Has the world turned their backs on EXIF?

[Archive]

[Originally posted by scottlindner on 2005-05-24 02:30:32-07]

I've been searching high and low for good products to embed my descriptive information into the EXIF header.  I found Exifer and thought it was nearly perfect.  It has two problems, some poor assumptions regarding automation, and hasn't been updated in two years.  I contacted tons of people that started to tackle the EXIF problem amd every single one bailed when they got deep into it.  You can always tell by the revision histories.  I'm a computer engineer and started tjinking seriously about embarking on my own to build a reference API for reading and writing EXIF files based on 10% spec compliance and suppot for add on deviations, mutations, and extensions by the manufacturers.  Then I founf ExifTool and it has revision dates in THIS month!  I was siked until I saw the volume of people chatting away on the forum.  

I gotta ask.  How serious is the owner in keeping this going?  I sifter through the web pages and revision history and got the feel that the author will tough it out.  Is that the case?

I'm about to start using it.  Has anyone had *any* negative experiences that they would like to report?

I have one other question, can ExifTool completely strip an ExifHeader, then rebuild the header usinh select fields from some other file?  This could be goosd for recovery.

Other than the activity kevel on the forum I'm pretty excited to start using ExifTool.

Cheers,

Scott

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exiftool on 2005-05-24 11:36:03-07]

Don't get bummed if the forum traffic is low... The CPAN forum is very new (just started in Feb 2005), and hasn't gained momentum yet.  It looks like there are only a few posts per day across all of the modules on CPAN forum.  

I have to admit, I understand why people bail when they get deep into the EXIF stuff.  The maker notes are a real headache, and a never-ending project because manufacturers are always discovering new ways to screw them up.

But I'm serious about keeping this going, and won't be 'bailing' in the foreseeable future.

If anyone has had any negative experiences I would like to hear from them.  So far it has all been positive with some useful suggestions most of which I have implemented.

Yes, ExifTool can strip any information you want and rebuild any information from any other file.

[Archive]

[Originally posted by scottlindner on 2005-05-24 15:04:26-07]

Awesome.  I'm going to start using it today and will report any troubles.

One request, could you include an installation section on your website.  I know you have it in the package but that's something I like to read and understand befpre downloading.  If it's complicated, requires system hacking, or unusual dependencies I typically don't bother.  Obviously, you've made it all very easy but I had to download it to figure that out.

I'm about to start diving into it.  Will post back later.

Thanks for doing all of this!

Cheers,

Scott

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exiftool on 2005-05-24 15:54:09-07]

Thanks for this suggestion.  I'll add a "System Requirements" section:  The only requirement is Perl 5.004 or later.

I don't want to add an "Installation" section because no installation is required.  (Well, OK, you must extract the tarball, but that is already mentioned in the "Running exiftool" section...)

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exiftool on 2007-10-03 18:10:35-07]

Well, more than 2 years since you first posted this and I'm still at it...

You'll be glad to hear that I have finally added an installation page to the online documentation as you suggested (ya, I know, it took me a while).

And still very few negative comments about exiftool.  From the feedback I'm getting it seems that exiftool is one of the most reliable meta information editors available, and is often used as the yardstick by which similar software is measured.

Also, the forum has gained a bit of momentum, with more than 1800 messages now that people can search to find answers to already-asked questions.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

It is now more than 13 years since this original post, and almost 15 years since the first ExifTool release.

The ExifTool forum was moved to this new location 8 years ago, and now has more than 6000 members and a total of more than 40000 posts (including 5300 posts archived from the original forum).

... and ExifTool is still going strong!

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

ExifTool is now 20 years old, and we have 11000+ members in this forum with 75000+ posts!

- Phil