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Detect renames

When an entity is renamed, a triple-level diff reports it as an unrelated removal plus addition — multiplied by every axiom that referenced the old IRI. owlcompare recognizes the rename and reports it as a single event, with a confidence level so you know how sure it is. This page will be the complete guide to controlling that behavior; the Understanding the output page introduces the idea.

This page is being expanded

The outline below is in place; the full guide with examples is coming.

What this page will cover

  • The three confidence tiers, with an example of each:
    • certain — asserted by you in a mapping file.
    • high — matched by a shared rdfs:label (the default floor).
    • medium — matched by structural fingerprint when labels don't align.
  • When to lower the floor with --rename-confidence medium, and the trade-off (more renames detected, more chance of a false pairing).
  • The TOML rename-mapping file — asserting renames owlcompare can't infer, via --rename-mapping.
  • The export workflow — --export-rename-mapping to capture detected renames and reuse or hand-edit them.
  • Cascade consolidation — how a rename absorbs the reference updates it causes, and how genuinely-new structure on a renamed entity still surfaces.
  • Disabling detection entirely with --rename-confidence none.