Bug 317611

Summary:	FACTORING : allow to handle XMP sidecar metadata while export items
Product:	[Applications] digikam	Reporter:	John Regan <saxindustries>
Component:	Plugin-Generic-WishForNewTools	Assignee:	Digikam Developers <digikam-bugs-null>
Status:	REPORTED ---
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	caulier.gilles, dw-kde, shouryasgupta
Priority:	NOR
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Arch Linux
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description John Regan 2013-03-30 16:21:24 UTC

I have digikam configured to write my metadata to XMP sidecar files only.

I shoot in RAW, then use digikam to import the RAW photo, edit/crop/etc, then save a a JPG and upload to flickr.

I noticed that when I export to flickr, a lot of the original EXIF information is lost - camera model and date taken being the two I immediately notice. Additionally, if I choose the JPG version in the album viewer, and click the Metadata tab, the EXIF tab is blank. I tried exporting to flickr with the "send original" option as well as the "resize before uploading" option, both photos are uploaded without EXIF information.

If I choose to write the metadata to the image instead, the original EXIF information is present in the JPG version of the photo and everything displays on flickr correctly, so I have a workaround. It'd be nice if the EXIF/XMP information could somehow be uploaded along with the photo (I don't know if the flickr API has a way to do that or not).

Additionally, if I add some kind of new data, like a title or caption, that is uploaded to flickr correctly.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Set Digikam to write metadata to XMP sidecar files only.
2. Import a RAW photo and save as JPG (I only tried "Save as", not "Save as new version").
3. Set a title or caption.
4. Export to flickr.
Actual Results:
The photo is uploaded without the original metadata (date taken, camera model), but it does have the title/caption.

Expected Results:
It'd be cool to upload all the original metadata.

Comment 1 caulier.gilles 2018-11-03 10:59:37 UTC

WARNING : with digiKam 6.0.0 and later, we will not support kipi interface anymore. All tools are now located in digiKam core as well for a plan to provide a more power-full integration with Batch Queue Manager and to be able to export a workflow on a web-service.

All export tools are now available everywhere : album view, Image editor, Light table, and Showfoto. Previously, only album view from digiKam core was able to deal with export tools through libkipi.

All export tools are now located here :

https://cgit.kde.org/digikam.git/tree/core/utilities/assistants/webservices

All export tools use now a dedicated interface to communicate with the application :

- digiKam (database) :

https://cgit.kde.org/digikam.git/tree/core/libs/database/utils/ifaces/dbinfoiface.h

- Showfoto (files metadata) :

https://cgit.kde.org/digikam.git/tree/core/utilities/assistants/common/dmetainfoiface.h

There is not direct use of digiKam database for compatibility with Showfoto.

We plan later to provide a dynamic loading of export tools using a plugins mechanism. This will reduce overloading of the internal core libraries. A dedicated devel branch have been created for that, but it's not yet complete:

https://cgit.kde.org/digikam.git/tree/?h=development/dplugins

But take a care, digiKam export tools as plugins will not be shared with another external application. API will still private and only shared between Showfoto and digiKam core. The experience with libkipi was bad and complex to maintain/extend in time.

Gilles Caulier

Comment 2 dw-kde 2023-06-25 23:49:18 UTC

I have the same request.  Using digiKam 7.10.0 on Kubuntu.  DigiKam is configured with non-destructive editing and versioning enabled, and to write metadata to XMP sidecar only.  

When doing an export (such as to SmugMug), it appears to be basically just exporting the original file and ignoring most XMP data, though it does export the captions from XMP.  This means any corrected date/time or location data is not exported.

While I don't want digiKam modifying the files in my local collection, it should inject the XMP data into the copy that is exported.