I'm trying to set up an archive that is managed through a LightRoom Catalog. I was wondering if anyone has done this before and adjusted the permissions of their files to read only to ensure that LightRoom Catalog metadata changes do not alter or get saved to files.
I plan to have the archive set up in 3 locations with copies of the LightRoom Catalog. I will need to be able to add keywords and collections to a catalog at 2 of the locations. I am interested in using permissions to ensure that the catalog is the only file that needs to travel between the locations. I don't want to get into a situation in which altering the LightRoom Catalog might alter files and necessitate that I either save new metadata to files with each keyword/collection addition or that I regularly synchronize the entire archive to ensure all 3 copies of the archive are mirrors of one another.
I have three serious concerns about the longterm viability of managing file permissions:
1. I worry that it will be difficult to manage the user/s who have the privileges to manage these permissions and that it will be difficult to do so in different locations and on different computers
2. I worry about whether permissions management might introduce some form of file corruption
3. I worry about the time involved in altering an entire archives worth of permissions to read only and the time involved in reversing this every time I want to unarchive content for new projects
