Chapter 4

GEDCOM Product Registration

Developers of GEDCOM compatible products should register their product with the Family History Department GEDCOM coordinator.

Registration means that:

• The registered GEDCOM product is listed in Family History Department publications and on the internet at gedcom.org as being GEDCOM 5.5 compatible.

• The product's sample output file has been reviewed according to the established standard, and exceptions have been reported.

• The developer will be informed of future GEDCOM issues.

• Submissions to Family History Department resource files will be accepted from users of registered products.

To register a GEDCOM product, a developer must send the following information to the GEDCOM coordinator:

• A file containing a small sample of the product's GEDCOM output for evaluation. All of the fields that the product manages must be included in this data so that it can be tested for compatibility with other developers' products.

• A proposed unique SOURce name that identifies the product, not the company. This identifier should be included in the GEDCOM header record as a value to the SOUR tag. This name can have up to 40 characters, can have mixed upper and lower case, and cannot have embedded spaces. Use either an underscore (_) to connect multiple words or else a combination of upper and lower case letters (for example, FamilyRecords or Family_Records, not Family Records). The Family History Department will ensure uniqueness within the first 10 characters of this name.

• Optionally a copy of the GEDCOM product with installation procedures and a text file containing relevant technical documentation about the product's GEDCOM implementation. The product will be protected and used only for GEDCOM output verification and in providing some support to the submitter or researcher of information using the product.

The sample output file, the evaluation results, and the developer's technical description will be publicly available through the internet at gedcom.org.

Send product registration information to:

EMAIL:MAIL:TELEPHONE (USA):
gedcom@gedcom.org Family History Department
GEDCOM Coordinator—3T
50 East North Temple Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84150
801-240-4534
801-240-5225

 

Copyright © 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This document may be copied for purposes of review or programming of genealogical software, provided this notice is included. All other rights reserved.

Disclaimer: This HTML version of the GEDCOM 5.5 specification should be equivalent to the LDS wordperfect original. In the conversion process I have tried not to break anything however, the LDS original should always be considered the definitive version.
Clive Stubbings, October 2000