Author Topic: Case sensitive file system and Lightroom/PhotoMechanic  (Read 1727 times)

Offline gand

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Case sensitive file system and Lightroom/PhotoMechanic
« on: January 21, 2022, 10:26:38 PM »
Hi
I have an issue with .xmp and upper/lowercase.

Case1 - Picture 1
PhotoMechanic creates the .xmp file in the lower case (selected in Preferences> Files)

Case1 - Picture 2
Lightroom inserts a new Keyword and .xmp is updated as expected

Case 2 - Picture 1
Lightroom creates the .xmp file in lowercase (default)

Case 2 - Picture 2
PhotoMechanic inserts new Keyword and there are now 2 .xmp files. One in lowercase, the original, and a new one created by PhotoMechanic in the uppercase

Lightroom will only read .xmp in the lowercase, so updates from PhotoMechanic will not be visible in Lightroom.

My network drive is clearly case sensitive, I use pCloud.

What I can not figure out is:
why it works fine when PhotoMechanic creates the .xmp file

why does not work when Lightroom creates the .xmp file and PhotoMechabic updates it by creating a new .XMP in uppercase. Most of my pictures have LIghtroom created the .xmp file

I am very new to PhotoMechanic and can see the case sensitivity mentioned before, but without answers.

Is there anyone who can spread some light and a possible solution?

Windows 10
Lightroom Classic 11.1
PhotoMechanic 6.0 6245

Rgds
Gert

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: Case sensitive file system and Lightroom/PhotoMechanic
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2022, 06:29:22 AM »
Gert,

Can you post a screenshot of the Files page of the Photo Mechanic Preferences dialog, please?  Use the 'Attachments and other options' link when you're composing your reply to this message and there you'll be able to upload your JPEG format screenshot.

Thanks,

-Kirk

Offline gand

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Re: Case sensitive file system and Lightroom/PhotoMechanic
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2022, 07:50:28 AM »
Hi

Attached a screenshot.

Rgds
Gert

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: Case sensitive file system and Lightroom/PhotoMechanic
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2022, 08:04:43 AM »
Gert,

Your settings should make Photo Mechanic Plus only create files with lowercase extensions.  So it looks like there is a bug in the logic for extension case that I'll have to look into. That said, I think you should be using uppercase extensions in both Photo Mechanic Plus and Lightroom.  The reason is that your CR2 images from your camera already have uppercase extensions and for best compatibility the case of all associated extensions should match the source image.

Another reasonable file extensions setting would be "Use case of source file when possible, uppercase otherwise" which will force Photo Mechanic Plus to adapt to the case of the extension of the associated image file.

-Kirk

Offline gand

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Re: Case sensitive file system and Lightroom/PhotoMechanic
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2022, 11:14:21 AM »
Hi Kirk

Thanks for looking.

Just to try something, I reverted back to version 6097, with the same result. If the .xmp is created by Lightroom, PhotoMechanic will create a new .XMP in uppercase(settings set to lowercase), which can't be read by Lightroom.

I'm not sure I can change Lightroom to create .xmp in uppercase.

Update:
I also use another DAM software for other purposes and have just tested the same cases and it worked as expected.
Is there anything else I can test to find out. what is going on?

Rgds
Gert
« Last Edit: January 22, 2022, 11:20:51 PM by gand »

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: Case sensitive file system and Lightroom/PhotoMechanic
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2022, 03:55:37 PM »
Gert,

I have installed pCloud on my system and investigated the problem.

Findings: PM checks the case of the extension of the image file (for instance .CR2 or .cr2) and then checks for attached files using the case of the image file first and if that fails, then the opposite case.

So when PM creates the XMP file when editing metadata, it honors the user's settings (you chose lowercase extensions), even though they don't always match the case of the source file and creates a lowercase .xmp file.  Later when the attached files list is purged and the attached files are scanned, PM asks, does there exist a file with the name filename.XMP? (because the image is filename.CR2 it starts with uppercase XMP)  The pCloud filesystem responds with yes, there exists a normal file with that name when actually no such file exists.

When PM is instructed to save the XMP sidecar file again (user edits metadata a second time), then PM updates the file that it had attached to the image (with the .XMP extension) and thus the second file is created.

Basically, the filesystem that pCloud emulates on Windows lies about the existence of files.

You can see that even Windows is confused when you try to select both XMP sidecar files and delete them.  It gets an error saying that one of the two files is no longer located in that folder and gives you options to "Try Again", "Skip", or "Cancel".

I suggest contacting pCloud and see if they can truly make their case-sensitive filesystem work correctly.  No filesystem should say a file exists (when asked by an application) when it in fact does not exist.

I cannot write code to work around a filesystem that is inconsistent when tested.

-Kirk

Offline gand

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Re: Case sensitive file system and Lightroom/PhotoMechanic
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2022, 02:00:49 AM »
Hi Kirk

Thanks a lot for your answer.

I have been using pCloud for the last 5 years and have not experienced any issues before.

I also use another DAM software which also works and has done so the last few years.

But, based on your description, I have found a solution and I have purchased PM Plus today.

Thank you very much for the good and detailed support

Gert