Fido 1.6 is now available for download. 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/master/README.md

The release also includes the following:

• Fix an issue causing crashes for XLS files
• Unicode support for Windows Python 2.7 
• Generated signature file validated against the XML schema
• Addressed errors with signature generation
• Addressed technical debt, particularly code-style warnings

A complete list of changes is available in the release notes.

Getting FIDO

Fido is usually distributed as a PyPi package. If you want to use pip to install the release:

pip install opf-fido

Our thanks go to everyone who contributed to this release!

Subscribe to the Fido user mailing list.

Feedback welcome

We invite you to download and use the release. If you experience a problem, please report it on the Fido issue tracker on GitHub or contact us.

About Fido

Artefactual contributes 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, hosting, maintaining, supporting, or developing is not free. If you use fido, please consider supporting its development by becoming an OPF member or donating.