[digiKam-users] Is there any way to stop Exif Caption being copied to Description?

[Chris Green]

Well I'm experimenting with Digikam's "Edit Metadata" and I seem to
have hit a problem.  There seems to be no way to prevent the text in
the "Caption" being copied to the "Description".  Since "Caption" is
the only field that allows accented characters this is a bit difficult!

I've tried removing "Exif.Image.ImageDescription" from the fields in
the Settings->Metadata->Advanced tab but data *still* gets written
into the "Description" box. (While I'm about it what's the difference
between un-ticking the tick box and removing the line completely?)

It seems the only way to get accented characters into an image
description without producing fields that the exiv2 library doesn't
like is to put them only in XMP fields.


--
Chris Green
·

[Maik Qualmann]

Which version of digiKam do you use? This problem is actually fixed. However,
if you use sidecars this is still possible because we are reading the same XMP
tag over the Exiv2 metadata mapping.

Maik

Am Montag, 17. September 2018, 15:22:05 CEST schrieb Chris Green:

> Well I'm experimenting with Digikam's "Edit Metadata" and I seem to
> have hit a problem.  There seems to be no way to prevent the text in
> the "Caption" being copied to the "Description".  Since "Caption" is
> the only field that allows accented characters this is a bit difficult!
>
> I've tried removing "Exif.Image.ImageDescription" from the fields in
> the Settings->Metadata->Advanced tab but data *still* gets written
> into the "Description" box. (While I'm about it what's the difference
> between un-ticking the tick box and removing the line completely?)
>
> It seems the only way to get accented characters into an image
> description without producing fields that the exiv2 library doesn't
> like is to put them only in XMP fields.

[Chris Green]

Maik Qualmann <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Am Montag, 17. September 2018, 15:22:05 CEST schrieb Chris Green:
> > Well I'm experimenting with Digikam's "Edit Metadata" and I seem to
> > have hit a problem.  There seems to be no way to prevent the text in
> > the "Caption" being copied to the "Description".  Since "Caption" is
> > the only field that allows accented characters this is a bit difficult!
> >
> > I've tried removing "Exif.Image.ImageDescription" from the fields in
> > the Settings->Metadata->Advanced tab but data *still* gets written
> > into the "Description" box. (While I'm about it what's the difference
> > between un-ticking the tick box and removing the line completely?)
> >
> > It seems the only way to get accented characters into an image
> > description without producing fields that the exiv2 library doesn't
> > like is to put them only in XMP fields.
>
> Which version of digiKam do you use? This problem is actually fixed. However,
> if you use sidecars this is still possible because we are reading the same XMP
> tag over the Exiv2 metadata mapping.
>

I'm on Digikam 5.6, the version that comes with the latest [x]ubuntu
18.04.  I'm not using sidecar files, I want my metadata in the image
file[s].

I believe xubuntu 18.10 will have Digikam 5.9, it's only a month away.

--
Chris Green
·

[Maik Qualmann]

DigiKam-5.6.0 is too old, you could use the AppImage digiKam-5.9.0. However,
the last fix for this issue was added to digiKam-6.0.0.

Beta 1 AppImage:
https://files.kde.org/digikam/

If you want to use the beta, make a backup of the database, because
digiKam-6.0.0 makes changes and if you want to return to an older version.

Maik

Am Montag, 17. September 2018, 21:30:18 CEST schrieb Chris Green:

> Maik Qualmann <[hidden email]> wrote:
> > Am Montag, 17. September 2018, 15:22:05 CEST schrieb Chris Green:
> > > Well I'm experimenting with Digikam's "Edit Metadata" and I seem to
> > > have hit a problem.  There seems to be no way to prevent the text in
> > > the "Caption" being copied to the "Description".  Since "Caption" is
> > > the only field that allows accented characters this is a bit difficult!
> > >
> > > I've tried removing "Exif.Image.ImageDescription" from the fields in
> > > the Settings->Metadata->Advanced tab but data *still* gets written
> > > into the "Description" box. (While I'm about it what's the difference
> > > between un-ticking the tick box and removing the line completely?)
> > >
> > > It seems the only way to get accented characters into an image
> > > description without producing fields that the exiv2 library doesn't
> > > like is to put them only in XMP fields.
> >
> > Which version of digiKam do you use? This problem is actually fixed.
> > However, if you use sidecars this is still possible because we are
> > reading the same XMP tag over the Exiv2 metadata mapping.
>
> I'm on Digikam 5.6, the version that comes with the latest [x]ubuntu
> 18.04.  I'm not using sidecar files, I want my metadata in the image
> file[s].
>
> I believe xubuntu 18.10 will have Digikam 5.9, it's only a month away.

[Chris Green]

Maik Qualmann <[hidden email]> wrote:
> DigiKam-5.6.0 is too old, you could use the AppImage digiKam-5.9.0. However,
> the last fix for this issue was added to digiKam-6.0.0.
>
> Beta 1 AppImage:
> https://files.kde.org/digikam/
>
> If you want to use the beta, make a backup of the database, because
> digiKam-6.0.0 makes changes and if you want to return to an older version.
>
Digikam x.x is *always* too old!  It's one of the major issues I have
with Digikam, it's all very well improving it all the time but we
'ordinary' people out here need a solid reliable Digikam that comes
with a solid reliable distribution.

However I guess I might try the 5.9 Appimage and see if it helps.  I
think 6.0 is still too 'beta' and thus a bit risky.

--
Chris Green
·

[Remco Viëtor]

On mardi 18 septembre 2018 14:49:51 CEST Chris Green wrote:

> Maik Qualmann <[hidden email]> wrote:
> > DigiKam-5.6.0 is too old, you could use the AppImage digiKam-5.9.0.
> > However, the last fix for this issue was added to digiKam-6.0.0.
> >
> > Beta 1 AppImage:
> > https://files.kde.org/digikam/
> >
> > If you want to use the beta, make a backup of the database, because
> > digiKam-6.0.0 makes changes and if you want to return to an older version.
>
> Digikam x.x is *always* too old!  It's one of the major issues I have
> with Digikam, it's all very well improving it all the time but we
> 'ordinary' people out here need a solid reliable Digikam that comes
> with a solid reliable distribution.

That's normal with small development teams: they can spend their time
backporting bug-fixes to old versions, or decide to work only on the latest and
make some progress.

That said, I've seen the same for programs with big teams: unless a version is
specifically marked with "long-time support", the advice you get there is also
"upgrade to the latest version, please".

And in this case, the cause of you having an old version is NOT Digikam, but
your distro. Although there might be user-maintained repositories with newer  
versions. I know that's the case for OpenSuse: for me the "official" version
from the distro is 5.5.0, build service (semi-official) provides 5.9.0, and
appimage runs without problems (for me).

Remco