Version: (using KDE KDE 3.3.0) OS: Linux It would be great to be able to store all digikam-related files in ~/.digikam/. This would help keep the filesystem clean, since most photo directories are used for other purposes too, and also would help people who do not have write access to their photo directory (and only use digikam to view photos)
digikam maintains exactly one file (digikam.db) in your album library path. this is to allow users to move/copy/rename their entire collection to a different location/computer/storage-media and still have all the metadata retained. also this design allows you to have multiple album library paths and be able to switch between them.
I think it is also very useful that different users can have acces to the digikam photo db by just pointing to the path where the root of the collection is stored, All tags and settings are system wide then.