Metadata Cleaner (extras/metadata-cleaner.sh)

SYNOPSIS

wrenctl install metadata-cleaner                     install it
wrenctl remove metadata-cleaner                      remove it
wrenctl manual metadata-cleaner                      print the manual steps below

metadata-cleaner               the window (or Super+d): add files, look, clean
mat2 --show photo.jpg          list the metadata it finds (removes nothing)
mat2 photo.jpg                 write photo.cleaned.jpg without metadata
mat2 --inplace photo.jpg       clean the file itself, no copy kept
mat2 --lightweight report.pdf  gentler: a PDF keeps selectable text, some metadata may stay
mat2 --list                    the file types it handles

Photos, PDFs, office documents, audio and video carry hidden metadata: GPS position, camera model, author names, edit history. Metadata Cleaner, the graphical program Tails ships, removes it before you share a file. It is built on mat2, which comes with it and gives the mat2 command. Both are from Debian. A normal clean turns PDF pages into images, so the text can't be selected any more; that's how it makes sure nothing hides in them.

LIMITS

• --show finding nothing doesn't prove a file is clean: clean it anyway.
• The visible content is yours to watch: a face, a street sign, a name in the text.
• --lightweight can leave some metadata; --inplace keeps no copy of the original.
• Nothing is cleaned unless you run it.

MANUAL INSTALL

# Metadata Cleaner and mat2, from Debian
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends metadata-cleaner mat2

To undo:

# Remove both
sudo apt purge metadata-cleaner mat2
sudo apt autoremove --purge