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I am managing some of my QGIS 3 map files in a git repository. With QGIS 2, the map files (.qgs) are text files, which can be easily handled by git; QGIS3 introduces an additional binary file (.qgd) which presumably stores some auxiliary information. A compressed binary format .qgz is also provided with QGIS 3. These binary formats are not text line based, and difficult to manage using text oriented tools such as diff and git. Therefore, I do not want to track them in a repository unless I have to.

How critical is the .qgd file?

Can I delete them or omit them when I use git to commit a map without seriously messing up the map?

(I'm OK with loss of auxiliary information. Just need basic layer information and basic symbology to be committed, i.e. the choices of symbology and logical expressions I entered when defining a layer)

tinlyx
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1 Answers1

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QGIS3 introduces an additional binary file (.qgd) which presumably stores some auxiliary information

It stores the Project > Properties > Auxiliary Storage information.

A compressed binary format .qgz is also provided with QGIS 3

.qgs and .qgd files are comppressed into the .qgz file.
You can save the project as .qgs in QGIS 3, and will save the .qgd file.
But if you use the .qgz format you don't have a .qgd file.
Or you can unzip it and obtain both .qgs and .qgd.

How critical is the .qgd file?

If you don't use Auxiliary Storage in your project, the .qgd file is empty and you can omit it.

Gabriel De Luca
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