Currently there is no automation for the GUTINDEX files. They
are maintained by hand, and have been for decades -- all the
way back to the 1990s.

Any automation would require new development. As I mentioned,
I think this could be built into the workflow tool the WWers
utilize.
  ~ Greg

On Sat, Jul 19, 2025 at 02:23:20PM -0500, Jared Buck wrote:
> A mix of both might not be a bad idea.  Having some sort of automated
> script for most of it but then hand-editing when something like an author
> is changed?  I'm no programmer but I'm sure there is a way to automate some
> of it.  That being said, as a person with a disability, most of my work
> right now in RL is on a volunteer basis while I get some help looking for a
> paid job. These files usually seem to be updated once a week as it is, so
> i'm sure an automated script running 1x a week to automate most of this and
> then a manual hand-edit when correction posts are made, seems
> like something you wouldn't have to devote a lot of time to.  I'd
> volunteer to do that if no one else can, but I'd have to find someone to
> write a programming script for automating it, first.
>
> Jared
>
> On Sat, Jul 19, 2025 at 1:41 PM Greg Newby <gbnewby@pglaf.org> wrote:
>
> > The long-time maintainer, Larry Copenhaver, has had to step back from
> > this role due to health issues.
> >
> > The GUTINDEX.ALL files under "offline catalogs" at
> > https://www.gutenberg.org (and companion files like GUTINDEX.2000) are
> > Project Gutenberg's accession files. They list all our publications in
> > numerical order.
> >
> > Many people use these frequently (including me).
> >
> > To continue to maintain them, either:
> > 1. A new maintainer needs to step forward
> > 2. We could try to develop automation to maintain the files
> >
> > The maintainer role is to simply copy Posted announcements to the
> > right place in the GUTINDEX files.
> >
> > An automated solution would plug into the suite of "workbench" tools
> > the production team (WWers) use. If you've seen the Posted email list,
> > you can see that the top line of a Posted announcement is what goes
> > into the GUTINDEX files.
> >
> > Generally the lists simply grow with every new posting. Occasionally
> > they need some hand-editing, such as when we remove items or fix
> > the title or author.
> >   ~ Greg
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 19, 2025 at 12:31:28PM -0400, Dan Lowe wrote:
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jul 17, 2025, at 1:21 PM, Greg Newby wrote:
> > > > Indeed, we might have lost our maintainer. I've reached out...
> > > >   ~ Greg
> > >
> > > The format of those files is not overly complex. Do we have clean enough
> > metadata to generate them programmatically? I assume the book title and
> > book number are low-hanging fruit, but I'm not sure about other
> > information, e.g. illustrator(s), editor(s), subtitle...
> > >
> > > Dan
> >