Piwigo photo gallery test

So I followed instructions, mainly from this site.
PHP 7.2 is available in Ubuntu now so I used the repositories instead of a PPA to install it.  In addition I had to install the following optional php modules:

• sudo apt install php7.2-gd
• sudo apt install php7.2-mysql
• sudo apt install php7.2-mbstring
• ???

The proceeded to finish the install using the web interface.  Worked OK, uploaded a bunch of photos.  So far so good, starting to test.  Idelly this should provide:

• Easy bulk upload from Darktable
• Use metadata when available in the JPEG file, and allow searching on them:
• title
• description
• tags (keywords)
• date taken
• geotagging
• ...
• Authenticate users in the web interface
• Allows users to view but also download to their local device (phone, pc)
• ?

So after some testing:

• Easy bulk upload from Darktable: not directly.  I thought it was possible but the feature request about this is not progressing much in 5 years.  Exporting to JPEG then uploading through the web interface is possible of course.
• Authenticate users in the web interface : Yes, looks fine
• Allows users to view but also download to their local device (phone, pc) : Yes, look fine
• Use metadata when available in the JPEG file, and allow searching on them: not out of the box.  There used to be a plugin (Advanced Metadata) to do that, but it's not been maintained and doesn't run on current Piwigo releases apparenty.  So this is a show stopper for me.

Conclusion: dropped user and database from mysql, left the rest of the LAMP stack installed, might get used by something else later on... then noticed that Shotwell has a working Publish interface to Piwigo so started all over again to test that.