Steve.org.uk

itag is a simple collection of utilities which allow you to add, remove, and search for images based upon tags. For any JPG image upon your system you may add an arbitrary number of tags, each of which is stored inside the image.

The software includes three simple scripts/tools:

itag

This script will examine every image beneath a given directory, recursively, and build a "database" of the tags inside with each file.

Once the indexing has been completed you may then search for files matching a given tag, or series of tags.

itagger

This script will show thumbnails of all the images beneath the current directory, and allow you to graphically edit the tags contained within each image.

Note: Once you run this don't forget to re-run "itag --index" to update your database.

A screenshot is included later in the page.

itagview

Assuming you've tagged your images, and have indexed them, then this tool will let you graphically explore your images, via the tags.

A screenshot is included later in the page.

Although the itag script will create a simple DBM database of your tagged images (beneath ~/.itag/) the core principle of this software is that tags should be stored inside images.

On this basis the tag addition will store your selected tags, as comma-separated values, in the EXIF information:

• "UserComment" - A comment filed.
• "XMP-DC:Subject" - As used by other tools.
• "Keywords" - As used by digikam

The exiftool script, contained in the Debian libimage-exiftool-perl package, is used to read/write the actual values to your files.

You may download the current stable release from the following links:

• itag-1.0.tar.gz
• itag-1.0.tar.gz.asc -1k (GPG signature which may be validated using my public key).

If you prefer there is binary itag package for Debian's Lenny release available, and you can follow development via the mercurial repository.

Full configuration details are included in the manpage of the appropriate scripts, but in brief the tools will read the file ~/.itag/config if present. This file contains key=value settings - and an example might look like this:

# ~/.itag/config
#  Lines prefixed with '#' are ignored as comments
#
#  The location of your image hierarchy
#
prefix = /home/steve/Images
#
#  Images to ignore.  The values are matched against
# the _complete_ path to your images
#
exclude = Poor/,thumbs/,Private/
#
#  The display tool to use, if not qiv
#
viewer = display

As that itag script is console-based there is no screenshot of that, but there are two graphical tools included, as already mentioned.

itagview

The itagview script presents a scrolling list of all tags you've used, and allows you to display matching images.

Double-clicking upon a single image will open it full-sized in an external viewer. Similarly selecting multiple thumbnails and pressing "RETURN" will launch them externally.

itagger

The itagger script will display all images beneath a given directory, handling recursive exploration, and allow you to double-click to edit the tags associated with each thumbnail.

(Right-click to open an image for display in an external viewer.)