The first release candidate for fido 1.6.0 is now available for community testing. 

Fido (Format Identification for Digital Objects) is an open-source command-line tool to identify the file formats of digital objects and part of the OPF reference toolset.

This release features an improved mechanism for managing the PRONOM signature files.

New signatures can now be downloaded from the OPF’s signature file web service. Instructions on the new signature handling are available in the README here: https://github.com/openpreserve/fido/blob/rc/1.6/README.md#updating-signatures

A more complete list of changes is available in the release notes: https://github.com/openpreserve/fido/releases/tag/v1.6.0rc1.

Getting the release candidate

Fido is usually distributed as a PyPi package. If you want to use pip to install the release candidate package you must specify the version number. e.g. :

pip install “opf-fido==1.6.0rc4”

Our thanks go to everyone who contributed to this release!

Feedback welcome

We invite you to download and test the release candidate. If you experience a problem please report it on the Fido issue tracker on GitHub or contact us. We will continue to test the release candidate internally, and there may be a few small changes before the public production release.

About fido

Artefactual contribute to the maintenance of fido as part of their OPF technical contribution. Fido can be automatically installed with Archivematica, but it is also available as a stand-alone command-line tool and can be incorporated into other digital preservation systems.

OPF provides hosting and support through software quality testing and delivery, and open source best practice. Fido is free to download, use and modify. However, it is not free to host, maintain, support or develop. If you use fido, please consider supporting its development by becoming an OPF member or making a donation.