| Crates.io | upstream-ontologist |
| lib.rs | upstream-ontologist |
| version | 0.2.11 |
| created_at | 2023-05-23 17:36:10.999943+00 |
| updated_at | 2025-09-07 11:07:37.117258+00 |
| description | tracking of upstream project metadata |
| homepage | https://github.com/jelmer/upstream-ontologist |
| repository | https://github.com/jelmer/upstream-ontologist.git |
| max_upload_size | |
| id | 872181 |
| size | 1,022,838 |
The upstream ontologist provides a common interface for finding metadata about upstream software projects.
It will gather information from any sources available, prioritize data that it has higher confidence in as well as report the confidence for each of the bits of metadata.
The ontologist originated in Debian and the currently reported metadata fields are loosely based on DEP-12, but it is meant to be distribution-agnostic.
Standard fields:
Name: human name of the upstream projectContact: contact address of some sort of the upstream
(e-mail, mailing list URL)Repository: VCS URLRepository-Browse: Web URL for viewing the VCSBug-Database: Bug database URL (for web viewing, generally)Bug-Submit: URL to use to submit new bugs (either on the web or an e-mail address)Screenshots: List of URLs with screenshotsArchive: Archive used - e.g. SourceForgeSecurity-Contact: e-mail or URL with instructions for reporting security issuesDocumentation: Link to documentation on the webChangelog: URL to the changelogFAQ: URL to the FAQDonation: URL to a donation pageFunding: List of sources of funding for the projectExtensions for upstream-ontologist, not defined in DEP-12:
SourceForge-Project: sourceforge project nameWiki: Wiki URLSummary: one-line description of the projectDescription: longer description of the projectLicense: Single line license (e.g. "GPL 2.0")Copyright: List of copyright holdersVersion: Current upstream versionSecurity-MD: URL to markdown file with security policyAuthor: List of people who contributed to the projectMaintainer: The maintainer of the projectHomepage: homepage URL (present in debian/control in Debian packages)At the moment, the ontologist can read metadata from the following upstream data sources:
It will also scan README and INSTALL for possible upstream repository URLs (and will attempt to verify that those match the local repository).
In addition to local files, it can also consult external directories using their APIs:
The easiest way to use the upstream ontologist is by invoking the
guess-upstream-metadata command in a software project:
$ guess-upstream-metadata ~/src/dulwich
Security-MD: https://github.com/dulwich/dulwich/tree/HEAD/SECURITY.md
Name: dulwich
Version: 0.20.15
Bug-Database: https://github.com/dulwich/dulwich/issues
Repository: https://www.dulwich.io/code/
Summary: Python Git Library
Bug-Submit: https://github.com/dulwich/dulwich/issues/new
Alternatively, there is a Python API as part of the upstream_ontologist
Python package. There are also
autocodemeta and autodoap commands that
can generate output in the codemeta and
DOAP formats, respectively.
When reporting bugs, please include the observed output of the guess-upstream-metadata
command, the version of the upstream-ontologist package you are using, what
output you were expecting, and ideally the location of the upstream source code
you are using (e.g. a URL to a Git repository).
If there are additional metadata fields you would like to see supported, please let us know - either with or without a patch.
Similarly, if you have a new data source you would like to see supported, please file a bug and we can discuss how to add it.