digiKam Overwrites XMP Sidecar when "Write Metadata to Files"

[Maik Qualmann]

Possibly a similar problem to this:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=503885

A sample image is required.

Maik

Am Montag, 12. Mai 2025, 18:59:20 Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit schrieb Chai 
Yunxuan:
> Hi,
> 
> I encountered a strange issue in digiKam that seems to occur only with
> certain images. I’ve attached one such image that consistently reproduces
> the problem.
> 
> Here’s the step-by-step process to reproduce it:
> 
>    1.
> 
>    Import the image into digiKam.
>    2.
> 
>    Use *Album → Read Metadata from Files*. At this point, the tag list (in
>    this case *Species/Blank*) appears correctly, and the *XMP* tab in the
>    metadata sidebar displays the expected content.
>    3.
> 
>    In *Settings → Configure digiKam → Metadata → Sidecars*, I’ve enabled
> *Write to sidecar files* with the option *Write to item and XMP sidecar*.
> Based on this setting, I expect that writing metadata will update or create
> a sidecar file with the correct information.
>    4.
> 
>    Now, run *Album → Write Metadata to Files*. After this, the XMP data
>    seen in step 2 disappears, and the output "empty" sidecar file contains
>    only the XML header: <?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?>
>    The image file’s metadata remains unchanged, so if I delete the
>    generated sidecar and redo step 2, the metadata appears again in digiKam.
> 
> I’m a bit confused, any insights or suggestions would be appreciated!
> Thanks
> Chai