[iaufwg] FITS Registry Proposal

[Lucio Chiappetti]

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, William Pence wrote:

> http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_registry_v2.html
> 
> This registry now specifically only applies to Existing FITS 
> conventions.  A different (but hopefully similar) process would need to 
> be defined if we want to set up a review process for developing new 
> conventions.  [...] postpone thinking about how to handle new 
> conventions to a later time.

all this is fine for me
 
I've read the above web page and is fine. 

My only (marginal) concern is with the sentence "In some cases, however, 
it may be acceptable to document previously used conventions that violate 
the current FITS Standard as long as this fact is clearly stated."

If that is intended for the FITS-lookalike cases like RPFITS or the ESO 
short FITS, then it's probably OK to list them (in a SEPARATE SECTION of 
the registry) for information (to say "these have FITS in their name but 
are not FITS").

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, Steve Allen wrote:
> On Thu 2006-03-23T10:46:05 +0100, Lucio Chiappetti hath writ:
  
> > Incidentally, this item reminds me of a small detail. Should we want 
> > to provide some "automatic" way to classify a FITS file according to 
> > the conventions supported ?  I'm thinking of the "file" command and 
  
> I don't see this as a small detail.
> [...]
> I imagine some sort of XML schema which permits the description of the
> keywords and how they fit into HDUs, tables, and extensions along with
> the usual extensive English text description of the semantics of each

I was calling it "small detail" because I was thinking of manual usage of 
the "file" command, something which myself will rarely do. After all the 
typical user has little interest in knowing what conventions an odd FITS 
file he received is following. Either he knows ALREADY because it's part 
of a large dataset for his favourite instrument, or is an occasional 
dataset and he will just inspect it with fv or other favourite tool.

Or otherwise he would use a data organizer to classify the files (e.g. 
http://cosmos.iasf-milano.inaf.it/pandora/drago.html) according to 
specific pipeline needs.

It's not a small detail in the sense it is not a trivial business to set 
up an "universal classifier". So one should be careful to embark in a 
large business if there is the probability it will be under-used.	

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucio Chiappetti - INAF/IASF - via Bassini 15 - I-20133 Milano (Italy)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen                          Against stupidity the gods
Götter selbst vergebens.                          themselves contend in vain
         (F.Schiller, Die Jungfrau von Orleans, III, 6  & I.Asimov)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more info : http://www.iasf-milano.inaf.it/~lucio/personal.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------