vos · PyPI

vos is a set of python modules and scripts that ease access to VOSpace.

The default installation of vos is tuned for accessing the VOSpace provided by the Canadian Advanced Network For Astronomical Research (CANFAR)

VOSpace is a Distributed Cloud storage service for use in Astronomy.

There are two ways to use vos:

access VOSpace using the command-line script: eg. vcp
use the vos module inside a Python script: import vos

Authentication to the CANFAR VOSpace service is performed using X509 security certificates, header tokens or username/password pairs. The authentication system is managed by the CADC Group Management Service (GMS).

To retrieve an X509 security certificate for use with the vos tools use the cadc-get-cert script included with this package.

Additional information is available in the CANFAR documentation

System Requirments

A CANFAR VOSpace account (required for WRITE access, READ access can be anonymous)
Python 3.10 through 3.14

Installation

vos is distributed via PyPI/vos and PyPI is the most direct way to get the latest stable release:

pip install vos --upgrade --user

Or, you can retrieve the github distribution and use

python setup.py install --user

Tutorial

Get a CANFAR account
Install the vos package.
Retrieve a X509/SSL certificate using the cadc-get-cert script installed as part of the cadcutils package that is automatically installed wiht vos.
Example Usage.
1. Commandline usage:
  - vls -l vos: [List a vospace]
  - vcp vos:jkavelaars/test.txt ./ [copies test.txt to the local directory from vospace]
  - vchmod g+q vos:VOSPACE/foo/bar.txt 'GROUP1, GROUP2, GROUP3' to give three user GROUPs permission to write to this file.
  - vmkdir --help [get a list of command line options and arguments]
  - vmkdir, vrm, vrmdir, vsync vcat, vchmod and vln
  - The complete list of vos commmand line tools can be found using pydoc vos.commands
2. In a Python script (the example below provides a listing of a vospace container)
```
#!python
import vos
client = vos.Client()
client.listdir('vos:jkavelaars')
```

Integration Tests

The integration tests are, at present, designed to run only with the CADC VOSpace and test accounts credentials. Tests assume that vos and/or vofs packages have been installed.

Run the tests:

$ ./test/scripts/vospace-all.tcsh

Metadata

Release files for vos 3.7

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for vos 3.7
File	Size	Uploaded
vos-3.7.tar.gz	103.5 kB	Aug 6, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for vos 3.7
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
vos-3.7-py3-none-any.whl 153.4 kB Aug 6, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 256.9 kB

Release files / vos-3.7.tar.gz

Download URL	vos-3.7.tar.gz
Size	103.5 kB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`073cde0ec3ffe52f283ba6505870e760492a73743986797686e7dc57d30ca563`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`2f7135b07ebde34232b4f3deca8cb320c3ad615b15818fbb3b10a5209c14aadc`
Upload date	Aug 6, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	Yes
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14`

Provenance

Provenance describes where a file came from. On PyPI, provenance is shared via attestations, which provide a verifiable record of the build or publishing details. View details, limitations and caveats.

Identity

Publishing platform: GitHub Actions
Publishing repository: github.com/opencadc/vostools
Publishing commit: github.com/opencadc/vostools/tree/b74878d8e87575d85e91907418fdd46adddc4eae

Workflow

Publishing configuration: github.com/opencadc/vostools/blob/b74878d8e87575d85e91907418fdd46adddc4eae/.github/workflows/cibuild.yml
Publishing logs: github.com/opencadc/vostools/actions/runs/31132191000/attempts/1

Artifact

Subject: vos-3.7.tar.gz
SHA-256 checksum: 073cde0ec3ffe52f283ba6505870e760492a73743986797686e7dc57d30ca563 Verifying attestations

Release files / vos-3.7-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	vos-3.7-py3-none-any.whl
Size	153.4 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`1cb23f33f9a9779ed7d0fe2a30c23ee021d0a0c29e65fdaf65bba91ee297a356`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`7e98638365ca3336412689407606a0d10512ea01b3c1ecdfd5b3a7e1d31bb563`
Upload date	Aug 6, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	Yes
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14`

Provenance

Identity

Publishing platform: GitHub Actions
Publishing repository: github.com/opencadc/vostools
Publishing commit: github.com/opencadc/vostools/tree/b74878d8e87575d85e91907418fdd46adddc4eae

Workflow

Publishing configuration: github.com/opencadc/vostools/blob/b74878d8e87575d85e91907418fdd46adddc4eae/.github/workflows/cibuild.yml
Publishing logs: github.com/opencadc/vostools/actions/runs/31132191000/attempts/1

Artifact

Subject: vos-3.7-py3-none-any.whl
SHA-256 checksum: 1cb23f33f9a9779ed7d0fe2a30c23ee021d0a0c29e65fdaf65bba91ee297a356 Verifying attestations