The MESA data dictionary can be exported to CSV by typing:
spout export
The spout export command will generate CSV files that describe the data
dictionary.
The MESA data dictionary is tested using the Spout Gem.
Data dictionary tests can be run by typing:
spout test
The data dictionary is tagged at various time points using Git tags. The tags are used to reference a series of CSV files that correspond to the data dictionary itself.
For example, CSV files of the underlying data that have been tagged as v0.1.0
will be compatible with the Data Dictionary ~> 0.1.0,
(including 0.1.1, 0.1.2, 0.1.3). However if the data dictionary contains
changes to the underlying dataset, then the minor version number is bumped, and
the patch level is reset to zero. If, for example, the CSV dataset changed to
v0.2.0, then it would be compatible with 0.2.0, 0.2.1, 0.2.2, etc. The
approach for changing version numbers uses a variation on
Semantic Versioning.
A full list of changes for each version can be viewed in the CHANGELOG.