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Ontogen

A version control system for RDF datasets
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About the Project

Ontogen is a version control solution. While it takes a lot of inspiration from Git, it is something very different, however. Whereas Git, Mercurial, SVN etc. are all version control systems for source code, Ontogen has a different versioning subject: datasets. These are datasets of data that were created or generated by someone or something, then reviewed by someone or something, then edited by someone or something and so on. So, while we can say Git, Mercurial, SVN are all SCM (Source-Control-Management) solutions, Ontogen would be a DCM (Data-Control-Management) solution.

But it's not about datasets in general. The versioned subject of Ontogen are the graphs of an RDF dataset ([1]) that are stored in a SPARQL-star-compliant triple store. In an Ontogen repository on such a store, however, we have a similar situation as in Git: instead of a single .git directory containing the version history of the code, we have a single separated named graph ([2]) containing the version history of the dataset.

Ontogen takes a holistic approach to RDF data versioning by considering not just the syntactical and semantical levels, but also the pragmatic layer, the acts of producing the data and changing them.

Key features of Ontogen include:

  • Provenance metadata generation for changes in the triple store
  • Incorporation of speech act utterances of RDF statements
  • Integration with PROV and DCAT models

[1] Currently, only datasets with one graph are supported

[2] Currently, only cryptic names are used for this; this will be addressed in Ontogen v0.2

Getting Started

Note for end users: This is the core library, which can be used to integrate Ontogen into your Elixir apps. If you're looking to use Ontogen as a command-line tool, please check out the Ontogen CLI repository. The CLI provides a user-friendly interface for Ontogen functionality.

Prerequisites

To use Ontogen, you'll need:

  • Elixir v1.15+ & Erlang/OTP v23+
  • A SPARQL-compatible triple store (currently only Fuseki and Oxigraph are officially supported)

Installation

Add Ontogen to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:ontogen, "~> 0.1"}
  ]
end

Then run:

$ mix deps.get

Usage

Here's a basic example of how to use Ontogen with its CLI:

$ mkdir example
$ cd example

$ og init --adapter Oxigraph
Initialized empty Ontogen repository in /Users/JohnDoe/example

$ og setup
Set up Ontogen repository

$ og add data.ttl

$ og commit --message "Initial commit"
[(root-commit) 6fc09c94768204983d0409d28e0796ec3f17cef46e57c5cb1248424d3922040d] Initial commit
 3 insertions, 0 deletions, 0 overwrites

$ og log --changes
ec8108e3f4 - Initial commit (just now) <John Doe john.doe@example.com>
   <http://www.example.org/employee38>
 +     <http://www.example.org/familyName> "Smith" ;
 +     <http://www.example.org/firstName> "John" ;
 +     <http://www.example.org/jobTitle> "Assistant Designer" .

For more examples, please refer to the User Guide

Roadmap

  • [ ] Support for multiple graphs in an RDF dataset
  • [ ] Implement branching and merging capabilities
  • [ ] Support for more triple stores
  • [ ] ...

See the open issues for a full list of proposed features (and known issues).

Contact

Marcel Otto - @marcelotto@mastodon.social - @MarcelOttoDE - marcelotto@gmx.de

Acknowledgments

NLnet Foundation Logo NGI Assure Logo JetBrains Logo

This project is funded through NGI Assure, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet program.

JetBrains supports the project with complimentary access to its development environments.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.md for more information.