[KPhotoAlbum] kphotoalbum method of storing Tags, description

[Karl Schmidt]

On 01/29/2012 12:50 AM, Miika Turkia wrote:

>
> All the commercial graphics applications I know of store XMP as
> sidecar, and not directly embedded in the image (Bibble5&  AfterShot
> Pro, Lightroom).

I don't think this is true - (digikam will put it in the file if you ask it to) Also, many tools 
exist in the windoze world that will edit metadata within the image file. Might be that the Linux 
world is out front of commercial software on this.

BTW all three - Bibble5 and Aftershot Pro, lightroom use xmp files that deviate from the standard. 
Windows explorer allows one to add data to the file. Googles Picasa uses the file (overwriting 
others data as of 2009 - looks like they fixed it sept 29, 2010)  exiftool puts it in the file.

It is true that some image processing software will indiscriminately overwrite all the metadata, but 
there is no reason good software would have to.

> As Adobe puts it:
> To avoid file corruption, XMP metadata is stored in a separate file
> called a sidecar file.

I think Adobe is just wrong here on multiple levels.  Mucking with the metafile area is not going to 
destroy picture data - Buggy software can always muck a file, but editing files has been around a 
long time now, and every computer user does it everyday without losing data.

Having the data in separate files is a bigger risk in itself for losing data - guaranteeing  a 
unique name for the "sidecar file", copying the picture file with out the metadata file - all lose 
data - a form of corruption itself!

It might not be trivial to write the code to add annotation to a picture, BUT I am absolutely 
certain it can be done without corrupting the image. <time passes>  I just did it with digikam and 
verified that it is in the file with exifprobe - all the camera data is intact.

If you are working with a beta feature, you can mv the original to a bkupfile ( image.jpg~ ) and 
save the edited version with the original name.

I think the real issue here are poorly designed standards, but it looks like other software has 
overcome that.


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Karl Schmidt                                  EMail Karl at xtronics.com
Transtronics, Inc.                              WEB http://xtronics.com
3209 West 9th Street                             Ph (785) 841-3089
Lawrence, KS 66049                              FAX (785) 841-0434

An individual can do a magnitude more good with a tax dollar he keeps than the government.
Thus, if the government intends to stimulate the economy, it should be by pure tax reduction,
not government spending. People can create wealth with the wealth they keep - the government
can only destroy wealth. -kps



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