This is the README for WAIStation.1.9.6.N.b.tar.gz [Download] [Browse] [Up]
README FILE AND INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
WAIStation.app for NeXT, Version 1.9.6
and WAIS Objective-C Interface
Created by Paul Burchard <burchard@math.utah.edu>
Incorporating WAIS software from Thinking Machines Corp.
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README: WAIS Unix release 8 b5 Sun May 10 1992
Harry Morris Thinking Machines Corp
Brewster Kahle
Jonathan Goldman
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WARRANTY DISCLAIMER [with additions from Paul Burchard]
This software was created by Thinking Machines Corporation [and Paul Burchard]
and is distributed free of charge. It is placed in the public domain and
permission is granted for anyone to use, duplicate, modify and redistribute it
[so long as this notice is attached].
Thinking Machines Corporation [and separately, Paul Burchard, provide]
absolutely NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND with respect to this software. The entire
risk as to the quality and performance of this software is with the user.
IN NO EVENT WILL THINKING MACHINES CORPORATION [OR PAUL BURCHARD]
BE LIABLE TO ANYONE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING OUT THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOST DATA OR
LOST PROFITS, OR FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.
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The Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) Project is an experiment,
automating the search and retrieval of many types of electronic information
over wide area networks. The success of this project depends on the
formation of a large number of "Information Servers": computers that know
how to answer questions over a network. To help catalyze this market,
Thinking Machines and other organizations are giving away protocol
specifications and source code. To find out more about the project, please
read doc/wais-concepts.txt. New releases are announced on the mailing list
wais-interest@think.com, discussion of WAIS issues happens on
wais-discussion@think.com. To be added to these lists, please send a note
to wais-interest-request@think.com and/or wais-discussion-request@think.com.
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HOW TO INSTALL WAISTATION.APP:
1. Move the entire WAIS folder into your /LocalLibrary folder. (If you choose
to install it elsewhere, see step 3).
2. Symbolically link WAIStation.app into /LocalApps or ~/Apps.
This can be done in the File Viewer by control-dragging it into the
appropriate place. You can also type
ln -s /LocalLibrary/WAIS/WAIStation.app /LocalApps
in a Terminal window (changing the locations in this command as appropriate).
3. If you install the WAIS folder somewhere other than /LocalLibrary (say,
in "My_Folder"), you will need to do two things. First, re-index the
pre-indexed documentation by typing the following into a Terminal window:
cd My_Folder/WAIS # or wherever you installed it
make doc
Second, when you first launch WAIStation.app, open the Preferences panel and
correct the "Main WAIS Software Folder" and "System Sources Folder" entries by
entering My_Folder/WAIS (or whatever) in place of /LocalLibrary/WAIS, and
My_Folder/WAIS/sources in place of /LocalLibrary/WAIS/sources.
For those using non-NeXT versions of WAIS on the same system, you might also
want to adjust your personal WAIS folders to be compatible with them.
4. If you want to recompile the whole package (usually not necessary), type the
following in a Terminal window:
cd /LocalLibrary/WAIS # or wherever you installed it
make # you can ignore the warning messages
WHAT'S IN THIS PACKAGE:
This package contains a (sample) toolkit for:
1. creating servers: waisindex and waisserver.
2. communicating: Z39.50 and WAIS protocol software.
3. clients: NeXTstep WAIStation.app.
This package is distributed as a UNIX tar file. You should have the
following directories:
top = WAIS
in top:
Makefile - a top-level Makefile to build the entire system
README - this file
bin/ - where compiled executables will go (except WAIStation)
doc/ - all documentation
ir/ - the WAIS toolkit, indexer and server code
lib/ - some extra code
sources/ - example sources, including the directory of servers
WAIStation.app - NeXTstep front end
next-ui/ - WAIStation.app is actually a link to this
Unix-style Man pages are in the doc directory. Interfaces for the Apple
Macintosh, the X11 window system, and terminal-only systems are available
separately.
RANDOM NOTES:
From Paul Burchard <burchard@math.utah.edu>:
- I've put an Objective-C wrapper around the WAIS protocol. You can therefore
design your own programs which plug into WAIS, without having to learn
any details about this protocol. See doc/Object-WAIS.rtf for info.
- The Objective-C classes in WAIStation.app contain fairly clean code, although
I haven't had the time to follow all NeXT developer guidelines.
From the folks at Thinking Machines:
- The version of Z39.50 contained herein is for inspection only. It is based
on the obsolete 1988 version. It will be replaced with an implementation
of ISO Z39.50 (when it stabilizes). These protocols are not compatable,
although every effort will be made to minimize the conversion effort.
- The best way to learn the use of the Z39.50 library is to study
the example code in ir.c (for a server) and ui.c and ui (for a client).
- The IR engine will undergo further enhancements.
- Have fun and let us know what you think. Much of this code needs
cleanup, we apologize for the present formatting.... The next
version will be beautified, clarified, polished, and all. If you
have any questions or find any bugs, Don't hesitate to write.
Harry Morris
Morris@Think.COM
Brewster Kahle
Brewster@Think.COM
Jonny Goldman
Jonathan@Think.COM
(617) 876-1111
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.