Camargo Kenneth Rochel de, Coeli Claudia Medina
Cad Saude Publica. 2015 Feb;31(2):257-63. doi: 10.1590/0102-311x00041214.
Record linkage is the process of identifying and merging records across different databases belonging to the same entity. The health sector is one of the pioneering areas of record linkage techniques applications. In 1998 we began the development of a software package, called RecLink that implemented probabilistic record linkage techniques. In this article we report the development of a new, open-source version of that program, now named OpenRecLink. The aim of this article is to present the main characteristics of the new version and some of the lessons learned during its development. The new version is a total rewrite of the program, based on three goals: (1) to migrate to a free and open source software (FOSS) platform; (2) to implement a multiplatform version; (3) to implement the support for internationalization. We describe the tools that we adopted, the process of development and some of the problems encountered.
记录链接是识别和合并属于同一实体的不同数据库中的记录的过程。卫生部门是记录链接技术应用的先驱领域之一。1998年，我们开始开发一个名为RecLink的软件包，该软件包实现了概率记录链接技术。在本文中，我们报告了该程序的一个新的开源版本（现称为OpenRecLink）的开发情况。本文的目的是介绍新版本的主要特点以及在其开发过程中吸取的一些经验教训。新版本是对程序的全面重写，基于三个目标：（1）迁移到免费和开源软件（FOSS）平台；（2）实现多平台版本；（3）实现对国际化的支持。我们描述了所采用的工具、开发过程以及遇到的一些问题。
