PG* filenames/directoriies (was Re: [PGCanada] PG of Canada details)

Carlo Traverso traverso at dm.unipi.it
Thu Apr 22 10:11:24 PDT 2004


The issue of filenaming and directory structure is very important, and
worth being discussed in the context of a coordination between PG-like
projects. I include in this definition not only projects that use the
Project Gutenberg trademark, but also projects that share the goal of
PG, and might be partners in a world-wide "Gutenberg Federation". 

I would like to see the directory structure of several projects to be
compatible; this means two important features:

- there are no name incompatibilities: a file from one project will
  not overwrite a file from another. This requires coordination, but a
  numerical scheme like PG-main or PG-AU forces incompatibilities

- the directory structures put together related books of different
  origin. I would like to see togeter the different volumes of the
  same work even if they are released in different times; different
  books of the same author, and originals and translations of the same
  book, independently of the project that prepared it.

A big virtual library might be obtained copying the directory
structure of all the projects under the same root; this might be
utopian, but an approximation might already be significant.

I think that the structure used by Progetto Manuzio is a good one, but
should be improved to be adopted. They have a subdivision per letter
of the author name, then author name, then a directory per work, and
inside a directory per file type. So for example they have

a/alighieri/ with index.htm giving informations on the author and a list
of available works; 

inside, 

a/alighieri/convivio_edizione_busnelli_vandelli/ and 
a/alighieri/convivio_edizione_vasoli_de_robertis/ and moreover
a/alighieri/convivio_edizione_vasoli_de_robertis/rtf/
a/alighieri/convivio_edizione_vasoli_de_robertis/txt/

What I like less, is that both directories contain convivio.zip, hence
there is an overwriting possibility when uploading the files. Of
course, with 8.3 naming conventions this is unavoidable, but I believe
that this now can be overcome.

I would like better something like
a/alighieri/convivio/edizione_vasoli_de_robertis/txt/convivio_vasoli-txt.zip

and 

a/alighieri/convivio/en/translator_name/txt/convivio_en_tn.zip

Of course, such a structure requires a coordination between projects;
to avoid having a centralized authority, i would suggest that a
default competence be identified, that can be decided by origin (dutch
authors of competence of PG-NL) or by first inclusion.

The centralized catalogue is however needed: before including a book,
an authorization (issued by automatic criteria, possibly by a robot on
the basis of the metadata) should be obtained.

Of course, such an approach requires advances in the constitution of a
"Gutenberg Federation" to handle at least the format of the
metadata and the unified catalogue; compliance to the recommendation
should be voluntary, but I believe that if the recommendations are
useful they will be followed.

Carlo





More information about the PGCanada mailing list