NMRShiftDB - Constructing a free chemical information system with open-source components

The process of designing and implementing NMRShiftDB, an open-source, open-content database for chemical structures and their NMR data based solely on free software is described. NMRShiftDB is available to the community on http://www.nmrshiftdb.org. It allows for open submission and retrieval of data sets by its user community. The software and the content itself is freely distributable, allowing for the establishment of a highly available mirror system of databases in collaborating laboratories.