OSMIUM-OUTPUT-HEADERS(5)

📦
version 1.19.1 · 6 versions
, in fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu stonking

✨ OSMIUM-OUTPUT-HEADERS ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the manual page for osmium-output-headers (section 5 of the manual, iykyk) and it's all about the header options you can set on your output files. yes, the actual vibes of your file's metadata. it's giving very behind-the-scenes but honestly so important 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so most osmium commands that write OSM files can set values in the file header of the OSM file, and they do it with the --output-header option. that's it. that's the whole door. 🚪✨

the format is generally:

--output-header=OPTION=VALUE

and for some commands you can use this special lil format:

--output-header=OPTION!

(that's an exclamation mark after the OPTION and no value set, okay?) and what that does is set the value to the same as in the input file. cute, right? 🥰 but fr, check the individual command man pages to see where this is actually allowed, because it's not a universal thing.

👑 HEADER OPTIONS 👑

here's the full roster, no skips, no cuts:

  • generator — sets the "generator program" value. the default is osmium/VERSION. you can also set this using the --generator option instead. (XML and PBF files only.)
  • xml_josm_upload — the value of the upload attribute on the osm XML element (true or false), for use in JOSM. (XML files only.)
  • osmosis_replication_timestamp — the timestamp used in replication. (PBF files only.)
  • osmosis_replication_sequence_number — the sequence number used in replication. (PBF files only.)
  • osmosis_replication_base_url — the base URL for change files used in replication. (PBF files only.)
  • sorting — sets the Sort.Type_then_ID property in the PBF header, but only if it's set to Type_then_ID. other values are currently not supported. (PBF files only.)
⚠️ bestie listen to me. setting sorting only sets the header option — it does NOT actually sort the file! do not come crying to me. if you want your file actually sorted, use osmium sort for that. periodt. 💀

🦋 EXAMPLES 🦋

copy the file in.osm.pbf to out.osm.pbf while setting the generator to myscript:

osmium cat --output-header=generator=myscript -o out.osm.pbf in.osm.pbf

look at that. one line. ate. 🔥

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

  • osmium(1)
  • Osmium website
  • Replication headers

Copyright (C) 2013-2026 Jochen Topf <jochen@topf.org>.

License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

🫶 CONTACT 🫶

if you have any questions or want to report a bug, please go to <https://osmcode.org/contact.html>

🌈 AUTHORS 🌈

Jochen Topf <jochen@topf.org>.

okay that's the whole page, you made it, I'm so proud of you 🥹💜 this was version 1.19.1 of OSMIUM-OUTPUT-HEADERS(5), go forth and set your headers correctly bestie, no cap ✨

📦 where this page comes from