VEP-010.txt

Vocabulary: http://www.ivoa.net/rdf/datalink/core
Author: pdowler.cadc@gmail.com
Date: 2021-10-13

Term: package
Action: Addition
Label: Single download package
Description: All file-like items related to #this and #this itself
  packaged together in a single downloadable archive.
Relationships: 
Used-in: https://ws.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/caom2ops/datalink?ID=ivo://cadc.nrc.ca/BLAST?BLASTabell31122006-12-21/REDUCED_250_2009-03-06

Rationale: 
  CADC and ESO have found it useful to distribute packages of
  (essentially) everything they link to in a datalink document, and have
  created a custom term http://www.opencadc.org/caom2#pkg for it.  The use
  case is that for certain types of complex data, in serious scientific
  exploitation it is likely that most files linked to would be useful
  anyway, and hence users should be spared the individual downloads.

  This use case has turned out to be stable.  It is thus time to move the
  concept to the datalink core vocabulary.

  The provider has some freedom in determining the exact content of the
  package; the downloaded package may include additional files (for
  example, a README).  While the intent is that "everything useful" is
  part of the #package-d archive, there is no strict requirement to really
  include everything; for example, previews may be skipped. 

  The format of the package is specified in the content_type field.

  The concept bears some relationship to #this; one could argue it is
  #this with bells and whistles.  In a browsing case, it might be useful
  to show #package links together with #this links to immediately indicate
  to users they have the "bells-and-whistles download", too.  We do not
  propose this yet, but suggest a consideration of the idea during VEP
  review.

Discussion:
  After some pre-review approval (cf.
  http://mail.ivoa.net/pipermail/semantics/2021-October/002891.html),
  the actual discussion
  (http://mail.ivoa.net/pipermail/semantics/2021-November/002903.html)
  was brief and uncontroversial.