CDX Client
The CDX Client package allows client scientists, researchers, and others to peruse, download, and use CDX data.
This is the CDX Client package. It provides an API into the CDX data systems that enables browsing and retrieval of CDX data. It also provides two command-line tools:
cdxls- List the contents of CDX.
cdxget- Retrieve a file from CDX.
Installation
This remainder of this document tells you how to install cdx-client.
Quick Instructions
As a user with administrative privileges, run:
easy_install cdx.client
That's it.
Full Instructions
cdx-client requires the Python programming language. We recommend version 2.4 or later. As of this writing, 2.6 is the latest stable version. If Python is not yet installed on your system, you can find binary and and source distributions from the Python website.
To test if a correct version of Python is available on your system, run:
python -V
You should see output similar to:
Python 2.6
indicating the version of Python installed. cdx-client also requires Agile OODT. OODT is Object Oriented Data Technology, a framework for metadata and data grids. Agile OODT is a Python version of OODT that supports higher performance and easier integration than the Java version.
By far the easiest, recommended, and encouraged way to install cdx-client is to use EasyInstall. If your Python installation has EasyInstall available to it, then this one command is all you need to run in order to download, build, install, and generate command-line tools all in one go for all users on your system:
easy_install cdx.client
Be sure to run that command as an administrative user. For example, on Mac OS X and other Unix systems, you might need to run:
sudo easy_install cdx.client
That will also download and install all dependencies, including Agile OODT.
Executables
The commands cdxls and cdxget will be generated and placed with your standard installation directory for Python commands. Usually, this is the same location as the python executable itself. For example, on Mac OS X 10.5, the directory is:
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin
You may want to add that directory to your shell's PATH variable, as well as forcing your shell to re-scan the PATH variable for new executables.
Installing EasyInstall
If you happen to be on a system where your Python installation lacks easy install, fret not. Upgrading your system to gain EasyInstall's abilities is quite simple. Follow these instructions:
- Download http://peak.telecommunity.com/dist/ez_setup.py
- As an administrative user, run the freshly-downloaded ez_setup.py file using your system's Python.
EasyInstall and its necessary libraries will be downloaded, built, and installed for you, and the easy_install executable generated. The location of the easy_install executable is as described above.
Installing Without EasyInstall
If EasyInstall is not available on your system, you can still make a proper installation of cdx-client. Follow these instructions:
- Download the Agile OODT source distribution from http://oodt.jpl.nasa.gov/dist/agile-oodt/oodt-0.0.1.tar.gz. Substitute version numbers as appropriate.
- Download the cdx.client source distribution from http://cdx.jpl.nasa.gov/software/dist/cdx.client-0.0.3.tar.gz. Substitute version numbers as appropriate.
- Unpack each archive.
- Change the current working directory to each newly-created subdirectory, oodt-0.0.1 and cdx.client-0.0.2, again substituting version numbers as appropriate.
- As an administrative user, run: python setup.py install in each subdirectory.
Issues and Questions
To report any problems with or ask for help about cdx-client, visit our contact web page.
