This is the Data Directory Cataloger. The purpose of it is to help manage numerous directories by having a README.yaml in most directories and which stores metadata about the contents of that directory. Typical metadata that you would store might be "Description", "Data Manager" and "Disposal Date".
When the ddc.py program is run on a directory it looks for README.yaml files
in the immediate subdirectories. From those README.yaml files it reads the
metadata, and outputs a single Markdown document listing each subdirectory and
summarising the metadata in its README.
This Markdown doc can then be easily transformed to a HTML file (e.g. using pandoc)
which will provide a single point of information about the contents of the directories.
The real advantages of the program though are realised when multiple top level directories are cataloged and the Markdown docs combined into a static website which then describes the multiple top-level directories.
Also System Administrators can look in the subdirectories and will find the README.yaml
files which describe the data and who manages it. The README.yaml files can be also
be programatically searched for metadata such as the data manager or data disposal
dates.
See the Examples Readme for a example HTML page and a screenshot.
Python 3.6.8 or later with PyYAML 6.0 is required for the basic ddc.py program.
The write_readmes.py program does not require any extra Python modules.
If you wish to create a MkDocs site then you will need to install the mkdocs module
and perhaps a module for whatever theme you wish to use. For instance I have the
following mkdocs modules installed:
mkdocs==1.3.1
mkdocs-macros-plugin==0.7.0
mkdocs-material==8.4.2
It is best to install these into a Python virtual environment which can be sourced
before running the programs. See the script update_site_example.sh as an example.
Copyright 2022 Mike Lake
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the Data Directory Cataloger. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Mike Lake