DAISY Pipeline project information

DAISY Pipeline, formerly DMFC - the Daisy Multi Format Converter, is a liberally licensed open source framework for document- and DTB-related transformations.

This page contains general project information; for developer-centric information and downloads, visit DMFC at Sourceforge.

• Introduction
• Scope and Requirements
• Review and request functionality
• Timelines, Reports, Notes and Minutes
• Participation and licensing

Introduction

Organisations producing and distributing DAISY DTBs are facing an increasing complexity in terms of production and distribution models. This complexity is partly caused by the need to be able to transform content between different formats in a simple and economic manner. Examples of transformation needs include:

• Transformation of documents between different formats. In a production context, a file recieved from a publisher may be in a format other than that directly used by DAISY. In a distribution context, a DAISY master document may need to be transformed to a specific delivery format (e.g. electronic or printed Braille, E-text, Daisy Text-Only DTB).
• Converting DTBs between different standards. In an archival context, a DTB or a document needs to migrated in order to ensure longevity. In a distribution context, a DTB may need to be converted to a specific version of the Daisy standard in order to be useable on certain reading device.

The DAISY Pipeline project is an open source collaborative software development project hosted by the Daisy Consortium. DAISY Pipeline software adresses the needs mentioned above.

The longterm aim of the DAISY Pipeline project is to build a single point of coordination for DAISY-related document/fileset transformation developers in order to:

• efficiently and economically meet the rapidly increasing needs for conversion and transformation utilities within the Daisy community
• minimize overlap and duplication
• ensure maximum sharing
• enable creation of common, reusable components
• enable efficient interoperability - "chaining" of associated processes.

Scope and Requirements

Scope

The functionality scope of the DAISY Pipeline is:

• Text-oriented transformations, such as
  • uptransforms (non-XML text to XML)
  • crosstransforms (XML-grammar to XML-grammar)
  • downtransform (XML to non-xml deliverable format)
• DTB-oriented transformations, such as
  • migrating a DTB from one standard version to another
  • applying a DRM protection scheme to a DTB.

Requirements

The following documents describe system requirements as defined by the DAISY Pipeline interest group.

Review and request functionality

The actual transformations supported by the DMFC framework is a direct result of requests made by the Daisy community. To request a particular transformation type, post a message at the DAISY Pipeline SourceForge feature request list or contact Markus Gylling (markus.gylling[at]tpb.se).

The DMFC project pages at Sourceforge contain a summary of currently existing transformations. Please review this before submitting a new functionality request.

If you want to monitor the work progress or engage in discussion, you may also want to join the DAISY Pipeline interest group discussion list. Contact markus.gylling[at]tpb.se for joining instructions.

Timelines, Reports, Notes and Minutes

DAISY Pipeline end 2007-2008 charter

DAISY Pipeline timelines and deliverables(February 2005-August 2007)

Report: framework functionality summary, end phase 2.

Participation and licensing

Participation in the DAISY Pipeline project is open to all parties. A interest group emailing list is available. Contact Markus Gylling (markus.gylling[at]tpb.se) for further details.

The DAISY Pipeline framework is licensed under an open source license (LGPL), where access to and the rights to use binaries and source code is not dependent on for-profit/non-profit status of the deploying/participating organisation.

Note: no licensing restrictions are imposed on individual transformation types. This means that different licensing schemes can be used for specific transformation types. However, all conversion types developed under the direct aegis of the Daisy Consortium are LGPL as well.