Two differnt versions of Exiftool - is this possible?

[herb]

Hallo Phil,

at the moment I am working with ExifTool 9.16 on my windows XP system. I use the standalone executable.
The global variable PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP is set to a specific the cache directory.

Some days ago I found the photo managemant system Daminion.
Using the Daminion action "display all metadata" I have seen that it also uses ExifTool and I was astonished that it also uses version 9.16.
But properties of their installed exiftool.exe file give version 9.09.

Now I suggest that because of PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP my ExifTool installation is used.

As far as I know does Daminion not request a specific version of ExifTool.
But this leads me to the following question:
Is it possible to have 2 different versions of ExifTool installed?

I suggest that I must delete all files inside the PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP directory to start and use another ExifTool version.

I also tried to read/understand the PAR documentation and have seen that in case of not defined PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP
a string named "cache-HASH" comes into play. What does it mean in case of ExifTool?

Thank for your comments in advance
Best regards
Herb   

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Herb,

Different versions of the Windows EXE installation may exist without interference.  The PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP environment only affects the base directory for the temporary files, but if you look you'll see that each ExifTool version maintains its own subdirectory.

It is more likely that Daminion is finding the newer ExifTool because it is first in your PATH.

- Phil

[herb]

Hello Phil,

thanks for your quick reply.
Sorry, but I do not agree with you.
Yes, PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP effects the directory for the temporary files; but it does not contain any subdirectory for different versions of ExifTool.
Only in case of PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP is unset, version-specific subdirectories will be created; but they are located inside the (Windows) user specific 'document-and-settings' TEMP directory.

I would prefer a solution with only one directory for all users and outside any TEMP directory.
Is there a chance to get a solution for?

Best regards
Herb

[Phil Harvey]

OK, I guess that doesn't work as I expected then.  So you may run into problems with different versions of ExifTool if you set PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP.

All of this is completely out of my control.  If you want more information or additional features in this area you need to ask the author of the PAR utility that ExifTool is using for the Windows package.

- Phil

[herb]

Hallo Phil,

thank you for your help.
I asked you because I thought that the usage of subdirectories within the PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP directory is controlled by ExifTool.

In documentation of the PAR package I found another solution:
In that case the PID of the called ExifTool is used and all temporary files are removed at end of the task.
Creating temporary files at each start of ExifTool is not that what I am looking for.

The best solution for me still is the usage of PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP.

Thanks again and
Best regards
Herb