Difference between revisions of "PRONOM Signature Development Utility"

	Output DROID compatible file format signature files using PRONOM syntax
Homepage:	https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility, http://ffdev.info
License:	Open source (see URL above)
Platforms:	Golang + PHP + JQuery + Javascript + text/html
Function:	File Format Identification

Latest revision as of 14:35, 31 January 2022

Description[edit]

Utility to enable the creation of DROID compatible signature files using PRONOM regular expression syntax. The tool outputs in an XML format compatible with DROID 4 upwards (including DROID 5 and 6). Three sequences can be combined to create a single file format signature. Signature files can be concatenated manually if more complex collections are required for testing.

Version 2: FFDev.info[edit]

Version 2 of the utility was released in October 2020. The utility adds support for Container Signature sequences. The first iteration is bootstrapped to the original utility which has already been well proven.

Hosting[edit]

Version 2 is hosted on:

http://ffdev.info

Version 1: PRONOM signature development utility[edit]

The original code for version 1 of the utility is still available in a branch on Github.

Hosting[edit]

Version 1 is hosted at exponentialdecay.co.uk and The National Archives, UK:

Using its Output[edit]

DROID[edit]

The signature development utility output can be directly uploaded to DROID via its 'Install Signature File' mechanism. Be sure to then select the new file from 'Preferences'. Container signatures need to be added via the users /home/<username>/.droid6 directory. On Windows the user's home folder can be found under Users in 'C:'.

Siegfried[edit]

Siegfried is a useful tool for testing because it can combine a new signature file from this utility with all the other signatures in the PRONOM corpus, plus its many others.

Instructions for Linux[edit]

We use a utility called Roy to extend signature files. This is installed alongside Siegfried.

To extend a signature file to include a custom signature file, we need to make sure that there is a 'custom' folder, where Roy can find it. We will need our signature to be on a path that looks as follows:

/home/{username}/siegfried/custom/{custom-dev-sig}.xml

Extending the signature file can then be completed in two stages:

1) Roy harvest

This will download PRONOM signature file reports. This is the most accurate way to run Siegfried. An alternative is to let Siegfried parse the DROID signature file, but this has shown to lead to some inconsistencies where PRONOM and DROID do not reflect each other entirely.

2) Roy build -extend {custom-dev-sig}.xml

Try Siegfried on a single file of the format we have created the signature for:

3) sf {custom-dev-format}.{ext}

The result will be:

---
siegfried   : 1.7.6
scandate    : 2017-10-25T23:35:31+13:00
signature   : default.sig
created     : 2017-10-25T23:23:59+13:00
identifiers : 
  - name    : 'pronom'
    details : 'DROID_SignatureFile_V91.xml; container-signature-20170330.xml; extensions: {custom-dev-sig}.xml'
---
filename : '{custom-dev-format}.{ext}'
filesize : 1492992
modified : 2017-10-22T16:02:13+13:00
errors   : 
matches  :
  - ns      : 'pronom'
    id      : 'dev/1'
    format  : '{custom-dev-format}'
    version : '1.0'
    mime    : 'application/{custom-dev-format}'
    basis   : 'extension match img; byte match at 1024, 32'
    warning :

RDF[edit]

The tool's output suggests a potential RDF representation of a DROID signature (NB. this is a version 1 option only).

RDF from the utility looks as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#" xmlns:sigdev="http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/sigdev/signature/" xmlns:bytes="http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/sigdev/signature/byteSequence/" xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:rdfs="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#">
  <sigdev:DevelopmentSignature rdf:about="http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/sigdev/signature/ddc3ab7d-db41-49c5-b3fa-262ad83dd703">
    <rdfs:label>Development Signature</rdfs:label>
    <sigdev:version>1.0</sigdev:version>
    <sigdev:extension>ext</sigdev:extension>
    <sigdev:internetMediaType>text/x-test-signature</sigdev:internetMediaType>
    <sigdev:puid>dev/1</sigdev:puid>
    <sigdev:byteSequence>
      <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/sigdev/signature/byteSequence/228c0626-3e0d-40bc-98d3-d897a21b20e1/1">
        <bytes:string rdf:datatype="http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/sigdev/signature/droidRegularExpression">255044462D312E34</bytes:string>
        <bytes:anchor>BOFoffset</bytes:anchor>
        <bytes:offset rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer">0</bytes:offset>
        <bytes:maxOffset rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer">0</bytes:maxOffset>
      </rdf:Description>
    </sigdev:byteSequence>
  </sigdev:DevelopmentSignature>
</rdf:RDF>

This can be used to generate a graph visualization of a signature, and provides another serialization of a DROID signature that could potentially be consumed by tools in the future.

User experiences[edit]

Additional reading[edit]

information about ffdev.info on openpreservation.org

Development activity[edit]

All development activity is visible on GitHub: https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility/commits

Activity feed[edit]

Below the last 5 commits:

2020-10-05 23:20:25: [tag:github.com,2008:Grit::Commit/66d3cd248f281abcb707197577679df50d8af8a5 Removes the upper case default on container seqs]; by ross-spencer https://github.com/ross-spencer
2020-10-02 01:35:28: [tag:github.com,2008:Grit::Commit/85efed6a4b4ee353b7c807f61f7a4df3136476b0 Condense layout a little more]; by ross-spencer https://github.com/ross-spencer
2020-10-02 01:35:09: [tag:github.com,2008:Grit::Commit/8d0fe614e8d65245cc8bf82ab44bd38bcc3a9b30 Remove redundant code and reset fields]; by ross-spencer https://github.com/ross-spencer
2020-09-29 02:03:40: [tag:github.com,2008:Grit::Commit/e5b11757ea71bdd8fcf7f9080ea932125aa475f4 Correct Variable form field handling]; by ross-spencer https://github.com/ross-spencer
2020-09-28 14:13:43: [tag:github.com,2008:Grit::Commit/d366c4d4a4aeebdd1777b4fe505e34faea3d0066 Update filename output]; by ross-spencer https://github.com/ross-spencer

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<!-- Use the structure provided in this template, do not change it! -->
+{{Infobox tool
-{{Infobox_tool
 |purpose=Output DROID compatible file format signature files using PRONOM syntax
-|image=
+|homepage=https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility, http://ffdev.info
-|homepage=https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility
 |license=Open source (see URL above)
-|platforms=PHP + JQuery + Javascript + text/html
+|platforms=Golang + PHP + JQuery + Javascript + text/html
+|function=File Format Identification
 }}
+{{Infobox tool details}}
+== Description ==
+<!-- Describe the what the tool does, focusing on it's digital preservation value. Keep it factual. -->
+Utility to enable the creation of DROID compatible signature files using PRONOM regular expression syntax. The tool outputs in an XML format compatible with DROID 4 upwards (including DROID 5 and 6). Three sequences can be combined to create a single file format signature. Signature files can be concatenated manually if more complex collections are required for testing.
+=== Version 2: FFDev.info ===
+[https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility Version 2] of the utility was released in October 2020. The utility adds support for Container Signature sequences. The first iteration is bootstrapped to the original utility which has already been well proven.
+==== Hosting ====
+Version 2 is hosted on:
+* http://ffdev.info
+=== Version 1: PRONOM signature development utility ===
-<!-- Add one ore more categories to describe the function of the tool. Choose carefully, and view the list of existing categories first (see the Navigation sidebar on the left). The following are common category examples, remove those that don't apply -->
+The original code for version 1 of the utility is still available in a [https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility/tree/signature-development-utility-1.0 branch on Github].
-[[Category:File Format Identification]]
-<!-- Add relevant categories to describe the content type that the tool addresses. Choose carefully, and view the list of existing categories first (see the Navigation sidebar on the left). If the tool works on any content type, do not add a category. The following are common category examples, remove those that don't apply -->
+==== Hosting ====
-== Description ==
+Version 1 is hosted at exponentialdecay.co.uk and The National Archives, UK:
-<!-- Describe the what the tool does, focusing on it's digital preservation value. Keep it factual. -->
-Utility to enable the creation of DROID compatible signature files using PRONOM regular expression syntax. The tool outputs in an XML format compatible with DROID 4 upwards (including DROID 5 and 6). Three sequences can be combined to create a single file format signature. Signature files can be concatenated manually if more complex collections are required for testing.
-Signature File 88 contains of 1427 different PUIDs.
+* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom/sigdev/index.htm Signature development utility at The National Archives, UK]
+* [http://exponentialdecay.co.uk/sd/index.htm Signature development utility at exponentialdecay.co.uk]
 == Using its Output ==
@@ Line 24: / Line 37: @@
 === DROID ===
-The signature development utility output can be directly uploaded to DROID via its 'Install Signature File' mechanism. Be sure to then select the new file from 'Preferences'.
+The signature development utility output can be directly uploaded to DROID via its 'Install Signature File' mechanism. Be sure to then select the new file from 'Preferences'. Container signatures need to be added via the users /home/<username>/.droid6 directory. On Windows the user's home folder can be found under Users in 'C:'.
 === Siegfried ===
@@ Line 76: / Line 89: @@
 === RDF ===
-The tool's output suggests a potential RDF representation of a DROID signature. This looks as follows
+The tool's output suggests a potential RDF representation of a DROID signature ('''NB.''' this is a version 1 option only).
+RDF from the utility looks as follows:
 <pre>
@@ Line 101: / Line 116: @@
 This can be used to generate a graph visualization of a signature, and provides another serialization of a DROID signature that could potentially be consumed by tools in the future.
-== User Experiences ==
+== User experiences ==
 <!-- Add hotlinks to user experiences with the tool (eg. blog posts). These should illustrate the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the tool. Use a bullet list. -->
@@ Line 107: / Line 122: @@
 * [http://openpreservation.org/blog/2016/09/08/making-the-switch-from-user-to-user-and-contributor-my-first-file-format-signature/ Andrea K. Byrne creates her first signature using the Signature Development Utility]
-== Development Activity ==
+== Additional reading ==
+* [https://openpreservation.org/blogs/pronom-research-week-signature-development-utility-2-0-ffdev-info/ information about ffdev.info on openpreservation.org]
+== Development activity ==
 <!-- Provide *evidence* of development activity of the tool. For example, RSS feeds for code issues or commits. -->
 All development activity is visible on GitHub: https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility/commits
-==== Activity Feed ====
+==== Activity feed ====
 Below the last 5 commits:
-<rss max=5>https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility/commits/master.atom</rss>
+<rss max=5>https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility/commits/bootstrap-utility-1.0.atom</rss>
 <!-- Add the Ohloh.com ID for the tool, if known. -->
-{{Infobox_tool_details
-|ohloh_id=
-}}

Difference between revisions of "PRONOM Signature Development Utility"

Latest revision as of 14:35, 31 January 2022

Contents

Description[edit]

Version 2: FFDev.info[edit]

Hosting[edit]

Version 1: PRONOM signature development utility[edit]

Hosting[edit]

Using its Output[edit]

DROID[edit]

Siegfried[edit]

Instructions for Linux[edit]

RDF[edit]

User experiences[edit]

Additional reading[edit]

Development activity[edit]

Activity feed[edit]

Navigation menu

Search

Output DROID compatible file format signature files using PRONOM syntax
Homepage:	https://github.com/exponential-decay/signature-development-utility, http://ffdev.info
License:	Open source (see URL above)
Platforms:	Golang + PHP + JQuery + Javascript + text/html
Function:	File Format Identification