Getting Metadata

Git Repository

The easiest and most convenient way of working with VHO/VMO SPASE descriptions is by employing a distributed source content management system called git. For more information about GIT, see an overview, the tutorial or the man pages.

The VMO and VHO teams develop the SPASE metadata as git projects that can be browsed using a git web interface or directly cloned using git-clone commands.

Git web interface to VHO/VMO-related projects: http://vmo.nasa.gov/scm/git

Clone metadata with ResourceID prefix spase://VHO:

git clone http://vmo.nasa.gov/scm/git/metadata/VHO.git

Clone metadata with ResourceID prefix spase://VMO:

git clone http://vmo.nasa.gov/scm/git/metadata/VMO.git

Download a TAR.GZ Package

The VHO/VMO metadata are also available as *.tar.gz packages of XML files with resource descriptions. Each resource description is kept in a separate XML file.

Submitting Changes

Repository Maintainer

Any changes to VHO and VMO metadata repositories should be submitted for inclusion to the maintainer This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Git Way

Git offers a variety of commands to manage projects in a repositories and to prepare patches for submitting to the repository maintainer. After making changes to your local repository clone, the modifications need to be saved with an explanatory log message, for example:

git-commit -a -m "Initial description of ST5 observatory resources" 

Then, a set of patches can be prepared against the original repository as

git-format-patch origin

Or against metadata as of August 20, 2007:

git-format-patch @{2007-08-20}

And finally to email all patches to the maintainer:

git send-email --to <email address> ./ 

For more information about GIT, see an overview, the tutorial or the man pages.

Using Other Versioning Systems

It is possible to maintain the metadata locally in a different versioning system, for example CVS, Subversion (SVN), bazaar-ng, etc, and use its tools to generate and email patches.

Without a Versioning System

If you do not employ any versioning system, you can either submit patches or complete XML files to be integrated in the VHO/VMO repositories. The changes will get merged with the name and email of the author so when other developers review the metadata project history, they will know who made the changes.