Export error no such column ''

[cstaubli]

Dear all

Since late February I'm getting the following error when using osxphotos

Describe the bug
The export will not even start, it always fails with the following error:

Something went wrong and osxphotos encountered an error:
no such column: "" - should this be a string literal in single-quotes?

crash.log:

osxphotos crash log
Created: 2025-03-06 19:11:35.557432
osxphotos version: 0.69.2
Platform: macOS-15.3.1-arm64-arm-64bit
Python version: 3.12.7 | packaged by conda-forge | (main, Oct 4 2024, 15:57:01) [Clang 17.0.6 ]
sys.argv: ['.local/bin/osxphotos', 'export', '/Volumes/photo/backup/apple', '--directory', '{created.year}/{created.mm}/{created.dd}', '--update']
CRASH_DATA:
locals: {'dest': '/Volumes/photo/backup/apple', 'db': None, 'add_exported_to_album': None, 'add_missing_to_album': None, 'add_skipped_to_album': None, 'added_after': None, 'added_before': None, 'added_in_last': None, 'album': (), 'album_keyword': False, 'alt_db': None, 'alt_copy': False, 'append': False, 'fix_orientation': False, 'beta': False, 'burst': False, 'checkpoint': None, 'cleanup': False, 'cloudasset': False, 'config_only': False, 'convert_to_jpeg': False, 'crash_after': None, 'current_name': False, 'deleted': False, 'deleted_only': False, 'description': (), 'description_template': None, 'directory': '{created.year}/{created.mm}/{created.dd}', 'download_missing': False, 'dry_run': False, 'duplicate': False, 'edited': False, 'edited_suffix': None, 'exif': (), 'exiftool': False, 'exiftool_merge_keywords': False, 'exiftool_merge_persons': False, 'exiftool_option': (), 'exiftool_path': None, 'export_as_hardlink': False, 'export_by_date': False, 'exportdb': None, 'external_edit': False, 'favorite': False, 'favorite_rating': False, 'filename_template': None, 'finder_tag_keywords': False, 'finder_tag_template': (), 'folder': (), 'force_update': False, 'from_date': None, 'from_time': None, 'has_comment': False, 'has_likes': False, 'has_raw': False, 'hdr': False, 'hidden': False, 'ignore_case': False, 'ignore_date_modified': False, 'ignore_exportdb': False, 'ignore_signature': False, 'in_album': False, 'incloud': False, 'is_reference': False, 'jpeg_ext': None, 'jpeg_quality': None, 'keep': (), 'keyword': (), 'keyword_template': (), 'label': (), 'limit': None, 'live': False, 'load_config': None, 'location': False, 'max_size': None, 'min_size': None, 'missing': False, 'name': (), 'no_comment': False, 'no_description': False, 'no_exportdb': False, 'no_keyword': False, 'no_likes': False, 'no_location': False, 'no_place': False, 'no_progress': False, 'no_title': False, 'not_burst': False, 'not_cloudasset': False, 'not_edited': False, 'not_favorite': False, 'not_hdr': False, 'not_hidden': False, 'not_in_album': False, 'not_incloud': False, 'not_live': False, 'not_missing': False, 'not_panorama': False, 'not_portrait': False, 'not_reference': False, 'not_screenshot': False, 'not_screen_recording': False, 'not_selfie': False, 'not_shared': False, 'not_slow_mo': False, 'not_time_lapse': False, 'only_movies': False, 'only_new': False, 'only_photos': False, 'original_suffix': None, 'overwrite': False, 'panorama': False, 'person': (), 'person_keyword': False, 'place': (), 'portrait': False, 'post_command': (), 'post_command_error': None, 'post_function': (), 'preview': False, 'preview_if_missing': False, 'preview_suffix': None, 'print_template': (), 'query_eval': (), 'query_function': (), 'ramdb': False, 'regex': (), 'replace_keywords': False, 'report': None, 'retry': None, 'save_config': None, 'screenshot': False, 'screen_recording': False, 'selfie': False, 'shared': False, 'export_aae': False, 'sidecar': (), 'sidecar_drop_ext': False, 'sidecar_template': (), 'skip_bursts': False, 'skip_edited': False, 'skip_live': False, 'skip_original_if_edited': False, 'skip_raw': False, 'skip_uuid': (), 'skip_uuid_from_file': None, 'slow_mo': False, 'strip': False, 'theme': None, 'time_lapse': False, 'timestamp': False, 'title': (), 'tmpdir': None, 'to_date': None, 'to_time': None, 'touch_file': False, 'update': True, 'update_errors': False, 'use_photokit': False, 'use_photos_export': False, 'uti': None, 'uuid': (), 'uuid_from_file': None, 'verbose_flag': 0, 'xattr_template': (), 'year': (), 'syndicated': False, 'not_syndicated': False, 'saved_to_library': False, 'not_saved_to_library': False, 'shared_moment': False, 'not_shared_moment': False, 'shared_library': False, 'not_shared_library': False, 'selected': False, 'ctx': <click.core.Context object at 0x120c5eba0>, 'cli_obj': <osxphotos.cli.cli.CLI_Obj object at 0x120cd8890>}
osxphotos version: 0.69.2
Error: no such column: "" - should this be a string literal in single-quotes?
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Users/christianstaubli/.local/pipx/venvs/osxphotos/lib/python3.12/site-packages/osxphotos/crash_reporter.py", line 79, in wrapped
return func(*args, **kwargs)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/christianstaubli/.local/pipx/venvs/osxphotos/lib/python3.12/site-packages/osxphotos/cli/export.py", line 1119, in export
return_code = export_cli(**locals())
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/christianstaubli/.local/pipx/venvs/osxphotos/lib/python3.12/site-packages/osxphotos/cli/export.py", line 1877, in export_cli
photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB(
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/Users/christianstaubli/.local/pipx/venvs/osxphotos/lib/python3.12/site-packages/osxphotos/photosdb/photosdb.py", line 419, in init
self._process_database5()
File "/Users/christianstaubli/.local/pipx/venvs/osxphotos/lib/python3.12/site-packages/osxphotos/photosdb/photosdb.py", line 2577, in _process_database5
self._process_comments()
File "/Users/christianstaubli/.local/pipx/venvs/osxphotos/lib/python3.12/site-packages/osxphotos/photosdb/_photosdb_process_comments.py", line 25, in _process_comments
_process_comments_5(self)
File "/Users/christianstaubli/.local/pipx/venvs/osxphotos/lib/python3.12/site-packages/osxphotos/photosdb/_photosdb_process_comments.py", line 48, in _process_comments_5
results = conn.execute(
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
sqlite3.OperationalError: no such column: "" - should this be a string literal in single-quotes?

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. What' the full command line you used with osxphotos? osxphotos export /path/to/backup/directory --directory "{created.year}/{created.mm}/{created.dd}" --update
2. What was the error output? See above

Expected behavior
I'm trying to export my photos to a backup location. This worked before for thousands of photos. Photos app itself works.

Screenshots
n/a

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Sequoia 15.3.1
• osxphotos version (osxphotos --version) 0.69.2

Additional context
Python: 3.12.7

Let me know if you need anything else.

Regards
Christian

[RhetTbull]

This may be in an issue with 15.3.1. I don't run macOS 15 so osxphotos not been as well tested on macOS 15. Try the following and post the output here:

sqlite3 ~/Pictures/Photos\ Library.photoslibrary/database/Photos.sqlite ".schema" > schema_15_3_1.txt

Then post `schema_15_3_1.txt here. It's possible the schema has changed. The error message unfortunately doesn't provide much info about what's going on.

[cstaubli]

Hi RhetTbull

Could be this, as I installed 15.3.1 around this date. Attached is schema

photos-schema_15.3.1.txt

[pl804]

I started getting this error as well in the past few days. I think it was working on 15.3.1, but I recently upgraded to 15.3.2. I am attaching the schema below:

schema_15_3_2.txt

[RhetTbull]

Thanks. I'll take a look in next few days and see if I can sort this out.

[pl804]

If it's helpful, here's the command I ran that resulted in a similar error. The command is not dissimilar from the reporter's command (it appears that we both used created date/time-based target folder variables):

osxphotos export --library "/Users/paul/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary" "/Volumes/WD/osxphotos" --directory "{created.year}/{created.mm}" --skip-edited --skip-live --skip-bursts --exiftool --report "/Volumes/WD/osxphotos/report.csv"

[rickalex21]

Same issue here, on 15.3 using the python module with the example:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

"""print filename, date created, title, and keywords for all photos in Photos library"""

import osxphotos

if __name__ == "__main__":
    photosdb = osxphotos.PhotosDB()
    for photo in photosdb.photos():
        print(photo.original_filename, photo.date, photo.title, photo.keywords)

[RhetTbull]

@rickalex21 Apparently 15.3 changed the schema for Photos database. I'll get a fix out as soon as possible.