<chapter id="introduction">
+ <!-- $Id: introduction.xml,v 1.5 2002-04-10 14:47:49 heikki Exp $ -->
<title>Introduction</title>
<sect1>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
- 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
+ <ulink url="http://www.indexdata.dk/zebra/">
+ Zebra</ulink>
+ system is a fielded free-text indexing and retrieval engine with a
+ Z39.50 front-end. You can use our various toolkits or any commercial
+ or free-ware Z39.50 client to access data stored in Zebra.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ FIXME - not a "first step" but a part of a complete system! -H
</para>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- If you find the software interesting, you should join the support
- mailing-list by sending email to
- <literal>zebra-request@indexdata.dk</literal>.
+
+ If you find the software interesting, you should visit the
+ <ulink url="http://www.indexdata.dk/zebra/">
+ Zebra web site</ulink>, where you can join the
+ <ulink url="http://www.indexdata.dk/mailman/listinfo/zebralist">
+ mailing-list</ulink>
+ by sending email to
</para>
</sect1>
</para>
<para>
-
<itemizedlist>
+
<listitem>
-
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
-
<para>
Supports large databases - files for indices, etc. can be
automatically partitioned over multiple disks.
-
</para>
</listitem>
+
<listitem>
-
<para>
Supports arbitrarily complex records - base input format is an
SGML-like syntax which allows nested (structured) data elements, as
well as variant forms of data.
-
</para>
</listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
<listitem>
-
<para>
Supports random storage formats. A system of input filters driven by
regular expressions allows you to easily process most ASCII-based
- data formats. SGML, ISO2709 (MARC), and raw text are also supported.
-
+ data formats. SGML, XML, ISO2709 (MARC), and raw text are also
+ supported.
</para>
</listitem>
- <listitem>
-
+
+ <listitem>
<para>
Supports boolean queries as well as relevance-ranking (free-text)
searching. Right truncation and masking in terms are supported, as
well as full regular expressions.
-
</para>
</listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Can import the data into Zebras own storage, or just refer to
+ external files (html pages).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
<listitem>
-
<para>
Supports multiple concrete syntaxes
for record exchange (depending on the configuration): GRS-1, SUTRS,
- ISO2709 (*MARC). Records can be mapped between record syntaxes and
- schema on the fly.
-
+ XML, ISO2709 (*MARC). Records can be mapped between record syntaxes
+ and schema on the fly.
</para>
</listitem>
- <listitem>
-
+
+ <listitem>
<para>
Supports approximate matching in registers (ie. spelling mistakes,
etc).
-
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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.
</para>
</listitem>
Protocol support:
</para>
- <para>
-
+ <para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
-
<para>
- Protocol facilities: Init, Search, Retrieve, Browse and Sort.
-
+ Protocol facilities: Init, Search, Retrieve, Delete, Browse and Sort.
+ FIXME - Itemupdate. (Remove delete until that time, confuses people) -H
</para>
</listitem>
+
<listitem>
-
<para>
Piggy-backed presents are honored in the search-request.
-
</para>
</listitem>
+
<listitem>
-
<para>
Named result sets are supported.
-
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
-
<para>
Easily configured to support different application profiles, with
tables for attribute sets, tag sets, and abstract syntaxes.
Additional tables control facilities such as element mappings to
different schema (eg., GILS-to-USMARC).
-
</para>
</listitem>
+
<listitem>
-
<para>
Complex composition specifications using Espec-1 are partially
supported (simple element requests only).
-
</para>
</listitem>
+
<listitem>
-
<para>
Element Set Names are defined using the Espec-1 capability of the
system, and are given in configuration files as simple element
requests (and possibly variant requests).
-
</para>
</listitem>
+
<listitem>
-
<para>
Some variant support (not fully implemented yet).
-
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
-
- <para>
- Using the YAZ toolkit for the protocol implementation, the
- server can utilise a plug-in XTI/mOSI implementation (not included) to
- provide SR services over an OSI stack, as well as Z39.50 over TCP/IP.
-
+ FIXME - Test if complete enough - is it worth mentioning at all -H
</para>
</listitem>
- <listitem>
-
- <para>
- Zebra runs on most Unix-like systems as well as Windows NT - a binary
- distribution for Windows NT is forthcoming - so far, the installation
- requires MSVC++ to compile the system (we use version 5.0).
-
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
+
</itemizedlist>
</para>
Items marked with an
asterisk will be implemented before the
last beta release.
+ FIXME - What are the current plans?
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
*Complete the support for variants.
+ FIXME - who cares -H
</para>
</listitem>
projects / idzebra-moved-to-github.git / blobdiff