GEDMerge

A powerful tool to find and merge duplicate people in GEDCOM genealogy files.

Overview

GEDMerge is designed to help genealogists clean up their family tree data by automatically detecting and merging duplicate individual records in GEDCOM files. The tool uses advanced matching algorithms including fuzzy string matching and phonetic comparison to identify potential duplicates with high accuracy.

Features

• GEDCOM Parsing: Full support for GEDCOM 5.5 and 5.5.1 formats
• Duplicate Detection: Advanced algorithms to find potential duplicate individuals
• Smart Merging: Intelligent merging that preserves all relevant data
• Data Integrity: Maintains relationships between individuals and families
• CLI Interface: Easy-to-use command-line interface

Project Structure

GedMerge/
├── gedmerge/
│   ├── core/           # Core data models and GEDCOM parsing
│   ├── matching/       # Duplicate detection algorithms
│   ├── merge/          # Merge logic and strategies
│   ├── ui/             # User interface (CLI)
│   ├── utils/          # Utility functions
│   └── data/           # Data storage and caching
├── tests/              # Test suite
├── GEDCOM/             # Sample GEDCOM files
├── pyproject.toml      # Project configuration and dependencies
└── README.md           # This file

Installation

From Source

cd GedMerge
pip install -e .

With Development Dependencies

pip install -e ".[dev]"

Dependencies

• python-gedcom: GEDCOM file parsing
• rapidfuzz: Fast fuzzy string matching
• phonetics: Phonetic matching algorithms (Soundex, Metaphone, etc.)
• pytest: Testing framework (dev dependency)

Quick Start

Load and Analyze a GEDCOM File

gedmerge analyze path/to/your/file.ged

This will display basic statistics about your GEDCOM file including:

• Number of individuals
• Number of families
• Date range
• Geographic coverage

Find Duplicates

gedmerge find-duplicates path/to/your/file.ged

Merge Duplicates

gedmerge merge path/to/your/file.ged --output merged.ged

Name Preprocessing for Duplicate Detection

IMPORTANT: Before running duplicate detection, names must be preprocessed to ensure consistent "apples to apples" comparisons.

See NAMING_CONVENTIONS.md for complete details.

Quick Overview

1. NN Convention: Use NN for missing given names (genealogy standard)
2. Language Codes: Set ISO 639-1 codes (en, fr, de) for all names
3. Clean Variants: Separate embedded variants like Margaret [Marguerite] into separate name records
4. Remove Placeholders: Remove generic placeholders like EndofLine, Unknown
5. Preserve Meaningful Data: Keep mother's maiden names even if different from children

Preprocessing Workflow

# Step 1: Structural cleanup (NN convention, placeholders)
python ../preprocess_names_for_matching.py database.rmtree --report
python ../preprocess_names_for_matching.py database.rmtree --execute

# Step 2: Language analysis and variant separation
python ../analyze_name_structure.py database.rmtree --check-language
python ../analyze_name_structure.py database.rmtree --fix-variants --execute

# Step 3: NOW ready for duplicate detection
gedmerge find-duplicates database.rmtree

RootsMagic Compatibility

✅ Language codes are safe - The NameTable.Language field is a standard RootsMagic field and will NOT break your database.

Development

Running Tests

pytest

Running Tests with Coverage

pytest --cov=gedmerge --cov-report=html

Roadmap

Phase 1: Foundation (Current)

• Project setup and structure
• GEDCOM parser
• Core data models
• Basic CLI
• Unit tests

Phase 2: Duplicate Detection

• Name matching algorithms
• Date/place comparison
• Relationship analysis
• Scoring system

Phase 3: Merging Logic

• Merge strategies
• Conflict resolution
• Data preservation
• Undo capability

Phase 4: User Interface

• Interactive CLI
• Review and approve duplicates
• Batch operations
• Progress tracking

Phase 5: Advanced Features

• Machine learning for matching
• Custom matching rules
• Performance optimization
• Export reports

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

Acknowledgments

• GEDCOM format specification by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• python-gedcom library contributors
• Genealogy community for feature suggestions and testing

Support

For issues, questions, or suggestions, please open an issue on the project repository.