Metadata in ODF Files
Final Thoughts and Warnings and a Request
In general, metadata hacking has issues that have nothing to do with the code or with ODF, as such. As Spider-Man's Uncle Ben would put it (and Voltaire did), "With great power comes great responsibility." Years ago, in a discussion over this same topic, someone commented "maybe we shouldn't teach our documents lying." Use the techniques you learned here responsibly. Be aware that digital signatures are the only way to guarantee that no part of an ODF file has been modified.
Last, but not least, even other parts of an ODF file contain stuff that maybe should count as metadata, even some people (including me, to some extent) may disagree: I'm talking of multiple revisions, but also of hidden paragraphs (or cells in spreadsheets), and of the content, author, and timestamps of embedded comments. All of this stuff may still be analyzed or "updated" with the same general approach presented here, thanks to the ODF format's openness and simplicity, but that is a different problem left as an exercise for the reader, with the suggestion that you use my ODF scripting examples [3] as a basis.
What's left? The request, of course: Please share how you use or modify these scripts for your own ODF metadata processing!
Infos
- Watermarking: http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/annotating/#wmark_text
- Removing Exif metadata: http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Blogs/Productivity-Sauce/Remove-EXIF-Metadata-from-Photos-with-exiftool
- ODF scripting: http://freesoftware.zona-m.net/tag/odf-scripting
The Author
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com) is a freelance author, trainer, and researcher based in Rome, Italy. He has been working with free/open source software since 1995 and on open digital standards since 2005. Marco also is a Board Member of the Free Knowledge Institute (http://freeknowledge.eu).
« Previous 1 2 3
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.
-
Linux Sees Massive Performance Increase from a Single Line of Code
With one line of code, Intel was able to increase the performance of the Linux kernel by 4,000 percent.
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.
-
New Steam Client Ups the Ante for Linux
The latest release from Steam has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve.
-
Gnome OS Transitioning Toward a General-Purpose Distro
If you're looking for the perfectly vanilla take on the Gnome desktop, Gnome OS might be for you.