PDF Metadata Cloner

A Python utility to clone all metadata (Info dictionary, XMP, dates, and Producer) from one PDF file to another.

Features

• Exact Metadata Cloning: Copies /Title, /Author, /Subject, /Keywords, dates, and more.
• XMP Support: Mirrors XMP metadata hierarchy.
• Strict Mirroring: strips all existing metadata from the target file relative to the source (prevents "ghost" tags).
• Producer Spoofing: Forcefully copies the Producer (Encoding Software) field, preventing libraries like pikepdf from adding their own signatures.
• Safe Output: Saves the result as [Source Name] (edit).pdf to avoid overwriting files.

Installation

1. Create a virtual environment (optional but recommended):

   python3 -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

python clonemeta.py <source_pdf> <target_pdf>

Example

python clonemeta.py "reference_doc.pdf" "my_new_doc.pdf"

This will create reference_doc (edit).pdf containing the content of my_new_doc.pdf looking exactly like reference_doc.pdf in terms of metadata properties.

Testing

To run the comprehensive test suite:

python -m unittest discover tests

How It Works

1. Strips the target PDF of all existing /Info and XMP metadata.
2. Copies the full /Info dictionary from source to target.
3. Copies the XMP packet (if present in source).
4. Resets the /Producer field to match the source exactly, bypassing standard library behavior that tries to watermark the file.