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Metacat: XML Metadata Database
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------------------------------
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Version: 1.4.0 Release
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Send feedback and bugs to: metacat-dev@ecoinformatics.org
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                           http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org
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Contributors: Matt Jones (jones@nceas.ucsb.edu)
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              Chad Berkley (berkley@nceas.ucsb.edu)
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              Jing Tao (tao@nceas.ucsb.edu)
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              Jivka Bojilova (bojilova@nceas.ucsb.edu)
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              Dan Higgins (higgins@nceas.ucsb.edu)
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              Saurabh Garg (sgarg@nceas.ucsb.edu)
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              Duane Costa (dcosta@lternet.edu)
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Metacat is a flexible database storage system for XML formatted
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documents and associated binary files. Metacat models the structure of the
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XML document, therefore allowing storage of XML documents with arbitrary
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schemas. Metacat supports several databases on the back-end, including Oracle,
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PostgreSQL and SQL Server (limited).  The server supports XML document
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storage, retrieval, query, validation, and transformation (using the XSLT
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stylesheet language).  In addition, there is a mechanism for replicating the
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database to other metacat instances for backup and load balancing purposes.
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Metacat currently uses an LDAP database for authenticating users, but was
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written to accomodate other authentication services as well.
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Installation
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------------
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See the file "docs/user/metacatinstall.html" for detailed instructions.
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Release Notes for 1.4.0:
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------------------------
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This is a major release, and is the first to introduce many new features to
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Metacat.  Some of the major new features in this version of Metacat include:
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* Added a new 'Harvester' that allows documents to be periodically pulled
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  from distributed sources into metacat, useful for interfacing with other
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  system types. See the Metacat Tour for details.
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* Added new 'skins' capability to allow the GUI for the metacat web interface
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  to be more easily customized to fit into site needs.  The skin is based on
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  a flexible mix of XSLT, CSS, and Javascript.
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* Added a web-based metadata entry form for submitting limited EML documents
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  as part of a data registry.  The GUI for the registry is customizable and
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  is integrated with the 'skins' system for the main metacat interface.  The
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  registry subsystem is written in Perl, and can simultaneously be used to
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  present multiple 'registry' interfaces.
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* A new 'client API' has been developed and implemented in Java and in Perl
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  so that metacat functions can be accessed from any program in those
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  languages.  The client API supports the major metacat servlet actions,
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  including login(), logout(), query(), insert(), update(), delete(), and
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  upload(). See the Metacat Tour for details.
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* Added a new 'getlog' action that produces a usage history for all major
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  events.  So now an XML report can be generated for document reads, inserts,
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  deletes, etc.  See the new section in the Metacat Tour.
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* Added a new 'buildindex' action that can rebuild the index entries for any
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  document in the database.
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* The configuration file for metacat (metacat.properties) has been moved out
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  of the jar file and into the WEB-INF directory, allowing far easier changes
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  to the configuration parameters.
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* Results in default web interface are sorted by title in the XSLT
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  (configurable)
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* Many bugs were fixed.
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Details of all changes can be found in the bug database here:
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http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org/buglist.cgi?product=Metacat&target_milestone=1.4
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Release Notes for 1.3.1:
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------------------------
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This is a simple interim bug fix. No major functionality changes. Bugs fixed
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include:
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 1) Metacat 1.3.0 doesn't work in Java 1.3 because a subtle API differnce in
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    Java 1.3 and Java 1.4. Currently, Metacat 1.3.1 will work in both Java 1.3
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    and Java 1.4.
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 2) Distribution package size was reduced.
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Release Notes for 1.3.0
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------------------------
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In 1.3.0 release, the structure of the xml_access table was changed and a new
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table, xml_accesssubtree was added. If you try to update a previously
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installed Metacat, you should run a script file to updated the table structure
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before installation.
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For Oracle user: At the SQLPLUS prompt type the following -
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@src/reviseformetacat13.sql
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For Postgresql user: At install directory prompt type the following -
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psql exp < src/reviseformetacat13_postgres.sql
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(where 'exp' is the database name).
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After installation, user should run "ant schemasql" command to register EML2
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schema in xml_catalog table.
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If you are a new Metacat user, this step is unneeded.
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Note: 1) We recommend to use Tomcat 4 and JAVA 1.4 to run Metacat. Otherwise,
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         it will cause potential replication issues.
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      2) Delete the xercesImpl.jar and xmlParserAPIs.jar files
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         which are in $CATALINA_HOME/common/endorsed. They are old version and
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         don't support XML schema validation.
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New Features in 1.3.0
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  1) Partialy support EML2 document. User can store, query, read and write
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     EML2 documents. However, Metacat only support access control in resource
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     level. The subtree level access control will be ignored.
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  2) Support other xml document base on namespace/schema.
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  3) Support query for attribute value
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  4) Assign MIME type to data file base on metadata when user try to read it.
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  5) Owner can assign access rules to a document which does not have access
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     document to apply it.
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  6) Support exporting single file, not only whole package
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  7) Resupport Microsoft SQL Server.
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Fixes in 1.3.0:
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  1) Couldn't finish delta T replication for large set of documents.
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  2) Couldn't create access control during delta T replication.
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  3) Eorr will be written to a seperated log file if some documents
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     were failed in replication.
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  4) Decrease the time to create access rules during insert or update
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     a package.
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Documentation
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-------------
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See the docs directory for detailed documentation and installation
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instructions.
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Details of the Metacat architecture can be found on the website for
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the Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB):
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  http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/metacat/
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Contributions to this work are welcome.  Please see the above web site
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for details on how to contribute.
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Major Known Bugs or Feature Requests (see http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org)
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you discover a bug please report it, either by email (above) or by using
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our bug tracking system (http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org). There is a
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list of currently unimplemented features in Bugzilla that we are working on
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for the next release.
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Legalese
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--------
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This software is copyrighted by The Regents of the University of California
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and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
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and licensed under the GNU GPL; see the 'LICENSE' file for
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details.
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This material is based upon work supported by the
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National Science Foundation under Grant No. DEB99-80154, DBI99-04777, and
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0225676.  Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed
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in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
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the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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This product includes software developed by the Apache Software
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Foundation (http://www.apache.org/). See the LICENSE file in lib/apache
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for details.
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The source code, object code, and documentation in the com.oreilly.servlet
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package is copyright and owned by Jason Hunter. See the cos-license.html file
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for details of the license.  Licensor retains title to and ownership of the
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Software and all enhancements, modifications, and updates to the Software.