2 * Copyright (C) 1995-1999, Index Data ApS.
3 * See the file LICENSE for details.
4 * Sebastian Hammer, Adam Dickmeiss
6 Compilation and installation for YAZ
7 $Id: README,v 1.27 1999-08-27 09:40:31 adam Exp $
9 The primary output of the source here is the lib/libyaz.a library,
10 which contains support functions for implementing the server or client
13 Windows programmers: refer to the file windows.txt which describes how
14 to build the software using Microsoft Visual C++.
16 On Unix, GNU configure is used to configure YAZ and generate Makefiles.
17 Type "./configure", then "make" to build YAZ.
19 Two test-programs of interest are generated when you type 'make' at the
20 top level: ztest/ztest and client/client. Ztest is a dummy database
21 server which returns canned responses to all queries. It's good for
22 verifying that the protocol works ok, and ztest.c shows an
23 implementation of a 'backend' interface.
25 Client is a linemode Z39.50 client. It supports a fair amount of the
26 functionality of Z39.50v2/SR, but some things you need to enable or
27 disable by recompilation. Its primary purpose is to excersise the
28 package, and verify that the protocol works OK. It can be started by
31 client tcp:<hostname>:<port>[/<database>]
33 at the UNIX prompt, to connect to a Z39.50 server.
35 Use '?' to get a list of the available commands.
37 The current query language for the find command is a bit awkward, but
40 query ::= ['@attrset' <attribute-set>] rpn
41 rpn ::= complex | simple | attr rpn
42 complex ::= operator rpn rpn
43 operator ::= '@and' | '@or' | '@not' | '@prox' proximity
44 simple ::= term | set.
45 term ::= <word> | '"' <term> ... '"'.
46 set ::= '@set' <setname>.
47 attr ::= '@attr' [<attribute-set>] <number> '=' <number>.
48 proximity ::= exclusion distance ordered relation which unit
49 exclusion ::= '1' | '0' | 'void'
53 which ::= 'known' | 'private'
62 @and @attr 1=1 andersen @attr 1=4 @attr 4=2 duckling
64 @attrset Bib-1 @and @attr GILS 2=2008 Washington @attr 1=21 weather
66 The sort command takes a sequence of sort specifications. A sort
67 specification holds a field (sort criteria) and is followed by flags.
68 If the sort critieria includes = it is assumed that the sort SortKey
69 is of type sortAttributes using Bib-1. The integer before the = is
70 the attribute type and the integer following the = is the attribute
71 value. If no = is in the SortKey it is treated as a sortfield-type
72 of type InternationalString. Flags observed are s (sort case
73 sensitive), i (sort case insensitive), < (ascending), > (descending).
75 1=4 i< (use is title, insensitive, ascending).
76 Title s> (String Title, sensitive, descending).
82 util - Various little utility functions. Logging, memory debugging,
83 primitive ISO 2709 presentation for the client, etc. You'll
84 find the ASN.1 Compiler for YAZ here as well (yc.tcl).
86 odr - Open Data Representation. This module implements the BER
87 encoding rules. Documentation is found in the files odr-use.man
90 asn - This module implements the Z39.50/SR protocol. The best way
91 to find out how it works is to look in the sample
92 client/server code in server/seshigh.c or yazlib/tst.c. The
93 interface is still wholly described by the file proto.h
94 which defines structure and type definitions for each of the
95 types introduced in the protocol specification.
97 z39.50 - This module implements the Z39.50 protocol. This module
98 does the same job as the 'asn' module except that the source
99 files are auto-generated using an YAZ' ASN.1 Compiler (YC).
101 zutil - This module implements a collection of Z39.50 utilities, such
102 as query parsing, EXTERNAL handling, etc.
104 comstack - This module implements the transport transparency
105 stack (COMSTACK). The comstack implements a generic interface
106 for exchanging BER-encoded records over a network. It supports
107 the 'American' mode of exchanging the records straight over
108 TCP/IP, and uses Peter Furniss' XTIMOSI package over RFC1006.
109 Look for documentation in the file comstack.man.
111 rfc1006 - Xtimosi requires an implementation of the OSI transport
112 layer with an XTI-based API. Some systems (HP and DEC,
113 notably) provide this. For others, we provide an
114 implementation of the RFC1006 protocol (which is what
115 ISODE-based implementations often use). This module is not
116 needed if you don't use xtimosi, and it's not included in the
119 server - This is the implementation of the server frontend. It
120 provides event-handling and server managament functions,
121 and calls the backend primitives (best documentation of these
122 is in the file include/backend.h).
124 client - A demonstration client. If we come upon a good design for a
125 higher level client API, that will live here.
127 ztest - A demonstration server that implements a backend.
129 include - The various header files.
131 makelib - This is a simple utility that gathers the libraries from the
132 previous modules into libyaz.a.
134 lib - The libraries. Primarily libyaz.a.
136 To get more information or assistance, send mail to yaz-help@indexdata.dk.
138 We maintain a mailing-list for the purpose of announcing new versions of
139 the software, bug-reports, discussion etc. You can sign up by sending
140 mail to yaz-request@indexdata.dk and include the following command
141 command in your email: