write metadata should be default

[Thibaut Brandscheid]

'Write tags, titles and other metadata to photo files' setting should be default in Shotwell. Some times ago I tagged all my holiday pictures (it took me hours to do so) and after an Ubuntu reinstall I was pretty shocked not to see all my images tagged after copying my files back from my backup drive. I guess I'm not the only person that had to make this experience.

Precise Pangolin is about every little detail and this is something that could (and I'm sure dose) bug a lot of people. So please make write metadata default as long as there is not a good reason not to do so.

I really love Shotwell, for me it is a nearly perfect image managing tool.
Keep up the good work!

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: shotwell 0.11.92-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-17.27-generic-pae 3.2.6
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-17-generic-pae i686
ApportVersion: 1.94-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Mar 4 19:20:38 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta i386 (20120227)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: shotwell
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Lucas Beeler (lucas-yorba)]

As an upstream developer, I'm not sure that writing metadata by default agrees with the Shotwell design philosophy, which is to be completely non-destructive and not touch users' photo files unless specifically requested. That said, I think this problem is real and would be well-served by adding a photo backup feature to shotwell. We have an upstream request for such a feature here: http://redmine.yorba.org/issues/1963

[Adam Dingle (adam-yorba)]

Actually, we would like to evolve Shotwell so that all metadata edits and changes are always stored in files, not only in the database. There are several ways this can happen:

- we can write metadata changes to the original photo file (which is what happens when this checkbox is checked today)
- we can make a copy of the original file and store the metadata changes there
- we can store metadata in a sidecar file

We may someday have options that enable any of these behaviors. See http://redmine.yorba.org/issues/1798 and http://redmine.yorba.org/issues/1879 .

[Thibaut Brandscheid (k1au3-is-37)]

This non-destructive philosophy is a noble approach and how it should be. But as long as it is not reality I would suggest to go with a more “real world approach” for some settings. I don't know what its meant with 'other metadata's in the preference option, but for me tags are something that should be written to the file immediately – maybe separate the metadata option into two entries 'write tags' and 'write titles and other metadata to photo files'. Check the 'write tags' by default (tags do no harm anyone – as far as I know) and leave the other entry unchecked as it is right now.

As devs you have kind of a responsibility for the more unknowing users out there, they don't know about all the details, they just want it to work. For the tag example, I'm sure that I'm not the only one that has lost many photo-tagging-hours expecting a different behavior of Shotwell. I don't blame you for your non-destructive approach, I realy like what you guys (and girls?) do, but I think that the tag setting needs to be changed (for Ubuntu).

PS: I've tested the Mac photo app for ~30 min and liked Shotwell much more :)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.