From: Andrew Gilmartin <Andrew_Gilmartin@Brown.Edu>
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gopher
Subject: Using WAIS with Gopher
Date: 16 Dec 1992 16:55:08 GMT
Organization: Computing & Information Services
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: cis_staff-kntx26.cis.brown.edu
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X-XXDate: Wed, 16 Dec 92 17:02:24 GMT

The following is a small document about installing WAIS for use with
Gopher. If you have any comments, suggestions, or contributions for the
doc please send them along. I will archive future versions of this
document at ftp.brown.edu:/pub/gopher.

                        WAIS & GOPHER
                      NOVEMBER 21, 1992
                              
OVERVIEW

Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) is a suite of programs
and protocol for creating and searching full text databases.
The University of Minnesota's Unix Gopher (UMN) server,
gopherd, can easilly access WAIS databases thus integrating
these materials in to gopher-space.

This document outlines the necessary steps to have UMN's
gopherd server use WAIS databases. It is concerned with only
the most typical of uses.

This is a working document and may contain errors and
ommission. If you have any comments, please send them to
Andrew_Gilmartin@Brown.Edu. The lastest version of this
document is available via anonymous ftp at ftp.brown.edu in
the /pub/gopher directory.

WAIS AND GOPHER AVAILABILITY

The WAIS software is available via anonymous ftp at
think.com in the /wais directory. The file wais-8-b5.tar.Z
is the Unix source code for the full text indexer, database
server, and a couple of Unix clients. In addition, there are
a number of machine specific clients available there. The
file WAIStation-0-63.sit.hqx is the Macintosh client. To
have gopherd use WAIS databases, however, you only need the
Unix source code.

The Gopher software is available via anonymous ftp at
boombox.micro.umn.edu in the /pub/gopher/Unix directory. The
file gopher gopher1.03.tar.Z contains the lastest version of
gopherd. You need at least version 1.0 to use these
instructions.

INSTALLING WAIS AND GOPHERD

Both WAIS and Gopher Unix software are rather complex. It is
best to test and install each separately before attempting
to join them. If you are not familiar with Unix software
installation procedures, I recommend that you work with
someone who is-the process is that messy.

Install and test the WAIS software first. While the WAIS
installation is not documented well, the software is very
portable. Follow the wais/INSTALLATION instructions very
carefully. I recommend that you do not make the X Windows
Systems or Emacs client; to prevent this remove the x and
tags dependencies from the default rule.

I recommend that you install and test gopherd before trying
to link in the WAIS code. Once gopherd is working, you will
have to remake it for WAIS. To incorporate WAIS into
gopherd, carefully follow the "Full Text Indexing Setup for
WAIS" installations in the file gopher/doc/INSTALL.

PROTOCOL LINKS

The easiest way to access WAIS databases via Gopher is to
have gopherd access existing WAIS database servers via the
WAIS protocol. To do this all you need do is to place a WAIS
database source description file (.src) into your Gopher
data directory.

To test your gopherd, copy the following to the file
aesop.src

     (:source
          :version  3
          :ip-address "18.85.0.233"
          :ip-name "bloat.media.mit.edu"
          :tcp-port 8000
          :database-name "Aesop-Fables"
          :maintainer "jh@bloat.media.mit.edu"
     )
     
Place this file in the root of the gopher directory (while
testing). If you want to give the file a more descriptive
name create the file aesop.src

     Name=Search Aesop's Fables (Testing)
     
and place this in the root data directory's .cap directory.
Delete the root data directory's .cache file and you are
ready to test.

Using any Gopher client that supports searching, connect to
the root of your Gopher server. You should see a search menu
item named "Search Aesop's Fables (Testing)". If you don't
see this check that you followed each step above

*    Created the WAIS database source description file
     aesop.src at the root of the gopher data directory
     
*    Created the Gopher .cap file aesop.src in the root
     gopher directory's .cap directory.
     
*    Deleted the root gopher directory's .cache file.
     
To test the search, look for "hare" (a common Aesop
character). After a short while, your Gopher client should
display a list of 10 items, amoung which is "The-Lion-and-
the-Hare?". Success!

A list of publicly accessible WAIS databases is kept at
quake.think.com. The list, wais-sources.tar.Z, is available
via anonymous ftp in the /wais directory. You can use this
to build you own list of available WAIS databases.
Alternatively, you can use the shell script waisload to do
it for your. Waisload is available via anonymous ftp at
ftp.brown.edu in the /pub/gopher directory.

DISK LINKS

Having tested gopherd with a protocol link you are ready to
test a disk link. A disk link enables you to access WAIS
databases available within gopherd's file system. For
example, you might want to create a full text index of all
the documents within your Gopher data directory.

To test disk links you will construct a simple wais database
of several of your files. Create the following directory
structure at the root of your gopher data directory

     ./myfiles/
     ./myfile/.waisindex/
     
Place several simple text files in ./myfiles. The WAIS
database's index and auxillary files will be placed in
./myfiles/.waisindex.

To create the database issue the command

     waisindex -d ./myfiles/.waisindex/index ./myfiles/*
     
This will build a WAIS database of all the files in
./myfiles and place the database's index and auxiliary files
in ./myfiles/.waisindex.

To have gopherd recognize the WAIS database files for
searching, create the following .link file in ./myfiles

     Name=Search My Files (Testing)
     Type=7
     Path=7/myfiles/.waisindex/index
     Host=+
     Port=+
     
Using any Gopher client that support searching, connect to
the root of your Gopher server. You should see a folder item
"myfiles". Enter this folder and you should see a menu
listing all your files plus the "Search My Files (Testing)"
search item. If you don't see this make sure that you
carefuly followed the steps

*     Created ./myfiles and ./myfiles/.wasindex directories
     
*     Copied serveral files to ./myfiles
     
*     Built the WAIS database
     
*     Have a .link file in ./myfiles
     
To test the search, look for a word-other then
connectives-you know is within one of your files. After a
short while, your Gopher client should display a list of
files that contain the search word. Success!

-- 
Andrew Gilmartin                        
Computing & Information Services
Brown University

Andrew_Gilmartin@Brown.Edu
(401) 863-7305
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems