[Digikam-users] Lost tags (was: Re: digiKam 3.5.0 import/rename not working as expected)

[Jean-François Rabasse]

Hello Andreas,

On Mon, 10 Feb 2014, Andreas Mair wrote:

> Hi,
>
> no ideas?
>
> What about XMP sidecar files?
> I'm thinking of syncing the photos' metadata  to XMP sidecar files and
> then move the files to the destination folder.
>
> Now I'd like to verify that each photo's tags are still all right. How
> can I do that?
>
> Any help appreciated!

A couple of weeks ago there was a more or less similar discussion, on
this list. The thread started here if I'm right :
  http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/digikam-users/2014-January/018767.html

The discussion was, roughly, how to preserve metadata accross versions
changes, or environment changes. Perhaps you should have a quick look
at the mentionned thread. There were a dozen of messages with many
hints and considerations.

Anyway, you're right about XMP sidecar files. An application database,
as the Digikam DB, is for working data but can't be considered as a
safe archival system when one wants to keep metadata for a long time.
(Idealy, the lifetime of images.)

Also, the important point is to keep metadata associated with the
image. XMP sidecars do that, or XMP data rewritten into the image
file itself. The Digikam DB doesn't do that because metadata is
associated to images AND a physical device (removable drive handled
by UUID).
And that's what happened to you, when moving images from a removable
drive to a fixed drive, your images are seen as new images, and
existing DB metadata is lost.

With « exported » metadata in XMP format, it becomes even possible to
cleanup a Digikam installation, destroy the DB file, and restart from
scratch, scanning all new images.

Now, discussion about metadata in separate sidecar files, or in the
images files, is a matter of taste.
As for me, I prefer in the images files because, as sidecar usage is
not (or not yet ?) standardized, it's more easy to share metadata
with other applications.
(I personaly really appreciate to browse images folders with Dolphin/
Gwenview and have all my metadata, title, tags, etc. visible in
Gwenview.)

Hope you'll get some more advices and feedback.

Cheers,
Jean-François