Stable technologies

It is not often easy to assess how reliable the archival software being used is. Even open source products that are transparent about their technology choices can be tricky, because they require an in-depth, well-informed analysis of their internals.

Many times, but not always, documentation and tests written around a software product can be signs of well taken care of software. Also, a straightforward design is a good indicator (albeit unfortunally not always very well documented). A complex system supporting many "features" and depending on many third-party technologies is more vulnerable to failure, as its development is more likely spread out across many areas rather than focusing on the security and stability of the core business functions.

Pocket Archive cannot yet be reliably used as a primary archival solution. Early adopters and testers are strongly advised to keep copies of their SIPs in separate storage at least until the product has reached a stable version (v1.0).

Steps that Pocket Archive is actively taking to become a trustworthy tool for digital preservation are:

1. Conservative development. Pocket Archive is placing a high bar on the conditions to release the software as beta, and then as a stable product. Once reached a stable phase, every new feature introduced will be carefully reviewed. Backwards-incompatible versions will be released with a sparse cadence to avoid disruption of existing instances.
2. Reliance on few, stable technologies. The Pocket Archive core functionality is written in Lua, a very compact and reliable programming language. Third-party depencencies are reduced to the essentials.
3. Thorough automated testing is planned before the v1.0 release.