Bug 208781

Summary:	Loading metadata from XMP sidecar files
Product:	[Applications] gwenview	Reporter:	Nikita U <ds.highwind>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Gwenview Bugs <gwenview-bugs-null>
Status:	REPORTED ---
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	audvare, vdanjean.ml, yshuiv7
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Gentoo Packages
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments:	XMP file example XMP file example

Description Nikita U 2009-09-28 16:08:25 UTC

Version:           2.3.1 (using KDE 4.3.1)
Compiler:          gcc version 4.3.2 
OS:                Linux
Installed from:    Gentoo Packages

Would it be possible to make use of sidecar XMP files when displaying image meta-data information toolbar in gwenview?

Say, there is an image "1.png" with some meta-data embedded within the file, and a file "1.png.xmp" with external meta-data. Currently, Gwenview has some options to display embedded exif, iptc, xmp fields under "Meta information" section of the sidebar (which is, I guess, what libkexiv gives you), but does not use the external meta-file.

I guess xmp files are not used widely, but it would really be a nice feature to have a separate "External XMP" metadata information section. It would be of some use for users, unwilling to modify actual image files when updating image information (roughly the same way as nepomuk, but with ability to transfer metadata between computers).

Comment 1 Aurelien Gateau 2009-12-08 17:21:14 UTC

That would be nice indeed. Could you attach one or more example files to this report?

Comment 2 Nikita U 2009-12-09 00:19:44 UTC

Created attachment 38934 [details]
XMP file example

An example XMP sidecar file.
I've checked this meta-data file to be valid – it is possible to embed tags, creator, publisher and the source of the image into the image file using the exiv2 command line tool (http://www.exiv2.org/).

Comment 3 Nikita U 2009-12-09 00:26:21 UTC

Created attachment 38935 [details]
XMP file example

Comment 4 Vincent Danjean 2010-05-05 11:47:54 UTC

Allowing to use XMP sidecar file and to not touch the original files will also improve backups: for now, each time I change any metadata (usually tags), the file is backuped again and again. My backup program (backuppc) must store a full new version of the image instead of using (hard)links to the previous 'version'. If XMP sidecar were used, the original image would not change, avoiding similar but not exact copy in each backup. XMP files would be duplicated but their size is a lot smaller than the original image.

A second thought: I see that you will use the same basename with the .xmp extension. How will you deal with 'foo.jpg' and 'foo.avi' when both present ? (ignore one ? which one in this case ?) Won't 'foo.jpg.xmp' and 'foo.avi.xmp' be a better choice ?

A third thought: some other software (geeqie) allow to read/write xmp files in another directory. This way, photos can be on a read-only medium (CD or ro NFS) and xmp files (and so metadata) can still be edited and saved on the hard-disk.

I hope a support for using XMP files will soon be present. Many thanks for your work on this part.

Regards,
  Vincent

Comment 5 Vincent Danjean 2010-05-05 11:52:32 UTC

Oups, my previous comment was for bug 220545. I duplicated it. Anyway, I think that both bugs must be merged.

Comment 6 Andrew Udvare 2012-02-29 09:37:50 UTC

How about reading an XMP file that has the same name as the file minus the extension?

I rsync from my iPhone and before iOS 5 the rotation data was not put into the image file. Instead an XMP meta data file would be made with the same name minus the extension.

IMG_0266.PNG
IMG_0266.XMP

The XMP data file (has real \n\0 bytes at the end):
<x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="XMP Core 4.4.0">
   <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
      <rdf:Description rdf:about=""
            xmlns:tiff="http://ns.adobe.com/tiff/1.0/">
         <tiff:Orientation>8</tiff:Orientation>
      </rdf:Description>
   </rdf:RDF>
</x:xmpmeta>\n\0

Comment 7 Justin Zobel 2021-03-09 02:32:43 UTC

Thank you for the bug report.

As this report hasn't seen any changes in 5 years or more, we ask if you can please confirm that the issue still persists.

If this bug is no longer persisting or relevant please change the status to resolved.

Comment 8 Yuxuan Shui 2025-01-14 18:43:46 UTC

This is still not resolved, gwenview still doesn't load metadata from sidecar.