diff --git a/readme.txt b/readme.txt index 23e7377d0..ede4e5c82 100644 --- a/readme.txt +++ b/readme.txt @@ -1,18 +1,27 @@ -README for YaCy (C) by Michael Peter Christen; mc@yacy.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Please visit http://yacy.net for latest changes or new documentation. -YaCy comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY! -This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it -under certain conditions; see file gpl.txt for details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - WHAT IS THIS? -YaCy is a search engine for the Web (supporting also ftp). -It is neither a search portal nor a portal software but a peer-to-peer -software that works on principles similar to file sharing. -The difference is that you do not share any kind of data but web indexes. -YaCy also generates the indexes it organizes. YaCy is a web crawler for +YaCy is a search engine software. It takes a new approach to search +because it does not use a central server. Instead, its search results +come from a network of independent peers. In such a distributed network, +no single entity decides what gets listed, or in which order results appear. + +The YaCy search engine runs on each user's own computer. Search terms are +hashed before they leave the user's computer. Different from conventional +search engines, YaCy is designed to protect the users' privacy. +A user's computer can create with YaCy its individual search indexes and +rankings, so that results better match what the user is looking for over time. +YaCy also makes it easy to create a customized search portal with a few clicks. + +Each YaCy user is either part of a large search network (YaCy contains a +peer-to-peer network protocol to exchange search indexes with other YaCy +search engine installations) or the user runs YaCy to produce +a personal search portal that can be either public or private. + +YaCy search portals can also be placed in intranet environment which makes +YaCy a replacement for commercial enterprise search solutions. A network +scanner makes it easy to discover all available http, ftp and smb servers. + +To create a web index, YaCy has a web crawler for everybody, without censorship and central data retention: - search the web (automatically using all other YaCy peers) - co-operative crawling; support for other crawlers @@ -20,11 +29,17 @@ everybody, without censorship and central data retention: - set up your own search portal - all users have equal rights - comprehensive concept to anonymise the users' index + To be able to perform a search using the YaCy network, every user has to set up their own node. More users are leading to higher index capacity and better distributed indexing performance. +LICENSE +YaCy is published under the GPL v2 +The source code is inside the release package (see /source and /htroot). + + WHERE IS THE DOCUMENTATION? Documentation can be found at: @@ -39,7 +54,7 @@ all these locations into one search result. DEPENDENCIES? WHAT OTHER SOFTWARE DO I NEED? -You need java 1.5 or later to run YaCy. +You need java 1.5 or later to run YaCy, nothing else. Please download it from http://www.java.com YaCy also runs on IcedTea6. @@ -54,43 +69,86 @@ HOW DO I START THIS SOFTWARE? Startup and Shutdown of YaCy: - on Linux: -to start: execute startYACY.sh -to stop : execute stopYACY.sh +to start: execute ./startYACY.sh +to stop : execute ./stopYACY.sh - on Windows: to start: double-click startYACY.bat to stop : double-click stopYACY.bat - on Mac OS X: -to start: double-click startYACY.command (alias possible!) -to stop : double-click stopYACY.command +please use the Mac Application and start or stop it like any +other Mac Application (doubleclick to start) HOW DO I USE THIS SOFTWARE, WHERE IS THE ADMINISTRATION INTERFACE? -YaCy is a server process that can be administrated and used -with your web browser: open +YaCy is a build on a web server. After you started YaCy, +start your browser and open http://localhost:8090 There you can see your personal search and administration interface. -ANY MORE CONFIGURATIONS? +WHAT IF I INSTALL YACY (HEADLESS) ON A SERVER + +You can do that but YaCy authorizes users automatically if they +access the server from the localhost. After about 10 minutes a random +password is generated and then it is not possible to log in from +a remote location. If you install YaCy on a server that is not your +workstation, then you must set an administration account immediately +after the first start-up. Open: + +http://:8090/ConfigAccounts_p.html -- after startup, you see the configuration page in your web browser. - just open http://localhost:8090 - all you have to do (should do) is to enter a password for your peer +and set an administration account. -- You can use YaCy as your web proxy. - This is an option, you don't need to do that. - Simply configure your internet connection to use a proxy at port 8090. +DEVELOPER: + +YaCy was created with the help of many. About 30 programmers have helped, +a list of some of them can be seen here: http://yacy.net/en/Join.html +Please join us! + + +HOW TO GET THE SOURCE CODE AND HOW TO COMPILE YACY YOURSELF? + +The source code is inside every YaCy release. You can also get YaCy +from https://gitorious.org/yacy/rc1 +Please clone our code and help with development! +The code is licensed under the GPL v2. + +Compiling YaCy: +- you need java 1.5 and ant +- just compile: "ant clean all" - then you can "./startYACY.sh" +- create a release tarball: "ant dist" +- create a Mac OS release: "ant distMacApp" (works only on a Mac) +- create a debian release: "ant deb" +- work with eclipse: within eclipse you also need to start the ant build process + because the servlet pages are not compiled by the eclipse build process +after the dist prodecure, the release can be found in the RELEASE subdirectory + + +ARE THERE ANY APIs OR HOW CAN I ATTACH SOFTWARE AT YACY? + +There are many interfaces build-in in YaCy and they are all based on http/xml and +http/json. You can discover these interfaces if you notice the orange "API" icon in +the upper right of some web pages in the YaCy web interface. Just click on it and +you will see the xml/json version of the information you just have seen at the web +page. +A different approach is the usage of the shell script provided in the /bin +subdirectory. The just call also the web interface pages. By cloning some of those +scripts you can create more shell api access methods yourself easily. CONTACT: -If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the author: +Our primary point of contact is the german forum at http://forum.yacy.net +There is also an english forum at http://www.yacy-forum.org +We encourage you to start a YaCy forum in your own language. + +If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the maintainer: Send an email to Michael Christen (mc@yacy.net) with a meaningful subject including the word 'yacy' to prevent that your email gets stuck in my anti-spam filter. @@ -100,5 +158,5 @@ feel free to ask the author for a business proposal to customize YaCy according to your needs. We also provide integration solutions if the software is about to be integrated into your enterprise application. -Germany, Frankfurt a.M., 05.11.2010 +Germany, Frankfurt a.M., 26.11.2011 Michael Peter Christen