[p2p-hackers] Bitzi (was Various identifier choices)

[Gordon Mohr]

Brandon Wiley writes:
> This reminds me that I have a question about Bitzi and this seems like the
> right place to ask it. Is there a programmatic interface for talking to
> Bitzi? Can I write a client? What format does the information come in? I
> think it would be very wonderful if I could get an RDF serialization of
> the Bitzi catalog via CGI or XML-RPC.

We intend to offer several interfaces. The only one up and running 
right now is the plain HTTP POST that does a submit/lookup -- but 
its return info is HTML intended for human eyes.

The next priority is an HTTP GET or POST which dumps summary info 
about one or more given hashes (by SHA1 or full Bitprint). The
summary info will definitely be XML, it might be proper RDF.
Suggestions and commentary from interested parties can definitely
shape what is offered; wishlists and preferences, here or at
our website discussion forums would be appreciated.

After that, other interfaces will be developed as outside
demand and our capacity-to-service-them grow. For example,
a possibility that often comes up is an XML-RPC interface 
for performing the same set of basic basic contribution/rating/
search services available through the web interface.

There will also be periodic full dumps of the contributed info 
at various levels of detail, for mirroring and the creation of
derivative/experimental works. DMOZ is the model we'll emulate,
but here, too, requests and suggestions are welcome.

- Gojomo