) 08:35, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

WMF replacement

At Commons:Village_pump/Technical#New_tool_for_cropping_and_rotating_images_(proposal), I added a proposal for a replacement as this tool is no longer maintained and keeps loosing functionalities. Enhancing999 (talk) 15:12, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Not working

Hi, I am trying to crop out the background poster, of File:اولاد الشاوش.jpg, but it doesn't work. The file doesn't even load. No error message. Yann (talk) 13:35, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

@Yann: It worked for me.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 15:56, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

I had the "Enter the URL or filename for an image you would like to crop."-problem on the original version of the file earlier today. Enhancing999 (talk) 18:59, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

@Enhancing999: did you try back button, Retry, etc.? Often this is a temporary glitch. I think there is a race condition. - Jmabel ! talk 06:02, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

... a tool - that received the WMF coolest tool award - should come with a fallback mechanism in case of a temporary glitch - at least telling the user what went wrong, and what the user is supposed to do (wait, notify a maintainer, use a different approach, reboot the tool, ...) C.Suthorn (@Life_is@no-pony.farm - p7.ee/p) (talk) 06:38, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

Agreed. -- Ooligan (talk) 05:33, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

Same here. The direct link from the navbar leads to the generic CropTool page. When I inserted URL / filename, CropTool placed a notice "File «xxxxxx» found on «commons.wikimedia.org»." but doesn't load it. Couple days ago, it worked. — Draceane ^talk_contrib. 07:42, 22 April 2024 (UTC) It's a shame that this crucial tool isn't maintained as a integrated "core". Furthermore, users should be able to report bugs/issues via standard way (here or on phab), majority of users doesn't have a GitHub account.

Same for me, since yesterday evening, with Chrome or Firefox. --Lewisiscrazy (talk) 13:09, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

Same for me. Nederlandse Leeuw (talk) 14:55, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

Same here. Cannot crop any of my uploaded files, nor some old ones... BrazilianDude70 (talk) 18:01, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

Still not working. Schwede66 00:55, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

Crop Tool is not working at this time. (and the last ~ 2 days)

Same activity as reported by @Draceane. -- Ooligan (talk) 05:39, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

It still doesn't seem to work. Chrome Version 123.0.6312.124 on MS Windows 10. MB-one (talk) 09:01, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

I just encountered the same problem reported by @Draceane. I am using chrome on macbook --EleniXDD (talk) 10:44, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

Crop tool is back to work. --Lewisiscrazy (talk) 12:59, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

Yay! -- Tuválkin ✉ ✇ 16:27, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

At this time, CropTool is repeatedly giving this error message, "Upload failed! undefined." Ooligan (talk) 18:57, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

It is working for me... --Lewisiscrazy (talk) 19:09, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

It is working now. I just wanted to document the continuing CropTool instability or lack of consistent reliability. -- Ooligan (talk) 21:39, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

時々使えない

ここ最近、一週間に一度ほどしか使えません システムの問題？ ウィ貴公子 (talk) 09:43, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Yes, unfortunately, this a recurrent problem. The Wikimedia Foundation does not maintain this tool and volunteer tool maintenance volunteers are difficult to find to help sustain proper tool maintence or to fix problems. Thanks for mentioning this here.

Translation to Japanese:

はい、残念ながら、これは再発する問題です。ウィキメディア財団はこのツールを維持しておらず、ボランティアツールのメンテナンスボランティアは、適切なツールのメンテナンスを維持したり、問題を解決したりするために見つけることは困難です。ここでこれについて言及してくれてありがとう。Arigato, -- Ooligan (talk) 19:07, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Not workin on enwiki

I get the tool to work here on Commons but not on Wikipedia. Just says File «Vasteras IK Fotboll logo.png» not found on «en.wikipedia.org». when I enter the URL. Jonteemil (talk) 23:02, 2 May 2024 (UTC)

Down again?

https://croptool.toolforge.org/?site=commons.wikimedia.org&title=Snake,%20a%20double%20Fairlie,%20B%20class%20steam%20locomotive%20%22B%22%20238%20(0-4-4-0T).%20ATLIB%20257541.png

Top: 150, Left: 124, Width: 6070, Height: 4221

Previewing a crop just gives '[Error] undefined' Andy Dingley (talk) 16:53, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

I have the same problem. I hope the issue is resolved soon, since CropTool appears to be the most efficient way to rotate images. The rotating bot has been shut down and the backlog of images in need of rotation is growing. Sinigh (talk) 12:54, 17 May 2024 (UTC)

Portrait photos by Hameltion

My analysis of the 'not working' problem is: caused by photo's made by @Hameltion: with his camera in upright (non-landscape) position. His camera produces an orientation attribute in the photo data that is not handled correctly by Croptool. Previously (until recently) these photo's could be cropped but showed up 'sideways'. Although this was uncomfortable, cropping was not impossible. Nowadays the file cannot be loaded at all by Croptool: the 'loading' line stays on-screen for a very long time, eventually replaced by a pop-up box requesting me to enter the filename. (It's no use to actually do that: the process only repeats itself identically.) Pommée (talk) 07:49, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

I hadn't realized the connection with vertical orientation but that is borne out by testing. But it's not just me, any upright photo taken by this kind of camera fails to load on CropTool (and as previously noted, used to load sideways). Thanks for raising this note, Pommée. Hameltion (talk | contribs) 13:46, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

@Hameltion: You are absolutely correct: it's not yourself but your type of camera that causes the symptoms described. Pommée (talk) 19:33, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

Gone for good?

I keep ending up on the page "Enter the URL or filename for an image you would like to crop." even for small files. Enhancing999 (talk) 10:35, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

The same for me. Yesterday it worked just as usual. Mbkv717 (talk) 10:51, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

It worked fine until the later hours last night (EDT). There was some database overload error on Commons last night too. CropTool has definitely been temperamental the last couple weeks, causing these "Enter the URL..." pages more and more often. --Engineerchange (talk) 13:47, 23 May 2024 (UTC)