Editing DROID (Digital Record Object Identification)

{{Infobox tool
|purpose=DROID (Digital Record Object Identification) is a software tool developed to perform automated batch identification of file formats.
|homepage=http://digital-preservation.github.io/droid/
|license=BSD License
|platforms=Java 6 Standard Edition
|function=File Format Identification, Metadata Extraction
}}
{{Infobox tool details
|ohloh_id=droid
}}
= Description =
DROID (Digital Record Object Identification) is a software tool developed to perform automated batch identification of file formats. DROID is designed to meet the fundamental requirement of any digital repository to be able to identify the precise format of all stored digital objects, and to link that identification to a central registry of technical information about that format and its dependencies. 

DROID uses the PRONOM [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/aboutapps/pronom/droid-signature-files.htm signature files] to perform format identification. Like PRONOM, it was [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/manage-information/policy-process/digital-continuity/file-profiling-tool-droid/ developed by the National Archives of the UK]. Written in Java, XML.
  
  
=== PRONOM ===
The format information held in PRONOM is what powers [[DROID (Digital Record Object Identification)]]. Both are maintained by the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ UK's National Archives].

DROID downloads the latest [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/aboutapps/pronom/droid-signature-files.htm signature files] from PRONOM, and those are used to drive the identification process. See the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/aboutapps/pronom/release-notes.xml PRONOM release notes].

A number of other tools and registries have been based around the PRONOM data. These include:

* [[Nanite]] and [[Fido]] identification tools
* [[Siegfried]] identification tool

Although the information and website are made freely available under the Open Government License, the underlying software engine that powers PRONOM is proprietary.
  
  
===== The PRONOM Web API =====
The website is oriented towards manual browsing, but note that each PRONOM registry entry as a permalink, like this: 

    http://apps.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom/fmt/579

and furthermore, by appending '.xml' to the URL for any entry, the data can be recovered as XML:

    http://apps.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom/fmt/579.xml
= User Experiences =
* [http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/preservation/daat_file_format_tools_report.pdf Digital Asset Assessment Tool - Assessment of file format testing tools].
* Comparing how [[Apache Tika]] and DROID perform HTML identification: [http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/webarchive/2014/07/how-much-of-the-uk-html-is-valid.html How much of the UK's HTML is valid?]
* [http://openplanetsfoundation.org/blogs/2014-06-03-analysis-engine-droid-csv-export An Analysis Engine for the DROID CSV Export]
* '''KOST-CECO:''' Used in [[KOST-Val]] for the file format identification. For performance and granularity reasons an own SignatureFile is used instead of the official PRONOM registry.
* '''FITS (File Information Tool Set):''' Used in [[FITS (File Information Tool Set)|FITS]]
  
  
= Development Activity =
All development activity is visible on GitHub: http://github.com/digital-preservation/droid/commits
 
 
=== Release Feed ===
Below the last 3 release feeds:
<rss max=3>https://github.com/digital-preservation/droid/releases.atom</rss>
  
 
=== Activity Feed ===
Below the last 5 commits:
<rss max=5>https://github.com/digital-preservation/droid/commits/master.atom</rss>