DART on the server

[Andrew Diamond]

Hello APTrusters,

We've gotten many requests for a server-side version of DART, one that can run unattended workflows without requiring a graphical desktop environment.

We now have a beta version of this tool available. "Dart Runner" is intended mainly for use on Linux servers, though it also works on Mac. (Windows users should stick with the regular DART tool.)

You can define a workflow in DART, export it to your server, then run batch jobs as needed or on a recurring schedule. For more info about what Dart Runner can do, see https://aptrust.github.io/dart-docs/users/dart_runner/.

Dart Runner is free and open source. The code is available on GitHub at https://github.com/APTrust/dart-runner. The README page here describes the rationale behind the project and why we chose to build it.

Because Runner supports arbitrary BagIt formats such as BTR (Beyond the Repository), we expect it may be used in future to exchange bags between distributed digital preservation systems.

Keep in mind that this is early beta software. We're looking for people to test it out. If you find bugs, have questions, or want to make feature requests, please file an issue on GitHub at https://github.com/APTrust/dart-runner/issues, or write to us directly at he...@aptrust.org.

Andrew Diamond

Lead Developer, APTrust