LSID Software Gap Analysis

1
LSID Software Gap Analysis

• Ricardo Pereira
• Second Workshop on
• Globally Unique Identifiers (GUID-2)
• June 10-12, 2006
• Edinburgh, UK

2
Software Components

• Resolvers (Biopathways.org)
• Providers (DiGIR, DiGIR2, BioCASe, TAPIR)
• Browser Plugins (MSIE, Firefox)
• Appication Programming Interfaces (APIs)
• Compliance Testing (Rods LSID tester)

3
Gaps and Issues

• Configurable resolver
• Porting software to other platforms
• Software maintenance
• Broad deployment of resolvers

4
Setting Up LSID Resolvers

• Configuration of LSID resolvers is based on
  extension of base classes or implementation
  of interfaces
• An Object Oriented Design (OOD) concept
• Requires compilation (in Java, at least for
  the extension)

• Implications
• More flexibility to set up resolvers
• Set up is more complex (requires
  programming)

5
Configurable Resolver

• Support for file configuration (maybe via
  GUI)
• Mapping local database schemas to RDF
• Using existing resolver extension mechanism
• Wrap them into installers
• Deployments may justify this
• Similar to deploying DiGIR or PyWrapper

6
Porting LSID Software

• Support for Java, Perl....NET
• Need PHP, Python?
• Software design and programming mismatch
• Avoid javisms, Perl-isms
• Re-design
• Mismatch between underlying library
  interfaces
• DNS, HTTP, SOAP, RDF, etc.
• Adapter classes needed

7
Software Maintenance

• If we want to use LSIDs then long-term software
  support is required
• LSID software development is based on an open
  source model
• Most LSID software is developed and is
  supported by IBM (Bens group)
• Community expertise is building quickly
• Broader adoption of LSID

8
Broader Deployment of Resolvers

• Need for standard semantic web tools to
  resolve LSID
• Are there hooks for URN resolution on
  those tools?
• Can we develop plugins for them?

9
Summary of LSID Software

• Perl and Java Toolkits
• Well designed, implemented, documented, and
  supported
• Many useful examples
• Setup in 1 or 2 days

10
Browser Plugins

• Both resolve lsidres protocol
• LSID LaunchPad for IE
• Based on obsolete technology (COM)
• Few differences between CVS and production
• lsidBrowser for Firefox
• Limitation Firefox doesnt provide DNS API
• Handler relies on external web service
• Single point of failure

11
Provider Software DiGIR BioCASe

• Widely deployed for specimens
• No GUID support in protocol
• GUID spot in ABCD profile
• Can fake GUID by concatenating InstCode,
  CollCode, CatalogNumber
• Resolver can be wrapped around DiGIR portal
• Collections management software should
  support GUID natively

12
Provider Protocol TAPIR

• No explicit support for GUIDs
• Resolver can be deployed with
  implementations
• Good timing as implementations are still
  under development
• GUID must be provided by the collection
  database

13
Provider Software DiGIR2

• Serves LSIDs out-of-the-box
• Pluggable GUID resolver LSID, etc
• Supports transition if providers start
  issuing their own LSIDs
• Might take a while until collections adopt
  standard

14
Biopathways.orgLSID Resolver

• Web-based Resolver
• HTTP Gateway

15
Rods LSID Tester

• Tests every step in the resolution of a
  given LSID
• Excellent for debugging resolvers
• Educative
• Shows LSID resolution step by step
• Provides HTTP responses

16
Topics for discussion

• Points raised during the presentation
• Any other issues needing adressing?