Comments on: F-Spot Considered Harmful

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:26:33 +0000

But lets not also minimize this issue. There are times when I do want F-Spot to change the date on file and when I do change the date I would like F-Spot to write it to the metadata in the file, so I check the box.

The issue is this: F-Spot is changing the metadata on its own without me asking it to.

As far as the EXIF specification is concerned, that’s what we have and it’s what camera manufacturers support, so it’s what users and the F-Spot developers have to deal with. If the F-Spot developers feel the need to store a timezone they have to store it somewhere else.

To reiterate: F-Spot should never change the metadata in my photos unless I tell it to!

By: RubenV

RubenV — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:21:51 +0000

As an F-Spot developer, I find all of this very amusing. Have you even used F-Spot? We will *never* write your files, unless you tick the “write metadata in files” box in the preferences.

Let’s not blow this out of proportion, shall we? If you want to point fingers, blame the people that originally developed the EXIF specification. The fact that they don’t embed a timezone is what’s causing this problem, not only for F-Spot, but for all applications dealing with photos.

By: David Kastrup

David Kastrup — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:53:04 +0000

I find the reply of the F-spot developers utterly dissatisfactory. Basically they say “we may have been changing your original data uncalled for in the wrong way in the past, we’ll take care to change your original data uncalled for in the right way in future”.

No, that does not cut it. The question is not how to best change the EXIF data without asking. Any photo import tool has the duty to _not_ _change_ _a_ _single_ _byte_, not even to something purportedly equivalent _unless_ a _modifying_ operation is being done. And then, only _that_ information which is directly affected by the _requested_ modification should be changed.

By: dfhdfh

dfhdfh — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:52:00 +0000

This isn’t about whining about some things missing.
It’s about that a program changes stuff that it shouldn’t.
A programmer actually has to write code that changes that values.
So yes, it is moronic to write such code.

But enough said, all the projects that seem to exhibit that behaviour seem to be on Mono/.NET.
I won’t use F-Spot ever and will always try to show people Mono-free alternatives!

By: Stephen Preston

Stephen Preston — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:59:11 +0000

I just removed F-Spot from my new Karmic install after reading this. I won’t be installing it again, even if they fix this behavior.