[Digikam-users] Metadata settings when using XMP sidecar files

[Elle Stone]

I'm trying to set digiKam up so that it always and only writes to an
xmp sidecar file (never to the actual image file). I have all the
image files set to 'read only."

I'm a little confused about some of the settings options. Here's what
I have for the Metadata Settings:

Under Behavior tab:
Write this information: image tags, captions and titles, rating, pick
label, color label (but don't write timestamps or metadata templates -
these are not checked).

Reading and Writing Metadata:
"Read from sidecar files" is checked.
"Write to sidecar files" is checked, and "Write to XMP sidecar only"
is selected. "If possible, write to raw is unchecked, and "update file
timestamp" is unchecked.

I don't know what "Read from sidecar files" means. When digiKam
created the sidecar files, obviously it read from the image file. So
once the sidecar file is created, what is the effect of reading or not
reading from the sidecar file? digiKam is the only application that
will write to the sidecar files.

On the Rotation page, I have "rotate by only setting a flag" checked,
along with "write flag to metadata if possible". Does this mean the
flag is written to the XMP sidecar? Or does it mean that digiKam tries
to write to the image file (but will fail because the image file is
"read only").

Thanks in advance for any assistance!
Elle Stone