ietf-data - Access the IETF DataTracker and related resources
=============================================================

This is a snapshot (commit `9b4c5f89350c6206a7c90a06602842756c01b7b4`) of an
ongoing project hosted at https://github.com/glasgow-ipl/ietfdata, where future
updates will also be found. Issues and pull requests opened on the GitHub
project will be considered.

This snapshot contains version 0.5.2 of the ietfdata library, which provides
Python 3 libraries to interact with, and access, the [IETF
Datatracker](https://datatracker.ietf.org), (RFC
index)[https://www.rfc-editor.org], and related resources. This version can also
be found in the [Python Package Index](https://pypi.org/project/ietfdata/).

The ietfdata library requires Python 3.8, and can be used by following the
`Getting Started` instructions below. Optionally, a MongoDB database can be used
as a cache. This significantly reduces the number of requests made to the IETF
and RFC Editor API endpoints and repositories, and is generally more performant.
This database can be on the same machine as the tooling. If this is the case,
and the server has no access restrictions, then no further setup is required. If
the MongoDB server is on a different machine, or requires authentication, then
environment variables can be set to enable access. These are:
	* IETFDATA_CACHE_HOST (defaults to `localhost`)
	* IETFDATA_CACHE_PORT (defaults to `27017`)
	* IETFDATA_CACHE_USER (optional)
	* IETFDATA_CACHE_PASSWORD (optional)

When accessing the IETF mail archive (via mailarchive.py), a MongoDB instance is
required.

Getting started
---------------

The project uses Pipenv for dependency management. To begin, run:
```~~~~~~~~
pipenv install --dev -e .
```
to create a Python virtual environment with appropriate packages installed.
Then, run:
```~~~~~~~~
pipenv shell
```
to start the virtual environment, within which you can run the scripts.

Once the virtual environment is started, running:
```~~~~~~~~
python3 tests/test_datatracker.py 
```
will run the test suite for the datatracker module. Running:
```~~~~~~~~
python3 tests/test_rfcindex.py
```
Will test the rfcindex module.