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From: John Heidemann <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl.announce,comp.lang.perl.modules
Subject: ANNOUNCE: WWW::Search 1.023
Followup-To: comp.lang.perl.modules
Date: 22 Dec 1998 04:19:44 GMT
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WWW::Search and AutoSearch
==========================


WHAT IS NEW WITH WWW::Search 1.023?  (11-Dec-98)
------------------------------------------------
overview:  primarily bug fixes for back ends

- NEW: proxy support added to WebSearch and AutoSearch
       (based on code from Paul Linder)
- NEW: new back end for Snap.com (from Jim Smyser)
- BUG FIX:  Yahoo, HotBot, Excite, Lycos (from Martin Thurn),
       NorthernLight (from Jim Smyser)


WHAT IS WWW::Search?
--------------------

WWW::Search is a collection of Perl modules which provide an API to
WWW search engines.  Currently WWW::Search includes back-ends for
variations of AltaVista, Dejanews, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, Lycos,
Magellan, PLweb, SFgate, Verity, WebCrawler, and Yahoo.  We include
two applications built from this library: AutoSearch (an program to
automate tracking of search results over time), and WebSearch, a small
demonstration program to drive the library.  Back-ends for other
search engines and more sophisticated clients are currently under
development.

Because WWW::Search depends on parsing the HTML output of web search
engines it will fail of the search engine operators change their
format (an unfortunately frequent occurrence).  WWW::Search includes a
test suite for most back-ends which verifies that it's functioning
correctly.  As of the day of the release the current back-end
status is:

AltaVista               working
Crawler                 partially working
Dejanews                working
Excite                  working
ExciteForWebServers     working
Fireball                working
FolioViews              working
Gopher                  not working? (not in test suite)
HotBot                  partially working
Infoseek                working
Livelink                not working? (not in test suite)
Lycos                   working
Magellan                working
MSIndexServer           partially working?
NorthernLight           working
Null                    working
PLweb                   working
Search97                working
SFgate                  working
Simple                  not working? (not in test suite)
Snap                    partially working
Verity                  not working (not in test suite)
WebCrawler              partially working?
Yahoo                   working

``Paritially working'' indicates that some tests passed and some failed.
Yahoo's test suites are sometimes flakey.

(others are currently under development, see contributors below for details)



WHAT IS AutoSearch?
-------------------

WWW::Search's primary client is AutoSearch.  AutoSearch performs a
web-based search and puts the results set in a web page.  It
periodically updates this web page, indicating how the search changes
over time.  Sample output from WWW::Search can be found at
<http://www.isi.edu/lsam/tools/autosearch/>.  Output format is configurable.

See the man page for AutoSearch details, or Demonstration section
below for the quick-start instructions.



REQUIREMENTS
------------

WWW::Search requires Perl5 and libwww-perl.
For information on Perl5, see <http://www.perl.com>.
For libwww-perl, see <http://www.sn.no/libwww-perl/>.
Both are also available from the Comprehensive Perl Archive
Network (CPAN). Visit <http://www.perl.com/CPAN/> to find a CPAN
site near you.

At this time WWW::Search is tested under Perl version 5.004_04.



AVAILABILITY
------------

The latest version of WWW::Search should always be available from
<http://www.isi.edu/lsam/tools/WWW_SEARCH/>.  Alpha releases are only
available here (not at CPAN).

WWW::Search is also available as part of CPAN.  Visit
<http://www.perl.com/CPAN/> to find a CPAN site near you.

Feedback about WWW::Search is encouraged.  If you're using it for a
neat application, please let us know.  If you'd like to (or have)
implemented a new back-end for WWW::Search, let us know so we don't
duplicate work.

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