GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 734382
file open does not complete for some files, metadata.exe using CPU time
Last modified: 2014-08-22 13:25:46 UTC
ISSUE: When attempting to open certain files, the Opening message is displayed, but then GIMP just stalls and never completes opening the file. STEPS TO REPRODUCE: In windows 7, right-click on the attached "003.jpg", then from the context menu select "Open With" > "GNU image manipulation program". OTHER NOTES: Seen in Windows 7 64-bit, and a second PC with Windows XP Pro. In Windows Task Manager, I see metadata.exe is using a steady 17% of the CPU. Some files open ok, other such as the attached do not. The attached file (which is just a black background with colored dots) opens without problems using Windows Photo Viewer. Although I have not verified this myself, I have been told by others I supplied the file to that it opens fine in GIMP 2.6.11, IrfanView 4.3.5, LibreOffice 4.2.5 Draw, and ImageMagick 6.7.3 is happy to display metainfo and to read it and convert it to PNG. (I'm not sure if there are attachment size restrictions in Bugzilla, so just in case the attachment fails to upload along with this report, I have also temporarily made this file available through https://www.dropbox.com/ at https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62517464/003.JPG ).
Can you try a nightly build of git master? This bug should not occur there, and the metadata stuff in 2.8 is so broken that it's unlikely it will get fixed (in fact it got completely replaced).
I'm unfamiliar with the phrase "git master", however guessing you were probably referring to the latest in-development version, I grabbed the 2.9.1 version at http://nightly.darkrefraction.com/gimp/dev/gimp-dev-i686-2014-08-20.exe and ran the test with that, and the file in question opened fine in that version.
Thanks, yes git master is the development version, and you tried the right installer. Metadata in 2.8 is unfortunately broken beyond repair. I suggest you simply remove metadata.exe, or use the development version. I'm going to close this bug as FIXED, because it's fixed in git master.