Plugging in SWISH-E
Itâs time to plug in a real search engine. Weâll start with SWISH-E, which is freely available in source form from http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/SWISH-E/. Itâs a Unix-style program that compiles, most comfortably, in a GNU environment. What if you want to use SWISH-E on Windows NT? There are a variety of solutions:
- Port SWISH-E to Win32.
If youâre more ambitious than I am, you could convert the program into a Win32 console application.
- Build a Win32 version of SWISH-E.
This isnât the same thing as a native port. Rather, itâs a build that uses a Win32-based GNU environment. Several of these are freely available. Iâve used MingW32 (http://programming.ccp14.ac.uk/mingw32/~janjaap/mingw32/index.html) successfully with SWISH-E.
- Find a SWISH-E Win32 binary.
I found a Win32 SWISH-E binary at http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/1652/software.html. Iâm sure there are others elsewhere.
- Buy a copy of WebSite Pro.
If youâre using this NT-based web server from OâReilly & Associates, it includes a version of SWISH-E.
- Run SWISH-E on Unix.
SWISH-E will compile and run effortlessly on a Unix system. How does that help you use it in an NT environment? Think in terms of clustered components. Letâs say your primary web server is NT-based and that it supports Active-Server-Pages- or Cold-Fusion-based applications. That doesnât mean your search system has to run on the primary server. Itâs delightfully easy to build a web site as a loosely coupled cluster ...
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