[SOLVED] exif - help needed to set tag

[bill-lancaster]

Have just started to use exif the set .jpg tag from the command line.
I just want to add notes to photos.
This works:-

~$ exif --ifd=EXIF --tag 0x9286 --set-value="wednesdayZ" /home/bill/IMAG0151.jpg

but produces a new file.
Is there a way to just modify the the existing file?

[Wheel Inventor]

I would...

I would use the exiftool (package: libimage-exiftool-perl) to edit file metadata from the cli.

- ExifTool wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExifTool
- ExifTool by Phil Harvey: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
- Edit image metadata with ExifTool: http://lwn.net/Articles/249461/

The ExifTool has options to (man exiftool):

...
         -overwrite_original              Overwrite original by renaming tmp file
         -overwrite_original_in_place     Overwrite original by copying tmp file
         -P          (-preserve)          Preserve date/time of original file
...

[SecretCode]

Hmm, it looks like it doesn't. Have you tried explicitly setting the --output file as the same as the input? (I'm expecting an error message ...)

[Guest]

(dummy post because the forum complained about posting links on my first post)

[Guest]

As Wheel Inventor posts, there are two options to edit the existing file using exiftool. Your command to atomically replace the original would be:

exiftool -overwrite_original -usercomment="wednesdayZ" /home/bill/IMAG0151.jpg

or to actually modify the existing file (not atomic, and vulnerable to corrupting the file if the process is interrupted):

exiftool -overwrite_original_in_place -usercomment="wednesdayZ" /home/bill/IMAG0151.jpg

- Phil

[bill-lancaster]

Thanks Phil - that's exactly what I was looking for.
And thanks for the other ideas also
Bill