4Suite™ Notes

4Suite is an open-source platform for XML and RDF processing. It allows users to take advantage of standard XML technologies rapidly and to develop and integrate Web-based applications. It also puts practical technologies for knowledge management projects in the hands of developers. It is implemented in Python with C extensions.

4Suite consists of three separate packages:

• 4Suite XML (currently version 1.0) - XML, XPath, XSLT, related technologies and support libraries
• 4Suite RDF (currently not separately released) - RDF processing libraries and stand-alone DBMS
• 4Suite Repository (currently not separately released) - XML and RDF repository

At the core of 4Suite is a library of integrated tools (including convenient command-line tools) for XML processing, implementing open technologies such as DOM, RDF, XSLT, XInclude, XPointer, XLink, XPath, XUpdate, RELAX NG, and XML/SGML Catalogs. Layered upon this is an XML and RDF data repository and server. The server supports multiple methods of data access, query, indexing, transformation, rich linking, and rules processing. It provides the data infrastructure of a full database management system, including transactions and concurrency support, access control and a variety of management tools. For purposes of integration with other tools, it supports remote, cross-platform and cross-language access through HTTP, RPC, and FTP. It also has APIs for Python and XSLT.

The quickest path to trying out 4Suite, especially for users unfamiliar with Python, is to follow the 4Suite Installation HOWTO, which is available for UNIX and Windows users. Cygwin users, for now, please consult the Cygwin notes.

Detailed documentation about the installation directory defaults and customization options is now available here. Entries from an older documentation archive have been moved here. See:

1. Information for 4Suite developers

2. Information for 4Suite Users

Once the software is installed, refer to the Quick Start document for a step-by-step introduction to the repository features of the software.

For information on how to use 4Suite with RDFLib, see: Using 4Suite "Using 4Suite repository with RDFLib"

4Suite was originally developed by Fourthought, Inc., and is presently sponsored by.

• Zepheira (see: "Professional Communities")

• Cleveland Clinic (see for example "Semantic Web Use Cases and Case Studies")

See also:

• Jabber discussion: 4suite@conference.jabber.org

• 4SuiteFaq

• 4Suite home page

• 4Suite-XML CheeseShop page

• 4Suite on SourceForge (issue trackers and files)

• Uche Ogbuji's 4Suite page

• LivingPyXML

• 4Suite on SWiK

• FtInstallProblems

• DeveloperNotes (Notes for 4Suite core developers)

• Historical timeline

Roadmap and future

4Suite and Amara1 will be merging into Amara 2.0 (see Amara). See the Roadmap for more information.

Interesting Wiki starting points:

• Repository (Detailed overview of 4suite repository via cross-linking of old documentation against a recent presentation)

• RecentChanges: see where people are currently working

• WikiSandBox: feel free to change this page and experiment with editing

• FindPage: search or browse the database in various ways

• SyntaxReference: quick access to wiki syntax

• SiteNavigation: get an overview over this site and what it contains

How to use this site

Some useful resources

• RSS 1.0 Feed of changes to this site

• EditMoin

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A Wiki is a collaborative site, anyone can contribute and share:

• Edit any page by pressing Edit at the top or the bottom of the page

• Create a link to another page with joined capitalized words (like WikiSandBox) or with ["quoted words in brackets"]

• Search for page titles or text within pages using the search box at the top of any page

• See HelpForBeginners to get you going, HelpContents for all help pages.

To learn more about what a WikiWikiWeb is, read about WhyWikiWorks and the WikiNature. Also, consult the WikiWikiWebFaq.

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