experimental schema: format.sourcestatus

[Baden Hughes]

Earlier I wrote to this list describing a problem I had found with the
schemas format.* in that the did not necessarily describe a certain
aspect of a software resource.

I believe retaining the format.cpu, format.os and format.sourcecode
vocabularies is beneficial. However, I would like to propose a new
addition to these, namely a schema for "format.sourcestatus", which
would be an optional controlled vocabulary, considered experimental only
at this stage.

The purpose of format.sourcestatus is to address two needs identified by
end users as critical to being able to evaluate a software and determine
its degree of utility to their own circumstances, eloquently expressed
by Steven Bird as:

> the end-user requirement here is to be able to answer the
> question: "Can I run this software?"

and

> the end-user requirement here is to be able to answer the
> question: "How much effort will be required to get this running?"

In addressing these questions, format.sourcestatus is a controlled
vocabulary that provides a range of descriptive options which assist the
user in identifying whether or not they can use the software resource in
question, and what additional requirements there will be to make it
work.

format.sourcestatus will contain enumeration values like the following:

	Pre-Compiled Binary
	Requires Compilation
	Requires Make
	Wrapped Installation
	Script

There is a rudimentary draft of this available at:

http://www.compuling.net/projects/olac/031002-draft-olac-format.sourcest
atus.xsd (URL may wrap)

It also occurs to me that format.sourcecode may not be the best name for
the controlled vocabulary. In essence, the identification performed by
this schema is of the language in which sourcecode is written.

Any comments ?

Baden