<chapter id="introduction">
- <!-- $Id: introduction.xml,v 1.4 2002-04-09 19:20:22 adam Exp $ -->
+ <!-- $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 front-end. You can use any commercial or free-ware 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>
<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>
<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, XML, ISO2709 (MARC), and raw text are also
</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,
</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>
+
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
Protocol facilities: Init, Search, Retrieve, Delete, Browse and Sort.
+ FIXME - Itemupdate. (Remove delete until that time, confuses people) -H
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Some variant support (not fully implemented yet).
+ 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 available.
- </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>