2 Copyright (C) 1995-2001, Index Data ApS.
3 See the file LICENSE for details.
5 Compilation and installation instructions for YAZ
6 $Id: README,v 1.33 2001-02-21 09:19:44 adam Exp $
8 The primary output of the source here is the lib/libyaz.a library,
9 which contains support functions for implementing the server or client
12 Windows programmers: refer to the file windows.txt which describes how
13 to build the software using Microsoft Visual C++.
15 On Unix, GNU configure is used to configure YAZ and generate Makefiles.
16 Type "./configure", then "make" to build YAZ.
18 Note: If you are using the CVS snapshot of YAZ you must have autoconf,
19 automake and libtool installed. Before running configure generate
20 support files by running buildconf.sh which is part of YAZ.
22 Two test-programs of interest are generated when you type 'make' at the
23 top level: ztest/yaz-ztest and client/yaz-client. Ztest is a dummy
24 database server which returns canned responses to all queries. It's good
25 for verifying that the protocol works ok, and ztest.c shows an
26 implementation of a 'backend' interface.
28 yaz-client is a linemode Z39.50 client. It supports a fair amount of the
29 functionality of Z39.50v2/SR, but some things you need to enable or
30 disable by recompilation. Its primary purpose is to excersise the
31 package, and verify that the protocol works OK. It can be started by
34 yaz-client tcp:<hostname>:<port>[/<database>]
36 at the UNIX prompt, to connect to a Z39.50 server.
38 Use '?' to get a list of the available commands.
40 The current query language for the find command is a bit awkward, but
43 query ::= ['@attrset' <attribute-set>] rpn
44 rpn ::= complex | simple | attr rpn
45 complex ::= operator rpn rpn
46 operator ::= '@and' | '@or' | '@not' | '@prox' proximity
47 simple ::= term | set.
48 term ::= <word> | '"' <term> ... '"'.
49 set ::= '@set' <setname>.
50 attr ::= '@attr' [<attribute-set>] <number> '=' <number>.
51 proximity ::= exclusion distance ordered relation which unit
52 exclusion ::= '1' | '0' | 'void'
56 which ::= 'known' | 'private'
65 @and @attr 1=1 andersen @attr 1=4 @attr 4=2 duckling
67 @attrset Bib-1 @and @attr GILS 2=2008 Washington @attr 1=21 weather
69 The sort command takes a sequence of sort specifications. A sort
70 specification holds a field (sort criteria) and is followed by flags.
71 If the sort critieria includes = it is assumed that the sort SortKey
72 is of type sortAttributes using Bib-1. The integer before the = is
73 the attribute type and the integer following the = is the attribute
74 value. If no = is in the SortKey it is treated as a sortfield-type
75 of type InternationalString. Flags observed are s (sort case
76 sensitive), i (sort case insensitive), < (ascending), > (descending).
78 1=4 i< (use is title, insensitive, ascending).
79 Title s> (String Title, sensitive, descending).
85 util - Various little utility functions. Logging, memory debugging,
86 primitive ISO 2709 presentation for the yaz-client, etc. You'll
87 find the ASN.1 Compiler for YAZ here as well (yc.tcl).
89 odr - Open Data Representation. This module implements the BER
90 encoding rules. Documentation is found in the files odr-use.man
93 asn - This module implements the Z39.50/SR protocol. The best way
94 to find out how it works is to look in the sample
95 client/server code in server/seshigh.c. The interface is still
96 wholly described by the file proto.h which defines structure
97 and type definitions for each of the types introduced in the
98 protocol specification.
100 z39.50 - This module implements the Z39.50 protocol. This module
101 does the same job as the 'asn' module except that the source
102 files are auto-generated using an YAZ' ASN.1 Compiler (YC).
104 zutil - This module implements a collection of Z39.50 utilities, such
105 as query parsing, EXTERNAL handling, etc.
107 ill - This module implements the ISO ILL protocol.
109 comstack - This module implements the transport transparency
110 stack (COMSTACK). The comstack implements a generic interface
111 for exchanging BER-encoded records over a network. It supports
112 the 'American' mode of exchanging the records straight over
113 TCP/IP, and uses Peter Furniss' XTIMOSI package over RFC1006.
114 Look for documentation in the file comstack.man.
116 rfc1006 - Xtimosi requires an implementation of the OSI transport
117 layer with an XTI-based API. Some systems (HP and DEC,
118 notably) provide this. For others, we provide an
119 implementation of the RFC1006 protocol (which is what
120 ISODE-based implementations often use). This module is not
121 needed if you don't use xtimosi, and it's not included in the
124 server - This is the implementation of the server frontend. It
125 provides event-handling and server managament functions,
126 and calls the backend primitives (best documentation of these
127 is in the file include/yaz/backend.h).
129 client - A demonstration client. If we come upon a good design for a
130 higher level client API, that will live here.
132 ztest - A demonstration server that implements a backend.
134 include/yaz - The various header files.
136 lib - The libraries. Primarily libyaz.a. The makefile gathers the
137 libraries from previous modules into libyaz.a.
139 To get more information or assistance, send mail to yaz-help@indexdata.dk.
141 We maintain a mailing-list for the purpose of announcing new versions of
142 the software, bug-reports, discussion etc. You can sign up by sending
143 mail to yaz-request@indexdata.dk and include the following command
144 command in your email: