Trigger creation of XMP sidecar files

DxO PhotoLab
21

@platypus It is sad that I cannot run the two side by side but I don’t have a Mac and the expense is not justifiable.

The procedure I executed was

  1. Turn PL9 off
  2. Open the database in SQLiteStudio and
  3. Execute UPDATE 'Sources' SET 'MetadataNeedsToBeSaved' = '1'
  4. Close SQLiteStudio which seems to save the updates without any further commands.
  5. Verify that all entries have the value of ‘1’, i.e. that the updates had been saved back to the database
  6. Start PL9
  7. Review known directories to see if xmp sidecar files have been produced.

Please amend the above procedure to ensure that I am doing the right thing

The option settings are

image
image1658×943 107 KB

22

My steps:

  1. I quit PL and delete its database as well as the sidecars
    I use the CLI to delete sidecars, it’s much faster than doing it with Finder

    find /Volumes/MacFotos/Fotoarchiv/ -type f -name “*.dop” -print -delete

  2. a) I restore the tweaked database backup.
    This launches the export of DOP files, no questions asked.
    b) To export XMP, I need to set PL to autosync xmp before
    I restore the tweaked database backup.

Sidecars are written by PL in a very short time, xmp takes longer, but still one figure minutes. Because it’s so fast, I have PL export ONE kind only.

I’ve tested forced .dop export many times successfully. As for exporting xmp, I’m a bit reluctant to do so because I have to rewrite xmp with Lightroom.

If metadata is set by a different app, the procedure should be as follows:

  1. quit PL and delete the database
  2. open PL and index the full archive (to add metadata)
  3. use PL to create a DB backup
  4. tweak the (dop) sidecar cells of the DB backup
  5. delete PL’s DB
  6. start PL and restore the tweaked DB backup

THIN ICE WARNING
Removing sidecars and the DB helps PL to ingest things “as new”. This should also apply the default preset, which is not what the ordinary user wants. As I use PL as an add-on to Lr, it’s okay for me to dump previous edits, but again YMMV.

NEVER EVER DO SUCH THINGS WITHOUT A VERIFIED BACKUP