New FIDO version: 0.9.6

By mauricederooij on 4 October 2011 – 1:50pm

The new FIDO (Format Identification for Digital Objects) is here, version 0.9.6.

Improvements:

  • reports if match is based on signature, extension or no match (fail)
  • reports if file is empty (to stderr)
  • reporting of mime-types fixed (special thanks to Derek Higgins)
  • shows help upon invocation without arguments
  • PDF signatures updated from PRONOM files, due to this FIDO failed to recognize some versions
  • extra information available in output via matchprintf: file format version, alias, Apple UTI, group index and group size (in case of multiple -tentative- hits) and current file count


Changes:

  • extension switch removed, this is a builtin default now
  • mime-types added to standard match output
  • match type added to standard match output
  • STDOUT/STDERR printing is now backward/forward compatible with old and future Python versions
  • Windows installer and site-package installer removed due to incompatibility problems


Additionally there is a new script ‘to_xml.py’ which converts FIDO’s csv output to XML. This script also reports the FIDO version and PRONOM signature version. You can pipe FIDO’s output to this script while it runs or use it afterwards to convert the CSV output file. More information on how to invoke this converter can be found in the script. Please note that the XML template in this script is only compatible with the default matchprintf output, but you are free to change this template yourself if needed.


Next tasks on the list are cleaning up code, create Pythonic easy installer, have FIDO recognize Compound documents better and improve the Prepare script (to generate FIDO compatible signatures). Please consult the FIDO JIRA for more information on these subjects.


You can pull the new version via https://github.com/openplanets/fido or download the zip directly: https://github.com/openplanets/fido/zipball/master


If you find any bugs or have any questions or requests, please submit them to the FIDO JIRA:

http://jira.opf-labs.org/browse/FIDO

Preservation Topics: 
Identification
Tools
Open Planets Foundation
Fido