With the IPTCInfo module under Python (http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/768 for more info) it's possible to read, modify and write IPTC info to pictures.
However, if a JPG doesn't already have IPTC information, the module simply raises an exception. It doesn't seem to be able to create and add this metadata information itself.
What alternatives are there? I've googled for the past hour but to no avail whatsoever.