Why copy kdenlive all media files to <projectdir>/clips ?

I have problems because of this feature.
Because I want to work on my kdenlive project on different computers I have all data on a USB disk. The project file, the video files and the pictures.

The problem is only on my new laptop pc on which I have a new home directory and new KDE4 config files.
On my desktop pc on which the /home/werner is some years old no files will be copied to <projectdir>/clips.
I use kdenlive since some years and I never saw such a feature. Also not on my old laptop which I sold in the meantime.
I assume there is a entry in the configs which prevent a copy of files to .../clips

Up to now I doesn't find a entry in the kdenlive configs to switch off the feature.

When I load the project on my desktop PC then all files I added on the laptop was not found by kdenlive.
(because they are located on the <project dir>/clips on the laptop)
I use the auto-search feature of kdenlive to replace the path in the project by the path of the files on the USB disk as work-a-round but I would prefer no file copy to <projectdir>/clips.

Maybe there is also a bug in kdenlive when the files are copied to <projectdir>/clips.

When I set the <projectdir> to a directory on the USB disk itself then it is not possible to add media files via drag&drop using (e.g.) dolphin.
Kdenlive reports always (example):

This would overwrite /var/run/media/werner/USB-Disk/kdenlive/clips/p1020109.jpg
with itself.

It looks for me that kdenlive copy the picture to .../clips after I move the object to the project window and BEFORE it checks whether the file already exist at this directory. But only if the project directory is located on the USB disk.
If the project directory is located on the laptop disk then the error message is not reported and adding of new files to the project works.

Example (time course):
Projectfolder: /var/run/media/werner/USB-Disk/kdenlive

Content of directory:
/var/run/media/werner/USB-Disk/kdenlive/clips <empty>

Add a picture via Drag & Drop with Dolphin:
/var/run/media/werner/USB-Disk/BilderAlben_500GB_Disk/neueBilder/p1020109.jpg

Content of directory "/var/run/media/werner/USB-Disk/kdenlive/clips"
werner@miraculix.site [!49] ls -l
-rw-rw-r-- 1 werner users 4679392 6. Nov 2011 p1020109.jpg

Messsage from kdenlive:
This would overwrite /var/run/media/werner/USB-Disk/kdenlive/clips/p1020109.jpg with itself.
Please define new Name:
I entered: "p1020109.new.jpg" and press [Continue]

Content of directory "/var/run/media/werner/USB-Disk/kdenlive/clips"
werner@miraculix.site [!49] ls -l
-rw-rw-r-- 1 werner users 4679392 6. Nov 2011 p1020109.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 werner users 4679392 6. Nov 2011 p1020109.new.jpg

Messsage from kdenlive:
This would overwrite /var/run/media/werner/USB-Disk/kdenlive/clips/p1020109.new.jpg with itself.
Please define new Name: [Abort]
-----------------------------------------------------------
Laptop:
openSUSE 12.3
Kdenlive Version 0.9.6
KDE 4.11.1

Desktop PC:
0.9.6 4.10.5 "release 1", openSUSE 12.3
Linux (x86_64) release 3.7.10-1.16-desktop

Thanks for a tip
Werner

I don't have a answer to your specific question about clips folder.
But maybe you could make use of Project>Archive Project http://userbase.kde.org/Kdenlive/Manual ... /Archiving

" allows you to copy all files required by the project (images, video clips, project files,...) to a folder, and alternatively to compress the whole into a tar.gz file.
Archiving changes the project file to update the path of video clips to the archived versions.
This can be useful if you finished working on a project and want to keep a copy of it, or if you want to move a project from one computer to another.
The resulting tar.gz file can be opened directly in Kdenlive. Kdenlive will uncompress it to a location you specify before opening it. "

The solution is in file .../share/config/kdenliverc

[Notification Messages]
copyFilesToProjectFolder=false

On false the files will no longer copied to <project dir>/clips.
But I found no element in kdenlive to set this option.

For me the problem is solved.
Thanks.

That is interesting, because I'm using daily builds from time to time, which come with clean setups. These use their own private config files and never noticed anything like you described. Anyway, good to know that you found a solution and shared your findings.