Downrecord

Downrecord is a term used in information technology to describe a compact, immutable log entry that records the successful download of a resource. In practice, a downrecord is stored alongside a local copy or within a download management system and contains metadata and integrity information intended to support auditing, verification, and reproducibility of download events.

A typical downrecord includes fields such as an identifier, the source URL, the destination path, a timestamp, the size of the downloaded file, and a checksum or hash for integrity validation. Additional fields may cover the status of the download, retry attempts, the user agent that initiated the download, the referrer, and provenance information that traces the origin of the resource. Formats for downrecords can include JSON, YAML, or entries in a relational database, depending on the toolchain.

Downrecords are used to enable resumable downloads, verify that the downloaded data matches the original source, and provide a verifiable history of data acquisition in workflows that require reproducibility. In data pipelines and software deployment, they help ensure that retrieved components can be audited, revalidated, or reobtained if necessary.

Relation to related concepts includes manifests, audit logs, and data provenance records. While the term is not universally standardized, many download managers and data-management tools implement a form of downrecord to support integrity checks, accountability, and traceability of downloaded resources.

See also: download manager, data provenance, manifest, checksum, audit log. Notes: terminology and implementation may vary across tools and projects.