1  Introduction

1.1  Installation

1.2  Invocation

Usage: mt2 [options]
  Options:
   -h or --help  show this message
   -s <max thumbnail size>  (100)
   -d <thumbnail directory> ("thumbnails")
   -a <base album name> ("00_album_images")
   -ni <base imageless album name> = ("00_album_noimages")
   -ani <name for both albums> ("00_album")
   -l <list file name>
   -i <include file name>
   -g <group file name>
   -hi <hide file name>
   -C <comment file name>
   -D <date file name>
   -H <header file name>
   -T <trailer file name>
   -t <title string> ("Picture Album")
   -hr <header string> ("<h2>Picture Album</h2>")
   -tr <trailer string> ("<font ...>Generated by mt2</font ...>")
   -n <number of images per album> (30)
   -G <glob pattern of items to thumbnail> (*.jpg,*.jpeg,etc.)
   -b force the inclusion of the ".." (back) folder.
   -f = force thumbnail generation, even if the .nothumbnail file exists
   -ft = generate a new album even if the directory appears up to date
   -R = walk directories recursively, generating thumbnails
   -np = do not prune unneeded thumbnails from the thumbnail directory (default on)
   -fp = force pruning when it otherwise would be disabled
   -nd = inhibit the display of dates next to the pictures
   -Ii = in each directory, symlink index.html to the image album
   -Ini = in each directory, symlink index.html to the noimage album
   -sn = list the pictures in alphabetical (ASCII, actually) order
   -sa = list the pictures in order of recency, oldest first (default)
   -sd = list the pictures in order of recency, newest first
   -r <rc file> = use an alternate resource file.
   -op <output plugin> = choose an alternate output plugin. ("plainhtml")
   -pc <configuration string> = pass a configuration string to the output plugin.
   -lp = list available plugins

-h, --help

This, if it weren't obvious, prints out the help text that you see above.

-s

Normally, each thumbnail in the HTML album is confined to a 100x100 box, but you can change the size by using this flag with a new size, for instance -s 40 to make tiny little thumbnails.

-d

Mt2 by default creates a subdirectory named thumbnails for each directory that you want to thumbnail. You can change the name using this flag.

-a

The HTML albums are named by a combination of a prefix and a number. For instance, if one has three albums in a directory, they will by default have the names 00_album_images-00.html, 00_album_images-01.html, and 00_album_images-02.html. To change the "00_album_images" part of these names, use the -a flag with the new name.

-ni

This flags works exactly as the -a flag, except that it affects the text-only albums, which are by default named with the prefix 00_album_noimages.

-ani

With this flag, you can set the base name for both the image album and the text only album at the same time. If you use -ani base, the albums will have the prefices base_images and base_noimages, respectively.

-l

Mt2, instead of reading filenames itself from the directory, can take them from a "list file", a procedure that I will discuss in detail in the next section. This flag allows one to give the name of a list file on the command line.

-i

Using an "include file" allows you to keep the names of the pictures you wish to process in a file, instead of constructing an elaborate glob to include them all. See the paragraph on include files in the next section for more information.

-g

Group files, which can be given with this flag, are a way of telling Mt2 that one wants certain files to appear next to each other in the albums, though they might not otherwise do that with the given sort order---they too will be discussed in the next section.

-hi

"Hide files" will be discussed later, but briefly, allow one to tell mt2 not to thumbnail certain files. They are specified using this flag.

-C

Each picture can have a comment printed under its name in the album, and these comments are stored in a "comment file", which can be given with this flag. We'll talk about comment files in detail in the next section.

-D

You can override the date displayed in the thumbnail albums for each picture with specific dates of your own, using a "date file", indicated by this flag---in the next section, I give more detail about this type of file.

-H

One might want a potentially complicated header to be inserted into each album, and with this flag one can specify an HTML file to fill this role.

-T

This parallels the -H flag, except the trailer file will be inserted at the end of each album.

-hr

If the header that you want at the top of each album is fairly simple, you can just pass it on the command line using this flag. For instance, -hr '<h1>Big Ugly Photos</h1>'.

-tr

This flag is just like -hr, except that it works for the trailer.

-n

If you have many images in a directory, mt2 splits them among a number of albums to help with navigation and load times. By default, it puts 30 images per album, but you can change that using this flag.

-G

Normally, mt2 thumbnails all the JPEG files in the current directory, using the wildcard pattern of *.jpg,*.JPG,*.jpeg,*.JPEG. You can specify a different pattern with this flag; for instance, to thumbnail all GIFs instead, use the argument -G '*.gif,*.GIF' (note the single quotes around the wildcards).

-b

When processing directories recursively, mt2 includes the ".." (back) directory in the list of folders; but when operating non-recursively, it doesn't include it---this option forces the inclusion of "..", regardless of the mode.

-f

If there is a directory for which you do not want thumbnails generated, you can create a file named .nothumbnail in it; normally, if mt2 detects such a file, it will abandon its attempt to create albums; however, if you want it to thumbnail the directory anyhow, use this flag.

-ft

When mt2 is working recursively (see the -R switch below), it first checks if each directory seems to have changed since it last thumbnailed it; if it hasn't changed, mt2 skips it. This flag causes mt2 to create new albums regardless of whether it thinks the old albums are up to date.

-R

Mt2 usually works on just the current directory, but by using this flag, you can tell mt2 to operate not only on the current directory, but also on all its subdirectories. There are two types of directories mt2 skips, though: directories that contain a .nothumbnail file, and directories that are named the same as the thumbnail directory, so that it doesn't accidentally make thumbnails of thumbnails.

-np

After creating an album, mt2 usually checks if there are any extra thumbnail images lying around in the thumbnail directory, and if so deletes them. This flag prevents it from pruning these extraneous images.

-fp

Some configuration options cause pruning to be disalbed; by specifying -fp, you can tell mt2 to force pruning.

-nd

In the albums, next to the picture names, mt2 usually displays the date that the picture was taken (or uploaded). Sometimes you want to disable the display of dates in the albums, and this flag does that.

-Ii

For each directory that mt2 thumbnails, it can create a symbolic link from index.html to the first album file, so that when someone looks at the directory from their browser, they are served the image album instead. This will work only on Unix and its kin.

-Ini

This is the same as -Ii, except the link will be made from index.html to the text-only album.

-sn, -sa, -sd

The pictures in the albums can be sorted by name (-sn), by ascending date from oldest to newest (-sa), or by descending date from newest to oldest (-sd). The default is by ascending date.

-r

In addition to taking configuration options from the command line, mt2 can read a resource file to get options, and with this flag, you can specify an alternate file from which to read customizations. Mt2 by default searches for a file named .mt2rc, and if that is not present, then .make-thumbnailsrc, for historical purposes.

-lp

This switch will have mt2 examine its plugin directory and list the plugins that it finds there.

-op

Mt2 uses an output plugin to actually write the HTML (though theoretically the plugin could write whatever format of file it wishes, perhaps a PDF) albums, and one can choose which to use with this switch. The default is plainhtml. See the section on plugins for more information abou this.

-pc

You can pass configuration options to the output plugin, in addition to any options that the plugin reads from its personal files, using this switch. As the argument to -pc, pass a string of the format "key:value,key:value,...", where the keys and values will have meaning dependent on the plugin you select. For example, with the darkhtml plugin, to be discussed later, you can use this switch in the line, -pc "columns:3,data_url:http://host.com/darkhtml/".

1.3  Resource File

 sample .mt2rc
sort-order=date_ascending
header-string=<h1>Hot Beach Babes</h1>
glob-pattern=beach*.jpg