[XML-SIG] ANN: 4Suite 1.0a4

[Uche Ogbuji]

Today we release 1.0 alpha 4, now available from Sourceforge and
ftp.4suite.org.

4Suite is a comprehensive platform for XML and RDF processing, with base
libraries and a server framework.  It is implemented in Python and C,
and provides Python and XSLT APIs, Web and command line interfaces.

For general information, see:

http://4suite.org
http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/4Suite/
http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/akara/nodes/2003-01-01/4suite-section

For the files, see:

ftp://ftp.4suite.org/pub/4Suite/

Sources:

ftp://ftp.4suite.org/pub/4Suite/4Suite-1.0a4.tar.gz

Windows installer:

ftp://ftp.4suite.org/pub/4Suite/4Suite-1.0a4.win32-py2.2.exe
ftp://ftp.4suite.org/pub/4Suite/4Suite-1.0a4.win32-py2.3.exe
ftp://ftp.4suite.org/pub/4Suite/4Suite-1.0a4.win32-py2.4.exe

Windows zip:

ftp://ftp.4suite.org/pub/4Suite/4Suite-1.0a4.zip

You can also get the files on Sourceforge:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/foursuite/
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=39954

Documentation:

In the locations specified above, with filenames of the form

4Suite-docs-1.0a4.*


Highlights of changes
--

This release has been extremely an long time in coming, and a great
number of changes have come about.  I'll try my best to summarize:

* Python 2.2.1 is now the minimum required version
* Feature enhancements for the domlettes, including
  - Ability to control encoding for parse
  - Ability to parse from general entities (i.e. multiple root elements)
  - .xpath() convenience method on nodes
* Feature enhancements for the repository, including
  - MySQL driver
  - Flat File driver is no longer flat (now uses native directories)
  - Repository / Driver API restructured
  - ftss: URI scheme used throughout
* Feature enhancements for Versa, including
  - Versa functions to control query scoping
* Pruning of built-in XPath and XSLT extensions for consistency with
EXSLT
* Other API changes (mostly just name changes or adding optional
  functionality). Old names work, but are deprecated and trigger
warnings 
* cDomlette is stable and FtMiniDom is deprecated.
* Improvements to packaging and deployment
* Numerous performance enhancements
* Numerous bug fixes

IMPORTANT alpha release notes
--

If you have built a 4Suite repository using an older version of 4Suite,
you will probably have to make adjustments for this new release.  If you
used 0.12.0a3, or a more recent version, then you will have to follow
the
migration instructions detailed in the following message:

http://lists.fourthought.com/pipermail/4suite/2004-October/012933.html

In general, it's worth being familiar with the following document:

http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/akara/nodes/2003-01-01/backup

There have been on and off problems for Mac OS X users.  Please
see the following page for current status, notes and recommendations:

http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/akara/nodes/2003-01-01/osx

Installation locations have changed on both Windows and Unix.
See the current installation directory layout document at:

http://4suite.org/docs/installation-locations.xhtml

If there is a server config files at the default location for the
build and platform (e.g. /usr/local/lib/4Suite/4ss.conf by default on
UNIX), it will be renamed to 4ss.conf.old and then overwritten.

For insulation from Domlette implementation changes, developers should
always use the generic Ft.Xml.Domlette APIs (rather than, say
Ft.Xml.cDomlette).


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                                    Fourthought, Inc.
http://uche.ogbuji.net    http://4Suite.org    http://fourthought.com
A hands-on introduction to ISO Schematron - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/x-dw-xschematron-i.html
Schematron abstract patterns - http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-stron.html
Wrestling HTML (using Python) - http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/09/08/pyxml.html
XML's growing pains - http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=10196
XMLOpen and more XML Hacks - http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think27.html
A survey of XML standards - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-stand4/