X-Git-Url: http://git.indexdata.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fintroduction.xml;h=06f69600873187a848295c589291effb2483a347;hb=9cbe7b17c2f2e9d664111e83edf2a8a9c09b4b38;hp=7ea322d742f2af90cb7bf34295fc609069fbe77c;hpb=79dbb0556936ee101483f693d38bd5e97c49689e;p=idzebra-moved-to-github.git diff --git a/doc/introduction.xml b/doc/introduction.xml index 7ea322d..06f6960 100644 --- a/doc/introduction.xml +++ b/doc/introduction.xml @@ -1,28 +1,29 @@ - + Introduction Overview - The Zebra system is a fielded free-text indexing and retrieval engine with a - Z39.50 frontend. You can use any commercial or freeware Z39.50 client - to access data stored in Zebra. - - - - The Zebra server is our first step towards the development of a fully - configurable, open information system. Eventually, it will be paired - off with a powerful Z39.50 client to support complex information - management tasks within almost any application domain. We're making - the server available now because it's no fun to be in the open - information retrieval business all by yourself. We want to allow - people with interesting data to make their things - available in interesting ways, without having to start out - by implementing yet another protocol stack from scratch. - - + The + + Zebra + server is a high-performance, general-purpose structured text + indexing and retrieval engine. It reads structured records in a + variety of input formats (eg. email, XML, MARC) and allows access + to them through exact boolean search expressions and + relevance-ranked free-text queries. + + + + Zebra supports large databases (more than ten gigabytes of data, + tens of millions of records). It supports incremental, safe + database updates on live systems. You can access data stored in + Zebra using a variety of Index Data tools (eg. YAZ and PHP/YAZ) as + well as commercial and freeware Z39.50 clients and toolkits. + + This document is an introduction to the Zebra system. It will tell you how to compile the software, and how to prepare your first database. @@ -31,9 +32,13 @@ - If you find the software interesting, you should join the support - mailing-list by sending email to - zebra-request@indexdata.dk. + + If you find the software interesting, you should visit the + + Zebra web site, where you can join the + + mailing-list + by sending email to @@ -42,23 +47,12 @@ Features - This is a list of some of the most important features of the + This is an overview of some of the most important features of the system. - - - Supports updating - records can be added and deleted without - rebuilding the index from scratch. - The update procedure is tolerant to crashes or hard interrupts - during register updating - registers can be reconstructed following - a crash. - Registers can be safely updated even while users are accessing - the server. - - @@ -77,6 +71,18 @@ + Robust updating - records can be added and deleted without + rebuilding the index from scratch. + The update procedure is tolerant to crashes or hard interrupts + during register updating - registers can be reconstructed following + a crash. + Registers can be safely updated even while users are accessing + the server. + + + + + Supports random storage formats. A system of input filters driven by regular expressions allows you to easily process most ASCII-based data formats. SGML, XML, ISO2709 (MARC), and raw text are also @@ -93,6 +99,14 @@ + + Can import the data into Zebras own storage, or just refer to + external files (good for building indexes of "live" + collections). + + + + Supports multiple concrete syntaxes for record exchange (depending on the configuration): GRS-1, SUTRS, @@ -108,12 +122,19 @@ + + + Zebra is written in portable C, so it runs on most Unix-like systems + as well as Windows NT - a binary distribution for Windows NT is available. + + + - Protocol support: + Z39.50 protocol support: @@ -159,19 +180,6 @@ - - - Some variant support (not fully implemented yet). - - - - - - Zebra runs on most Unix-like systems as well as Windows NT - a binary - distribution for Windows NT is available. - - - @@ -184,60 +192,44 @@ These are some of the plans that we have for the software in the near and far future, approximately ordered after their relative importance. - Items marked with an - asterisk will be implemented before the - last beta release. - - - *Complete the support for variants. - - - *Finalize the data element include facility - to support multimedia data elements in records. + Improved support for XML in search and retrieval. Eventually, + the goal is for Zebra to pull double duty as a flexible + information retrieval engine and high-performance XML + repository. - Add more sophisticated relevance ranking mechanisms. - Add support for soundex and stemming. - Add relevance feedback support. + Access to search engine through SOAP/RPC API to allow the + construction of applications without requiring Z39.50 tools. - Complete EXPLAIN support. + Finalisation, documentation of the Zebra API. Consider + exposing the API through SOAP as well (allowing updates, + database management). - Add support for very large records by implementing segmentation and/or - variant pieces. + Improved free-text searching. We're first and foremost octet jockeys and + we're actively looking for organisations or people who'd like + to contribute experience in relevance ranking and text + searching. - - - Support the Item Update extended service of the protocol. - - - - - - We want to add a management system that allows you to - control your databases and configuration tables from a graphical - interface. - -