Bug 416258

Summary:	Editing tags in Gwenview for read-only files fails silently
Product:	[Applications] gwenview	Reporter:	tagwerk19
Component:	general	Assignee:	Gwenview Bugs <gwenview-bugs-null>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---
Severity:	normal	CC:	nate
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	19.12.1
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
See Also:	https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=133515
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description tagwerk19 2020-01-14 16:58:20 UTC

SUMMARY

Gwenview gives a dialog to edit tags for an image file under Semantic Information 

If read/write permissions granted on the file (0600), the change occurs and can be seen with getfattr -d ...

If only read permissions granted (0400), the change is accepted by Gwenview (and cached?) but it is not changed in the attributes in the filesystem (the change is not seen with getfattr -d ...)

The same behaviour happens for changes to the rating and comment fields


STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Create a read-only image file, open with gwenview and attempt to set a tag.
2. Check the file with getfattr -d ....

OBSERVED RESULT

Gwenview thinks the tag has been added but the attributes are not changed on the filesystem

EXPECTED RESULT

Give an error message if the attempt to change details fails

DESIRED STATE

Do not give an option to change tags for read-only files. 

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS

Gwenview 19.12.1
from Neon 5.17

KDE Plasma 5.17.5
KDE Frameworks 5.66.0
Qt 5.13.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This is similar to earlier behaviour in Dolphin 19.04.02, where a change was accepted but the xattr details not changed. With Dolphin 19.08.3, the option to edit tags is not given for read-only files.

Comment 1 tagwerk19 2020-01-15 12:34:47 UTC

As an aside...

As images downloaded from a camera are (or are often?) created as read-only files, it may be helpful for Gwenview to display a 'edit' button or link but give a pop up message that the file is read-only. That will help the discoverability of the tagging feature for people new to the application

Comment 2 A Linux User 2025-09-04 12:18:26 UTC

Thank you for the bug report. Unfortunately we were not able to get to it yet. Can we ask you to please check if this is still an issue with Gwenview 25.08.0 (the latest released version)?

Comment 3 tagwerk19 2025-09-05 22:47:45 UTC

(In reply to tagwerk19 from comment #0)
> SUMMARY
>  ... 
> DESIRED STATE
> Do not give an option to change tags for read-only files. 
Thank you for looking at this...

If you open a file you have read/write access, show editing tools and open the file properties. You get options to change tags, the rating and edit the comment. If you open a file you only have read access to, you don't see these options in the properties dialog. 

So this seems fixed.

You can however get to the "Edit Tags" and "Rating" menu items by going through the Hamburger Menu and "More". Or move them to them toolbar if you want them closer to hand.

In this case you can edit the tags and ratings but the changes are not written to disk - and it fails silently.

Comment 4 tagwerk19 2025-09-05 23:02:17 UTC

Ahhh, yes.

There's also what you get in the Image Information side panel. You are given the options to change the Rating, Tags and Description, but any changes you make are not written to disk.

So I think the issue still stands.