# DataLad
DataLad aims to deliver a data distribution. Original motive was to provide
a platform for harvesting data from online portals and
exposing collected data in a readily-usable form from [Git-annex]
repositories, while fetching data load from the original data providers.
# Status
It is currently in a "prototype" state, i.e. **a mess**. Codebase is
rapidly growing, functionality is usable for many use-cases but not
yet officially released to public since its organization and
configuration will be a subject for a considerable reorganization and
standardization. Primary purpose of the development is to catch major
use-cases and try to address them to get a better understanding of the
ultimate specs and design.
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) if you are interested in
internals and/or contributing to the project.
## Code status:
* [](https://travis-ci.org/datalad/datalad) travis-ci.org (master branch)
* [](https://coveralls.io/r/datalad/datalad)
# Dependencies
Although we now support Python 3 (>= 3.3), primarily we still use Python 2.7
and thus instructions below are for python 2.7 deployments.
On Debian-based systems we recommend to enable
[NeuroDebian](http://neuro.debian.net) since we use it to provide
backports of recent fixed external modules we depend upon:
```sh
apt-get install patool python-bs4 python-git python-joblib python-testtools python-mock python-nose git-annex-standalone
```
or otherwise you can use pip to install Python modules
```sh
pip install -r requirements.txt
```
and will need to install recent git-annex using appropriate for your
OS means (for Debian/Ubuntu, once again, just use NeuroDebian). We
later will provide bundled installations of DataLad across popular
platforms.
# License
MIT/Expat
# Disclaimer
It is in a prototype stage -- **nothing** is set in stone yet -- but
already usable in a limited scope.
[Git-annex]: http://git-annex.branchable.com