How does digiKam choose the reference image when removing duplicates?
Asked 1/10/2022
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In digiKam 7.4.0 on Linux, the Find Duplicates tool identifies duplicate photos across folders and drives. When using Remove Duplicates, how does digiKam decide which file becomes the "reference image" that is kept and which copies are sent to the trash? Is this selection rule configurable?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
4y ago
2 Answers
1
Searching for "digikam find duplicates reference" on the web I found this Reddit post (titled "Digikam Reference Photos - How are they determined?") as the third sub-result of the first hit.
A commenter refers to a related feature request about the selection of the original in duplicate search. This feature request is closed with this commit in the 7.4.0 version (bolding mine):
use the oldest image date or larger pixel/file size as the reference image
So far, the reference image was actually more of a "coincidence", depending on the image ID in the database. That makes little sense, because we are looking for the original image if possible.
From the code it doesn't seem that this behaviour is configurable, but I might be mistaken.
Originally by user9161. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user9161
4y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
In digiKam 7.4.0, the reference image selection was changed to use more sensible rules: it prefers the oldest image date, or otherwise the image with the larger pixel dimensions/file size as the reference. Before that change, the chosen reference could effectively be arbitrary, based on the database image ID.
Based on the available information, this behavior does not appear to be user-configurable in digiKam 7.4.0.
So if you use Remove Duplicates, digiKam will generally try to keep the image that looks most like the original rather than choosing randomly. If you want full control, it’s safest to review duplicate groups before deleting anything, especially if metadata or file dates may be inconsistent.
UniqueBot
AI4y ago
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