From: Sebastian Hammer Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 08:27:05 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Updated intro X-Git-Tag: ZEBRA.1.3.0~8 X-Git-Url: http://sru.miketaylor.org.uk/cgi-bin?a=commitdiff_plain;h=9cbe7b17c2f2e9d664111e83edf2a8a9c09b4b38;p=idzebra-moved-to-github.git Updated intro --- diff --git a/doc/introduction.xml b/doc/introduction.xml index ab8c4d2..06f6960 100644 --- a/doc/introduction.xml +++ b/doc/introduction.xml @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ - + Introduction @@ -9,27 +9,21 @@ The Zebra - 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. - - - - FIXME - not a "first step" but a part of a complete system! -H - - - - 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. - - + 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. @@ -53,7 +47,7 @@ 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. @@ -107,7 +101,8 @@ Can import the data into Zebras own storage, or just refer to - external files (html pages). + external files (good for building indexes of "live" + collections). @@ -139,7 +134,7 @@ - Protocol support: + Z39.50 protocol support: @@ -197,10 +192,6 @@ 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. - FIXME - What are the current plans? @@ -208,45 +199,37 @@ - *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. - -