Renamer and buddy files

[Joe Austin]

Is there a way to override the warning that prevents the renamer from renaming buddy files?     I want to change some suffixes that won't change the buddy relationship, but the renamer is preventing this.

[Mario]

This is a safety feature and it cannot be disabled. Why would you need to rename a buddy file?

[Joe Austin]

In 3.6 I used suffixes to separate different scenarios in my own versioning scheme.

For example in one scenario I would have a raw file  (aaaa.CR2), from which a psd file is created (aaaa-m.psd), from which a jpg preview image (aaaa-m-p.jpg) is created.

Another scenario would be psd files as originals from slide scans (bbbb.psd) from which a jpeg preview was created (bbbb-p.jpg)


Now I have moved to Imatch5 with versioning rules that look for {original name} followed by any number of (-[a|z]) suffixes.  Two version rules create the raw->psd relation, and the raw->jpg relation, in the first scenario.

A third rule creates the psd->jpg relation for the second scenario.

There is a matching buddy file rule for each of the version rules.

The issue is the buddy version of the third rule creates a version chain in the first scenario (aaaa-m.psd -> aaaa-m-p.jpg) since the original name includes the '-m'.   As per your warnings in another post I wanted to dismantle the version chain.

I wanted to dismantle this by removing the '-m' from the jpg images named with a '-m-p' suffix.   I really don't look forward to doing them one at a time.   I suppose I can turn off the buddy file rule temporarily, but  I guess I should probably turn off automatic refresh of file relations and limit the scope of the relation refresh to the files involved (?).

[Mario]

Disabling buddy rules etc. will prevent IMatch from jumping in the middle and doing things you may not want when you fiddle with your file names.

[Joe Austin]

Disabling buddy rules etc. will prevent IMatch from jumping in the middle and doing things you may not want when you fiddle with your file names.

I don't really understand your reply.   Are you saying that the idea of disabling buddy rules while I do this rename is a good idea, or a bad idea?

[Erik]

It sounds like you are using buddy files here more to assert that your file names are kept the same if you rename a master.  You seem to be just using buddy files to enhance your versioning scheme.

If that is the primary purpose, then I think turning off your buddy rule while you make the changes you need to make is reasonable assuming you keep track of what you are doing (of course that's the case with anything). 

I think Mario is just reinforcing that disabling buddy rules in general is not a good thing.  If you aren't careful you could of course break things so that when you turn the buddy rule back on the files are disconnected.  That is something you'd have to be sure to verify.

[Joe Austin]

I'm sure that disabling buddy files is not a good idea in general.    I am not sure what he means by 'jumping in the middle of things' but I think Mario intends to say that disabling buddy files temporarily while I do my rename will prevent Imatch from triggering unintended processes, so, in that instance, it is a good idea.