Campaign 2026: Promote contributed definitions to applications/base_classes

[woutdenolf]

Python script used to generate the table ...

from pathlib import Path
import subprocess

CONTRIB = Path(".") / "contributed_definitions"

GITHUB_BASE = (
    "https://github.com/nexusformat/definitions/blob/main/contributed_definitions"
)

DOCS_BASE = "https://manual.nexusformat.org/classes/contributed_definitions"


def git_commit_info(path: Path, first: bool) -> str:
    """
    Return commit date and author with email as a mailto link.

    If first=True, return the first commit introducing the file.
    Otherwise, return the last commit modifying the file.
    """
    if first:
        cmd = [
            "git",
            "log",
            "--diff-filter=A",
            "--follow",
            "--date=short",
            "--format=%ad%x09%an%x09%ae",
            "--",
            str(path),
        ]
    else:
        cmd = [
            "git",
            "log",
            "-1",
            "--follow",
            "--date=short",
            "--format=%ad%x09%an%x09%ae",
            "--",
            str(path),
        ]

    result = subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)

    commits = [c.strip() for c in result.stdout.splitlines() if c.strip()]

    if not commits:
        return "Unknown"

    if first:
        commit = commits[-1]
    else:
        commit = commits[0]

    date, name, email = commit.split("\t")

    return f"{date} [{name}](mailto:{email})"


rows = []

for path in CONTRIB.glob("NX*.nxdl.xml"):
    name = path.name.replace(".nxdl.xml", "")

    github = f"[{name}]({GITHUB_BASE}/{path.name})"
    docs = f"[doc]({DOCS_BASE}/{name}.html#{name.lower()})"

    first = git_commit_info(path, first=True)
    last = git_commit_info(path, first=False)

    first_date = first.split()[0] if first != "Unknown" else "9999-99-99"

    rows.append((first_date, github, docs, first, last))

rows.sort(key=lambda row: row[0])


with open("contributions.md", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    f.write(
        "| Contribution | First commit | Last commit | Assignee | Investigation | Conclusion |\n"
    )
    f.write(
        "|--------------|--------------|-------------|----------|---------------|------------|\n"
    )

    for _, github, docs, first, last in rows:
        f.write(
            f"| {github} ({docs}) | {first} | {last} |  |  |  |\n"
        )


print("Created contributions.md")

Examples of what completed rows could look like:

Contribution	First commit	Last commit	Assignee	Investigation	Conclusion
NXexample (doc)	2008-11-05 Pete Jemian	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Russ	awaiting response	Remove Talked to author and found that the def was prototyped but never found its way into general use, ultimately it was abandoned in favour of NXway_better
NXexample2 (doc)	2008-11-05 Pete Jemian	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Wout	contacted	Move to applications Talked to author, this definition gained acceptance by the community back in 2021 and is used at Diamond,
NXexample3 (doc)	2008-11-05 Pete Jemian	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabian	no response after 5 days	local contact needed I dont know anyone at that lab so I am awaiting a local contact suggestion from the NIAC
NXexample4 (doc)	2008-11-05 Pete Jemian	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Russ	contacted	Leave as is Talked to author and found that the def is still in active discussion with the community and they would like to leave it in contributed definitions for at least another year.
NXexample4 (doc)	2008-11-05 Pete Jemian	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Russ	email bounced	appears unused Was unable to get ahold of the author and digging revealed that no references on the internet were found for this definition in github or in publications

Table:

Contribution	First commit	Last commit	Assignee	Investigation	Conclusion
NXsolid_geometry (doc)	2008-11-05 Pete Jemian	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Russ	Contacted	Leave as is from Pete: NXsolid_geometry is the work of others. The most substantial contributions in this extremely brief NXDL have the signature of mkuehbach and atomprobe-tc. I can't speak for this NXDL. NXxpcs was put forward by me. It has languished for many years after a very active development by ALS, APS, & BNL. I doubt any of these facilities will use it as consensus was never reached. I'm not aware of a single champion who should be the designated maintainer. It is a candidate for removal or overhaul by others who wish to define a standard for XPCS. Like other newer techniques, XPCS has multiple paths for analysis and each of these has a set of expectations that are not easily generalized into a common NXDL. For now, I'd recommend both of these NXDL files remain in contributed. NXxpcs would benefit from a new champion.
NXsnshisto (doc)	2010-10-06 Marie Yao	2023-04-24 Sandor Brockhauser	Russ	Contacted	Remove When the email bounced I was unable to find a Marie Yao that worked at ORNL, looking at the commits it appears that hers were the only commits that were relevant to the meaning of the definition, the rest are standard NIAC housekeeping it appears, I did an AI search to look through github repo's, publications etc to see if the contributed definition was referred to anywhere and found nothing, so by all accounts it appears to be a definition that was specific to the SNS and was never widely (if at all) adopted. Jul13 ORNL contacted and asked for contact at lab. Heard back from Peterson, Peter petersonpf@ornl.gov and he said that they have long ago settled on NXevent_data instead of using either of these two (NXsnshisto, NXsnsevent) so he said to remove them
NXsnsevent (doc)	2010-10-06 Marie Yao	2023-04-24 Sandor Brockhauser	Russ	Secondary contact	Remove see details for NXsnshisto above as they are the same
NXspin_rotator (doc)	2011-01-13 Freddie Akeroyd	2026-02-13 Peter Chang	Russ	awaiting response	Still Waiting Jul 27: sent email to ISIS group leader Adrian Hillier, Jul 28: rcvd email from Freddie, he needs to ask around and get back to me
NXsolenoid_magnet (doc)	2011-01-13 Freddie Akeroyd	2026-02-13 Peter Chang	Russ	awaiting response	Still Waiting Jul 27: sent email to ISIS group leader Adrian Hillier, Jul 28: rcvd email from Freddie, he needs to ask around and get back to me
NXmagnetic_kicker (doc)	2011-01-13 Freddie Akeroyd	2026-02-13 Peter Chang	Russ	awaiting response	Still Waiting Jul 27: sent email to ISIS group leader Adrian Hillier, Jul 28: rcvd email from Freddie, he needs to ask around and get back to me
NXelectrostatic_kicker (doc)	2011-01-13 Freddie Akeroyd	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Russ	awaiting response	Still Waiting Jul 27: sent email to ISIS group leader Adrian Hillier, Jul 28: rcvd email from Freddie, he needs to ask around and get back to me
NXquadrupole_magnet (doc)	2011-01-13 Freddie Akeroyd	2026-02-13 Peter Chang	Russ	awaiting response	Still Waiting Jul 27: sent email to ISIS group leader Adrian Hillier, Jul 28: rcvd email from Freddie, he needs to ask around and get back to me
NXseparator (doc)	2011-01-13 Freddie Akeroyd	2026-02-13 Peter Chang	Russ	awaiting response	Still Waiting Jul 27: sent email to ISIS group leader Adrian Hillier, Jul 28: rcvd email from Freddie, he needs to ask around and get back to me
NXcontainer (doc)	2016-05-19 Michael Wharmby	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Wout	awaiting response (FWD)	Pending waiting response from @keeble
NXcsg (doc)	2018-10-24 Timothy Spain	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Wout	responded	Promote? @mkuehbach primary contact, sound but no known usage
NXquadric (doc)	2018-10-24 Timothy Spain	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Wout	responded	Promote? @mkuehbach primary contact, sound but no known usage
NXcxi_ptycho (doc)	2018-10-27 Aaron Parsons	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Wout	responded	Promote @daurer primary contact, actively used at DLS I08-1
NXregion (doc)	2021-12-15 Peter Chang	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Wout	awaiting response	Pending waiting response from @PeterC-DLS
NXxpcs (doc)	2022-01-28 Pete R Jemian	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Russ	Contacted	Leave as is See NXsolid_geometry above
NXapm_paraprobe_ranger_config (doc)	2022-03-31 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXapm_paraprobe_selector_results (doc)	2022-03-31 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXdispersion_single_parameter (doc)	2022-03-31 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXiv_temp (doc)	2022-07-11 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXtransmission (doc)	2022-08-03 domna	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	email bounced	will write to Markus
NXspatial_filter (doc)	2022-09-02 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXapm_paraprobe_selector_config (doc)	2022-09-02 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXdelocalization (doc)	2022-09-02 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXisocontour (doc)	2022-09-02 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXmicrostructure_feature (doc)	2022-09-02 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXmicrostructure_slip_system (doc)	2022-09-02 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXsensor_scan (doc)	2022-09-05 Sherjeel Shabih	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXsubsampling_filter (doc)	2022-09-07 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXmatch_filter (doc)	2022-09-07 kuehbachm	2026-01-07 Peter Chang	Fabio	awaiting response
NXdispersion (doc)	2023-02-01 Florian Dobener	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXdispersion_repeated_parameter (doc)	2023-02-01 Florian Dobener	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXdispersion_function (doc)	2023-02-01 Florian Dobener	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXdispersion_table (doc)	2023-02-01 Florian Dobener	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXdispersive_material (doc)	2023-02-01 Florian Dobener	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXsimilarity_grouping (doc)	2023-02-14 RubelMozumder	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXoptical_fiber (doc)	2023-05-30 cmmngr	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXbeam_splitter (doc)	2023-05-30 cmmngr	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXoptical_polarizer (doc)	2023-05-30 cmmngr	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_surfacer_results (doc)	2024-01-26 mkuehbach	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_surfacer_config (doc)	2024-01-26 mkuehbach	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXsubstance (doc)	2024-09-23 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_compositionspace_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_intersector_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXmicrostructure_mtex_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_distancer_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_tool_parameters (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_compositionspace_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_tessellator_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_ranger_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_spatstat_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXem_calorimetry (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_spatstat_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_tessellator_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_tool_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXxrd (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_clusterer_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_tool_process (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_distancer_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXmicrostructure_odf (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_clusterer_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_nanochem_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_intersector_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_tool_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_nanochem_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXmicrostructure (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXmicrostructure_pf (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXmicrostructure_kanapy_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXapm_paraprobe_tool_common (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXmicrostructure_score_config (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXmicrostructure_ipf (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXxrd_pan (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXmicrostructure_score_results (doc)	2025-10-20 Lukas Pielsticker	2026-01-07 Peter Chang
NXstm (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXlockin (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_positioner (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXamplifier (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_scan_pattern (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_temperature_sensor (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_scan_region (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXafm (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_piezo_sensor (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_piezoelectric_material (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_scan_control (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_cantilever_config (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_piezo_config (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXphase_lock_loop (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_cantilever (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXsts (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXrcs (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_cantilever_oscillator (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXspm_bias_spectroscopy (doc)	2026-02-13 Markus Kühbach	2026-02-13 Peter Chang
NXtextlog (doc)	2026-05-27 Freddie Akeroyd	2026-05-27 Freddie Akeroyd	Russ	awaiting response	Still Waiting Jul 27: sent email to ISIS group leader Adrian Hillier, Jul 28: rcvd email from Freddie, he needs to ask around and get back to me

[lukaspie]

NXxrd and NXxrd_pan are contributed by FAIRmat, but far from finished. I propose to keep them as-is.

[lukaspie]

Regarding application definitions and base classes for Scanning Probe Microscopy, we have an existing pull request for moving them out of contributed: #1632. We have been working with several scientific groups for a while to check that their data is compatible with these definitions and so far it seems to be fairly complete. We are also right now preparing a large dataset of SPM data from the community to be published in our NOMAD platform.

That being said, SPM is a large community, so there could potentially be more feedback from other sub-techniques that is not currently covered by this proposal. So for this topic I would like to here what NIAC members think about this contribution.

[lukaspie]

To summarize discussion on the NXapm_paraprobe.. definitions, they are meant to describe APM analysis in the open source paraprobe-toolbox. They are fairly complete and would probably be ready for standardization. That being said, the community is rather small, so it's more on NIAC to decide if that is something it wants to support going forward.

cc @mkuehbach

[lukaspie]

NXdispersion and similar definitions are pretty useful, but not really in use right now. They have the additional problem that they implicitly introduce math notation (see #711) which has been historically seen critical.

My suggestion would be to keep them as-is for future discussions or remove them (these are certainly the least used FAIRmat definitions).

[lukaspie]

For NXmicrostructure et al., I would suggest to keep them as-is. @mkuehbach do you agree?

[mkuehbach]

Made a detailed response to @woutdenolf and @dallanto as they asked for it via email.

In a nutshell:

• NXmicrostructure* to remain in contributed, several base classes (NXmicrostructure_ipf, NXmicrostructure_odf though in FAIRmat with thousands of examples)
• NXdispersion* good as an idea but not completed and controversial as mentioned
• NXapm_paraprobe* complete and can be promoted
• NXcsg and NXquadric complete, useful, but used by few if any, nevertheless to me since 2024 ready for promotion
• NXxrd and NXxrd_pan not meaty and cross-covering enough to my taste, these would benefit from staying in contributed unless worked on further, not a fan to have a special one for PanAlytical, just one, for spot, 1d, 2d, ... with working harder on it, wasnt a priority though in FAIRmat 1

The many domain-specific groups of definitions in my opinion support the point that it would be good to modularize the NeXus definitions