Open Publication Distribution System

The Open Publication Distribution System (OPDS) catalog format is a syndication format for electronic publications based on Atom and HTTP. OPDS catalogs enable the aggregation, distribution, discovery, and acquisition of electronic publications. OPDS catalogs use existing or emergent open standards and conventions, with a priority on simplicity.

Open Publication Distribution System
Internet media type
application/atom+xml;profile=opds-catalog
Initial release5 May 2010 (2010-05-05)
Latest release
OPDS 1.2
11 November 2018 (2018-11-11)
Type of formatweb syndication
Extended fromAtom
Open format?Yes
Websiteopds.io

The Open Publication Distribution System specification is prepared by an informal grouping of partners, combining Internet Archive, O'Reilly Media, Feedbooks, OLPC, and others.

History

OPDS is based on the initial work done by Lexcycle, the company behind Stanza,[1] an eBook reader application for iOS. All revisions of the specification were produced by an informal group organized around an open mailing list.[2]

Version history[3]
VersionDate
Older version, yet still maintained: 0.9[4]May 25, 2010
Older version, yet still maintained: 1.0[5]August 30, 2010
Older version, yet still maintained: 1.1[6]June 27, 2011
Current stable version: 1.2 [7]November 11, 2018
Future release: 2.0[8]?
Legend:
Old version
Older version, still maintained
Latest version
Latest preview version
Future release

OPDS software

Many e-readers or e-book reading applications support importing books from an OPDS catalog. E-book management applications such as Calibre also often include OPDS server software to make an e-book collection available through an OPDS catalog.

Example of OPDS 1.1 content

An example of an acquisition feed in OPDS:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
      xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
      xmlns:opds="http://opds-spec.org/2010/catalog">
  <id>urn:uuid:433a5d6a-0b8c-4933-af65-4ca4f02763eb</id>
 
  <link rel="related" 
        href="/opds-catalogs/vampire.farming.xml" 
        type="application/atom+xml;profile=opds-catalog;kind=acquisition"/>
  <link rel="self"    
        href="/opds-catalogs/unpopular.xml"
        type="application/atom+xml;profile=opds-catalog;kind=acquisition"/>
  <link rel="start"   
        href="/opds-catalogs/root.xml"
        type="application/atom+xml;profile=opds-catalog;kind=navigation"/>
  <link rel="up"      
        href="/opds-catalogs/root.xml"
        type="application/atom+xml;profile=opds-catalog;kind=navigation"/>
 
  <title>Unpopular Publications</title>
  <updated>2010-01-10T10:01:11Z</updated>
  <author>
    <name>Spec Writer</name>
    <uri>http://opds-spec.org</uri>
  </author>
 
  <entry>
    <title>Bob, Son of Bob</title>
    <id>urn:uuid:6409a00b-7bf2-405e-826c-3fdff0fd0734</id>
    <updated>2010-01-10T10:01:11Z</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Bob the Recursive</name>
      <uri>http://opds-spec.org/authors/1285</uri>
    </author>
    <dc:language>en</dc:language>
    <dc:issued>1917</dc:issued>
    <category scheme="http://www.bisg.org/standards/bisac_subject/index.html"
              term="FIC020000"
              label="FICTION / Men's Adventure"/>
    <summary>The story of the son of the Bob and the gallant part he played in
      the lives of a man and a woman.</summary>

    <link rel="http://opds-spec.org/image"     
          href="/covers/4561.lrg.png"
          type="image/png"/> 
    <link rel="http://opds-spec.org/image/thumbnail" 
          href="/covers/4561.thmb.gif"
          type="image/gif"/>
 
    <link rel="alternate"
          href="/opds-catalogs/entries/4571.complete.xml"
          type="application/atom+xml;type=entry;profile=opds-catalog" 
          title="Complete Catalog Entry for Bob, Son of Bob"/>
 
    <link rel="http://opds-spec.org/acquisition" 
          href="/content/free/4561.epub"
          type="application/epub+zip"/>
    <link rel="http://opds-spec.org/acquisition" 
          href="/content/free/4561.mobi"
          type="application/x-mobipocket-ebook"/>
  </entry>
 
  <entry>
    <title>Modern Online Philately</title>
    <id>urn:uuid:7b595b0c-e15c-4755-bf9a-b7019f5c1dab</id>
    <author>
      <name>Stampy McGee</name>
      <uri>http://opds-spec.org/authors/21285</uri>
    </author>
    <author>
      <name>Alice McGee</name>
      <uri>http://opds-spec.org/authors/21284</uri>
    </author>
    <author>
      <name>Harold McGee</name>
      <uri>http://opds-spec.org/authors/21283</uri>
    </author>
    <updated>2010-01-10T10:01:10Z</updated>
    <rights>Copyright (c) 2009, Stampy McGee</rights>
    <dc:identifier>urn:isbn:978029536341X</dc:identifier>
    <dc:publisher>StampMeOnline, Inc.</dc:publisher>
    <dc:language>en</dc:language>
    <dc:issued>2009-10-01</dc:issued>
    <content type="text">The definitive reference for the web-curious
      philatelist.</content>

    <link rel="http://opds-spec.org/image"     
          href="/covers/11241.lrg.jpg"
          type="image/jpeg"/> 
 
    <link rel="http://opds-spec.org/acquisition/buy" 
          href="/content/buy/11241.epub"
          type="application/epub+zip">
      <opds:price currencycode="USD">18.99</opds:price>
      <opds:price currencycode="GBP">11.99</opds:price>
    </link>
  </entry>
</feed>

OPDS catalogs

Dozens of OPDS catalogs are available online, and in many different languages.[9]

Many users of OPDS also create their own OPDS catalog, as a way to access their ebooks from any device.[10]

Developers implementing an OPDS catalog usually use the Feedbooks catalog[11] as an example of a fully featured catalog. An OPDS validator is also available to test OPDS feeds.[12]

References
  1. Fahlgren, Keith (April 9, 2009). "Project Goals". Open Publication Distribution System (Mailing list). Retrieved May 5, 2013 – via Google Groups.
  2. "Open Publication Distribution System". Google Groups. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  3. "Specifications". Open Publication Distribution System: Official Specification & Blog. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  4. "OPDS Catalog 0.9". Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  5. "OPDS Catalog 1.0". Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  6. "OPDS Catalog 1.1". Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  7. "OPDS Catalog 1.2". Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  8. "OPDS Catalog 2.0". Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  9. "Online OPDS Catalogs". MobileRead Wiki. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
  10. "OPDS Catalog Generation". MobileRead Wiki. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
  11. "Feedbooks OPDS Catalog". Feedbooks. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
  12. "OPDS Validator". Retrieved 2011-05-19.

OPDS standard

OPDS working group links

Other resources

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