There’s now a build of JHOVE with some more changes, incorporating new code for finding the PDF trailer and making several fixes in PDF-A checking. The full build is a pain to do, so what I’ve done is uploaded a zip file that contains just the revised bin directory.
To use it, make a copy of JHOVE 1.7 (don’t blow away your old one!) and replace the bin directory with the bin directory from the zip file. Please give feedback on any problems encountered; this is definitely not a stable release.
I’ve put a new test build of the GUI version of JHOVE on SourceForge. This addresses one of the most persistent problems: the configuration file. If it can’t find the expected configuration file, it creates a default version.
I’ve tested this on a Mac and an Ubuntu box, but not on Windows, which is the toughest case because of its different and changing file system conventions. I’d greatly appreciate feedback on whether it works right on Windows, and which version you’ve tested with.
After well over a year, a new version of JHOVE is finally available. Really, not very much has changed since 1.6 as far as the software itself goes. However, I’m leaving Harvard at the end of August and asked for and got custody of JHOVE, so this version marks its transition from a Harvard-supported project (which, in practice, it hasn’t been for a long time) to a separate open-source project. The JHOVE web pages are now hosted on SourceForge, and all support and discussion will go through SourceForge. The jhove-support and jhove-users mailing lists hosted by Harvard will shut down in the near future.
This doesn’t mean JHOVE is dead. I may actually have more opportunities to work on it than before, now that I’m going into independent consulting. I need to stay visible to the library and preservation world, and this is one way to do it.
Meanwhile, I’m looking for contract opportunities. Please take a look at my new business site or my LinkedIn profile.
The web pages for JHOVE are now on SourceForge. They’ll remain on the Harvard site for some period of time but won’t be further updated.
There’s at least a chance this means there will be a release of JHOVE soon. Yes, I know, I’ve been promising that for a long time.
The JHOVE2 project has issued a governance document (PDF) for contributors to the JHOVE2 project. Stephen Abrams writes that “we believe it important to enlist the efforts of the wider user community in future efforts. Working collectively, we can most effectively take advantage of opportunities to enhance and extend the utility of JHOVE2, especially in times of significant constraints on local institutional resources.”
A workshop on digital preservation and JHOVE2 will be held at FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) in Rome, Italy on May 23-27. Presenters will include Stephen Abrams and Perry Willett from California Digital Library, Tom Cramer from Stanford, and Sheila Morrissey from Portico. Days 1 and 2 (on preservation) are free; there is a $300 fee for the JHOVE2 tutorial.
Comments Off on Workshop on preservation and JHOVE2
Posted in News
Tagged conferences, JHOVE, jhove2, preservation
JHOVE2 2.0.0 has been released. Supported formats are ICC Color Profile, SGML, Shapefile, TIFF, UTF-8, WAVE, and XML. The first three of these aren’t supported by the old JHOVE. There’s also a Zip module which validates files within a Zip repository, but not the Zip file itself. JHOVE2 can be downloaded in Zip or Gzip form, or from the Mercurial repository.
Congratulations to everyone who worked on this project!
Forwarded from Stephen Abrams:
The JHOVE2 project team will be presenting a one day tutorial on the use of JHOVE2 at the IS&T Archiving conference on May 16.
http://www.imaging.org/ist/conferences/archiving/index.cfm
JHOVE2 is an open source framework and application for next generation format-aware characterization of digital objects. Characterization is the process of deriving representation information about a formatted digital object that is indicative of its significant nature and useful for purposes of classification, analysis, and use in digital curation, preservation, and repository contexts. JHOVE2 builds on the success of the original JHOVE characterization tool by addressing known limitations and offering significant new functions, including: object-focused, rather than file-focused, characterization; signature-based file level identification using DROID; aggregate-level identification based on configurable file system naming conventions; rules-based assessment to support determinations of object acceptability in addition to validation conformity; and extensive user configuration options.
The 2011 release of JHOVE2 represents the availability of a significant new tool for digital preservation; this course will provide a broad overview of JHOVE2, as well as detailed information on its functionality, architecture, use in local workflows, and open source community.
This short course will give attendees both a broad conceptual overview and detailed information on JHOVE2, and equip them to use the open source tool in their local environments. Specifically, the course will:
This course is designed for technologists and practitioners (developers, managers, analysts and administrators) engaged in digital curation, preservation, and repository activities, and whose work is dependent on an understanding of the format and pertinent characteristics of digital assets.
Comments Off on JHOVE2 tutorial at IS&T Archiving
Posted in News
Tagged conferences, JHOVE, jhove2, preservation, software
Because of security issues at SourceForge, all CVS repositories, including the one for JHOVE, were down for a week or so. They’re back up now. SourceForge provides details here.
CVS is getting to be ancient technology, so I may migrate the repository to Subversion at some point.
Files that Last: Digital Preservation for Everygeek, an e-book to bring the message of digital preservation to the broader geek world.
Mad File Format Science 