Bug 517558

Summary: Finalising Tags removes EXIF Copyright and Artist entries
Product: [Applications] digikam Reporter: Don Curtis <bugrprt21882>
Component: Tags-ManagerAssignee: Digikam Developers <digikam-bugs-null>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED    
Severity: grave CC: bugrprt21882, caulier.gilles, metzpinguin
Priority: NOR    
Version First Reported In: 9.0.0   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: openSUSE   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In: 9.1.0
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments: Metadata settings and EXIF view
Copyright setting
Sigma settings (Standard)
EXIF dump of _DQ_6917.JPG before adding the Tags.
EXIF dump of _DQ_6917.JPG after adding the Tags.

Description Don Curtis 2026-03-14 14:39:35 UTC
SUMMARY
When committing Tags, at least the following EXIF tags disappear:
ID 0x013B – Artist
ID 0x8298 – Copyright


STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Assign Tags to at least one JPEG file.
2. Commit the Tags.

OBSERVED RESULT
Notice that, the Artist and Copyright information entered by the Camera have disappeared.

EXPECTED RESULT
That the Artist and Copyright information entered by the Camera is not touched by the Tags entered.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20260311
KDE Plasma Version: 6.6.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.23.0
Qt Version: 6.10.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The camera is a Sigma sd Quattro.
Comment 1 Maik Qualmann 2026-03-14 15:31:09 UTC
Please provide a sample image, if not publicly available, to my private email.

What are your exact metadata settings? Please provide a screenshot.

Maik
Comment 2 Don Curtis 2026-03-14 17:41:11 UTC
Created attachment 190662 [details]
Metadata settings and EXIF view

After Artist and Copyright were activated
Comment 3 Don Curtis 2026-03-14 17:42:39 UTC
Created attachment 190663 [details]
Copyright setting

"Standard" button deactivates Artist and Copyright …
Comment 4 Don Curtis 2026-03-14 17:43:58 UTC
Created attachment 190664 [details]
Sigma settings (Standard)

"Standard" activates these settings.
Comment 5 Don Curtis 2026-03-14 17:54:42 UTC
@Maik:

Found it - the "Standard" settings deactivate the "Artist" and "Copyright" Metadata tags but, when the image has been loaded from the camera, they're visible – until the work-flow has updated the Tags assigned from the Captions view.

---

Strange thing is, Artist and Copyright EXIF Tags were visible with older photos where the Caption tags were set with previous digiKam versions.

I updated to version 9.0 yesterday -- maybe a Friday 13th issue …
Comment 6 Don Curtis 2026-03-16 10:01:16 UTC
@Maik:
Thanks Maik. 
 -- Version Fixed/Implemented In: 9.1.0
Comment 7 Don Curtis 2026-07-15 10:24:29 UTC
Sorry but, with digikam 9.1.0 this issue hasn't been resolved.
 > kinfo
Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20260712
KDE Plasma Version: 6.7.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.27.0
Qt Version: 6.11.1
Kernel Version: 7.1.3-1-default (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 12 × AMD Ryzen 5 8600G w/ Radeon 760M Graphics
Memory: 34 GB of RAM (32.8 GB usable)
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon 760M Graphics
 > 

---

I've dropped 2 photos on a private cloud:
<https://c.1und1.de/@1528800639029613674/4g60fAnsLBiiCOV5XVFt1g>

The first one - _DQ_6917.JPG - demonstrates the issue.
The second one - _DQ_6918.JPG - hasn't been touched by digiKam.
I've attached the EXIF dump of _DQ_6917.JPG before and after setting the Tags with digiKam.
Comment 8 Don Curtis 2026-07-15 10:26:18 UTC
Created attachment 194322 [details]
EXIF dump of _DQ_6917.JPG before adding the Tags.
Comment 9 Don Curtis 2026-07-15 10:26:54 UTC
Created attachment 194323 [details]
EXIF dump of _DQ_6917.JPG after adding the Tags.
Comment 10 Maik Qualmann 2026-07-15 20:15:11 UTC
I cannot reproduce the problem; the Copyright and Artist tags in the image _DQ_6918.JPG are preserved regardless of whether I use Exiv2 or ExifTool. What are your exact metadata settings?

Maik
Comment 11 caulier.gilles 2026-07-20 13:33:07 UTC
Don,

Please respond to the last Maik comment...

Gilles Caulier
Comment 12 Don Curtis 2026-07-20 13:47:29 UTC
(In reply to Maik Qualmann from comment #10)
> I cannot reproduce the problem; the Copyright and Artist tags in the image
> _DQ_6918.JPG are preserved regardless of whether I use Exiv2 or ExifTool.
> What are your exact metadata settings?
> 
> Maik

I've noticed that, I missed a digiKam database schema update - now done.
Also performed a database cleaning.

 * No change - the issue persists.

My metadata settings are the default, standard settings.

---

I'll setup digiKam on a fresh, untarnished, Test User – I'll report back tomorrow.
Comment 13 Don Curtis 2026-07-20 16:23:37 UTC
Setup digiKam in a Test User (fresh - no historical settings - new database) …

 * Imported the 2026-03-13 directory from the main digiKam user.
 * Setting the tags didn't destroy the Copyright and Artist EXIF tags.

---

Looks as if, I'll have to purge the ~/.config/ and ~/.local/share/digikam/ and Database directories of the main digiKam user and then, setup digiKam again and, reimport the EXIF data from my digital photographs – 18 498 photos in 1 069 date based directories dating back to 2007.
Plus a collection of 743 analogue photos.

It seems that, somewhere along the years of using digiKam on openSUSE Leap and pre-Leap systems plus, the move to Tumbleweed and SELinux, something has corrupted the digiKam database and KDE Plasma configuration during all the operating system upgrades and hardware migrations which have happened over the years.

The only thing which makes the housekeeping easier is – I've been using a dedicated user for photographic work – due to earlier usage of Wine to run my camera's RAW processing tool – therefore, it's not a great pain to simply clean out that user's .config/ directory and start with a fresh environment.
Comment 14 Don Curtis 2026-07-21 16:47:32 UTC
Yes, that's it – the issue was an older database and configuration data.

Looking at a database backup, previously the only database files were:
 * digikam4.db   recognition.db   similarity.db   thumbnails-digikam.db

Which is somewhat different to what I have here after forcing a new configuration and database directory:
digikam4.db      recognition.db      similarity.db      thumbnails-digikam.db
digikam4.db-shm  recognition.db-shm  similarity.db-shm  thumbnails-digikam.db-shm
digikam4.db-wal  recognition.db-wal  similarity.db-wal  thumbnails-digikam.db-wal

---

At the first start, digiKam seems to have found all the Tags in the Photos – I'll only have to check against the backup copy I made before deleting the database files, the digiKam/showFoto configuration files and, the .local/share/digikam/ files …
Currently digiKam is proceeding through the Face Recognition search – OK some work will be needed after that completes.

---

A request: When digiKam starts, it would be nice if, there was a warning when the database Scheme has been changed.

---

Please indicate if I can now close this Bug Report.
Comment 15 Don Curtis 2026-07-23 15:45:24 UTC
Definitely looks OK – after the Face Recognition search completed, checked that Tagging doesn't clobber the Copyright and Artist EXIF entries – everything seems to be OK.

Apart from having to redo the Face Recognition entries ...

---

I'll wait a day or so before closing this Bug Report with "Works for me".
Comment 16 Don Curtis 2026-07-28 14:22:30 UTC
With the new database, Face Recognition is much better than before.
The only time consuming aspect of setting up a new database is - the Face Recognition - but, searching for known faces only occasionally has a wrong recognition and therefore it's not too bad.
Therefore, after completing the transition to a new instance of the database, I'm now closing this Bug Report.