pydataportability.discovery 0.4
Christian Scholz
License: BSD
Keywords: pydataportability dataportability acct xrd discovery webfinger finger google

Introduction
============

``pydataportability.discovery`` is a component for discovering resource description
documents. These are `XRD documents <http://code.google.com/p/webfinger/wiki/XrdFiles>`_ describing 
a resource and optionally pointing to related resources. One use case is the 
`webfinger project <http://code.google.com/p/webfinger/>`_ where XRD is used to store
information about a user. The URI identifying the user is e.g. ``acct:user@example.com``
and this discovery component is able to retrieve information about the user via
`LRDD <http://hueniverse.com/2009/03/the-discovery-protocol-stack/>`_.


Installation
------------

The easiest way to install it is via ``easy_install``::

    easy_install pydataportability.discovery

It is recommended to do this inside a `virtualenv <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv/1.3.4>`_


Simple usage
------------

After installing you will have 2 new commands in your path (or virtualenv's ``bin/`` directory):
``discover`` and ``webfinger``. These are just example scripts though. Both do discovery
on the URI you feed in but the latter will check for webfinger-relationships only and will
additionally check if you passed in a user identifier starting with ``acct:`` which is the
proposed scheme of the webfinger protocol. If you didn't, it's adding it for you.

Here is an example::

    $ webfinger someuser@googlemail.com

    Subject:  acct:someuser@googlemail.com

    Rels:  ['http://portablecontacts.net/spec/1.0']
    URIs: ['http://www-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/api/people/']
    Media Types: []
    Prio: 0
    Templates: []

So this mainly prints the contents of the discovered XRD document. Note that the
user you are testing it with needs to enable this at Google. Check out the 
`webfinger homepage <http://code.google.com/p/webfinger/>`_ and 
`mailing list <http://groups.google.com/group/webfinger/>`_ for more information.


Documentation 
-------------

You can find the documentation for this component at http://dataportability.net

.. warning:: Note that the XRD specification and the webfinger protocol are under heavy
   development and likely to change. 

License
=======

This project is released under a BSD license:


Copyright (c) 2009, Christian Scholz
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the
following conditions are met:

 * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
   disclaimer.
 * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
   disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 * Neither the name of the author nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
   this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.



Changelog
=========

0.4 - 12 Oct 2009
-----------------

* Initial release