Digikam non-commercial sidecar settings

What happens when I change Digikam sidecar settings from commercial (file.xmp)?

Steps that should ideally happen, I am listing below. Sorry if I am duplicating existing logic. These could be scripted to run outside DK, but I don’t think it would be reasonable to expect a typical end user to do that. Metadata integrity is important, so I’d think that Digikam should do some guidance when these settings are switched, perhaps mirroring DB migration.

Steps:

  • all existing sidecar files to be renamed: file.xmp → file.$ext.xmp, when possible (when none of the following apply).
  • recognize when file.xmp & file.$ext.xmp already exist, log, tell user to deal with it: to save the final version in file.$ext.xmp and to delete other XMP variations.
  • when orphan XMP files are found, saved in a text log.
  • address the complex situation where there are files with same basename (IMG_1234.jpg IMG_1234.dng IMG_1234.mov) and a single XMP - maybe offer to delete them, and recreate based on latest known info (from in Digikam’s DB?)

More then anything, I would like to have the certainty that Digikam database will have the best and the latest metadata.