NAME

NAME
HTML::EP::Glimpse - A simple search engine using Glimpse

SYNOPSIS


<ep-package name="HTML::EP::Glimpse">

<ep-glimpse-search>

<ep-list items=files item=f>
<tr><td><a href="$f->url$">$f->title$</a></td>
</ep-list>

DESCRIPTION
This is a simple search engine I wrote for the movie pages of a friend,
Anne Haasis.

It is based on HTML::EP, my embedded Perl system and Glimpse, the well
known indexing system, as a backend.

INSTALLATION
First of all, you have to install the latest version of HTML::EP, 0.20
or later, and it's prerequisites. Next you have to install this package,
HTML::EP::Glimpse. If you don't know how to install Perl packages, it's
fairly simple: Fetch the required archives from any CPAN mirror, for
example

ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/modules/by-module/HTML

and then do, for example

gzip -cd HTML-EP-0.20.tar.gz | tar xf -
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

It's even more simple, if you have the CPAN module available:

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install HTML::EP
install HTML::EP::Glimpse

While running perl Makefile.PL in the HTML::EP::Glimpse directory,
you'll be prompted some questions. These are explained in the
CONFIGURATION section below. See the CONFIGURATION manpage.

Your web server must be ready for serving EP pages. See the HTML::EP
docs for details of the web server configuration. the HTML::EP(3)
manpage.

CONFIGURATION
The module is configured at installation time when running perl
Makefile.PL. However, you can repeat the configuration at any later time
by running perl -MHTML::EP::Glimpse::Install -e Config.

Configuration will create a module *HTML::EP::Glimpse::Config*, which
holds a single hash ref with the following keys:

install_html_files
A TRUE (yes) value means, that the HTML examples will be copied to
your web servers document root. This is recommended, unless you have
an existing installation with own modifications in the HTML files.
Of course you wouln't want to overwrite your own files.

html_base_dir
Base directory, where you put your HTML files to. The default is
/home/httpd/html/Glimpse, which is fine on a Red Hat Linux box.

vardir
A directory, where the web server is allowed to create files, in
particular your preferences and the Glimpse index. By default the
subdirectory admin/var of the base directory is choosen.

httpd_user
The UID under which your web server is running CGI binaries. The
vardir must have read, execute and write permissions for this user.
The default is *nobody*, which is fine on a Red Hat Linux box again.

glimpse_path
glimpseindex_path
Path of the *glimpse* and *glimpseindex* binaries.

The Preferences

All other settings are fixed via the Web browser. Assuming your base
directory is accessible via

http://localhost/Glimpse/

point your browser to

http://localhost/Glimpse/admin/index.ep

and enter the preferences page. The following items must be entered
here:

Web servers root directory
This is your web servers home directory, for example

/home/httpd/html

on a Red Hat Linux box.

Directories being indexed
Usually you just put the value / here, because you want your whole
web server being indexed. However, if you want restrict the index to
some directories, enter them here. For example, if you have a manual
in /manual and want to index the manual directory only, then enter

/manual

The directory names are relative to the servers root directory.

Directories being excluded
If you don't want your whole directory tree being indexed, you can
also exclude some directories. For example, there's not much sense
in indexing the Glimpse directory, so I usually enter

/Glimpse

here.

Suffixes of files being indexed
Of course you don't want all files being indexed. For example,
there's not much sense in indexing GIF's or JPEG's. By default only
files with the extensions *.htm* and *.html* are indexed. If you
want your EP files being indexed as well, add a *.ep*. Likewise you
might want to add *.php* for PHP3 files or *.txt* for text files.

Running glimpseindex

As soon as you modified your preferences, you should create an index.
This is done by returning to the admin menu and calling the index page.

The same procedure should be repeated each time you modify your HTML
files. If this is happening frequently, you might prefer using a cron
job, for example

su - nobody -c "/usr/bin/glimpseindex -b -H $vardir -X"

with $vardir being the vardir from above. Note that your job shouln't
run as root, unless you want to disable a manual recreation via the web
browser.

Configuring for multiple virtual servers or multiple directories

So far configuration is fine, but can you use multiple instances of
HTML::EP::Glimpse on one machine? Of course you can!

It is quite simple: Just copy the base directory to another location.
Then create a subdirectory admin/lib/HTML/EP/Glimpse of the new base
directory. Create a new configuration by running

cd $basedir/admin/lib/HTML/EP/Glimpse
perl -MHTML::EP::Glimpse::Install -e Config Config.pm

That's it!

AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT
This module is

Copyright (C) 1998-1999 Jochen Wiedmann
Am Eisteich 9
72555 Metzingen
Germany

Phone: +49 7123 14887
Email: [email protected]

All rights reserved.

You may distribute this module under the terms of either the GNU General
Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README
file.

SEE ALSO
the DBI(3) manpage, the CGI(3) manpage, the HTML::Parser(3) manpage