# HG changeset patch
# User David Barts
Most image-editing tools insert telltale bits of metadata into the output + they create. Thus, only way you can create a file with the minimum amount + of metadata in it is to run ExifWasher as the final step in your image + preparation.
ExifWasher never modifies an existing image file. Instead, it creates a
new file of the same type but with “_washed” appended to its name. For
@@ -89,5 +94,18 @@
metadata key, and those that match a key prefix. The latter end in an
asterisk. The whitelist is case-sensitive; i.e. the entry exif.image.colormap
will not match the Exif.Image.ColorMap
key.
ExifWasher does not, and probably never will, do anything but remove + extraneous metadata.
+First, I have no desire to re-invent the wheel. There are already + excellent open-source tools like Gimp for image editing, and ExifTool and + Exiv2 for general-purpose metadata editing (in fact, ExifWasher is built + on top of Exiv2). If you need the functionality of some other tool, + download and use it!
+Second (and more importantly), I want ExifWasher to be simple, and + therefore easy to learn and easy to use. The more challenging an + information-security tool is to use, the less likely it is to be used + frequently, and the more likely it is that compromising information gets + disclosed.