> At one point before coming to Apache, we had a metadata registry service at > JPL > as part of the OODT components but it fell out of maintenance and out of sync > with the current code base. Since then NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) has > been > building an ebXML compliant registry and a JAX-RS based implementation that > makes a lot more sense. I know that the PDS folks are currently working to > figure out > how to contribute the code to the ASF.
I've been developing client-side applications for that registry in Python (thank heavens) for the International Planetary Data Alliance [1] and it's been really smooth-sailing. The ebXML model is one of the least egregious for a registry that I've seen, and believe me, I've seen some nasty ones. But what makes JPL's implementation so compelling is its JSON-esque and ReST-ful based API, which, as far as I can tell, is totally original within the ebXML & OASIS worlds. Normally I turn my nose up to heavy-handed models with entrenched APIs, but the singular achievement of JPL is to make the ebXML model, which conceptually isn't byzantine, actually usable, approachable, and extendable. Is there any hope we can get JPL, Caltech, and NASA to give it up to become part of OODT? Or its own Incubator project? Fingers crossed! -- Sean Kelly Member, Apache Software Foundation
