Software for Connecting to the VOEvent Backbone

[Bob Denny]

Hello all --

I've put together a set of free cross-platform tools for getting onto the
VOEVent backbone. The Dakota Tools for VOEvent run on most popular Linux
flavors, Max OS X (Leopard and later) and Windows XP/Vista/7. Included are a
publishing tool, a receiver/broker (dual use), and an XML VOEvent message
checker. I also made up an online/web based VOEvent message checker. The
checkers can be used to make sure your VOEvent XML messages conform to the spec.
The receiver/broker will immediately run any shell script or program on receipt
of each message, feeding the message via standard-in.

For more information, downloads, mini-Schema documentation, tools documentation
and the online message checker, see

  http://voevent.dc3.com/

No compilation is needed, but I will supply sources if desired (it will
eventually be a SourceForge project). The downloads are binaries. The Mac OS X
kit is a .dmg containing a standard installer. Installation on Linux is manual
due to the variabilities of the different flavors and local usage. Installation
on Wndows is also manual since I believe it will be rarely used :-)

I've just registered for Eventful Universe, and will be there to answer
questions. I hope this will help build the VOEvent Network into a powerhouse
system for transient astronomy!

  -- Bob

PS: If you have received previous software from me, ignore that and get the
current version from the above web site.