GlimpseHTTP installation.

This document contains directions for installing GlimpseHTTP on your system. We assume that you have a running HTTP server and that you understand how to install CGI scripts on it. Also, since GlimpseHTTP is an add-on to Glimpse, we assume that you already installed Glimpse and supporting tools somewhere in your system.

Current version was tested under httpd 1.2 from NCSA, but it can be easily tailored to any HTTP server which supports CGI scripts.

Distribution files

GlimpseHTTP is distributed as an add-on to Glimpse search tool. Actually, it is a collection of gateway programs which serves as a gateway between Glimpse and HTTP server.
The distribution tar-file includes the following directories:
cgi-bin
CGI scripts. You should install them in your HTTP script directory; see documentation on your HTTP server.
news
Tools that perform news archiving and indexing. If you don't want the news archiving features, don't install this directory. If this feature is enabled, news archives will be stored in subdirectories of this directory.
wwwlib
Auxillary tools and files, documentation.
Normally, GlimpseHTTP files are stored in the directory where your HTTP server stuff is located (this directory is given by the variable HTTP_HOME in configure script). By changing this variable, you can give an alternate location for it.

Installation.

  1. Copy distribution archive to a chosen directory.
  2. Go to that directory.
  3. Un-tar the files: 
    tar xvf glimpseHTTP.src.tar
    You should get directories 'cgi-bin', 'wwwlib' and 'news'.
  4. Edit the configuration script 'wwwlib/configure' Change the variables HTTP_HOME and HTTP_NEWSHOME to whatever location your server stuff is located in and where you want your news archive to be located (if you are not planning to use this feature, ignore it). From now on, we will refer to these paths as HTTP_HOME and HTTP_NEWSHOME, respectively. Configuration script uses Perl. Make sure variable PERL reflect its location (or they are in your search PATH).
    Also make variables GLIMPSE_LOC and GLIMPSEIDX_LOC point to where you installed Glimpse and Glimpseindex. If you want any default options for glimpseindex, change the variable GLIMPSEIDX_OPT to these options. Note that options that you set here cannot be overriden by Archive Manager. So normally, this variable should be left empty and all options are set in Archive Manager for each archive individually.
  5. Run the configuration script 'wwwlib/configure' This will edit all the distribution files and set configurable variables in them, and also compile the C-programs for your system.
  6. Move files from directories 'wwwlib' and 'cgi-bin' into directories HTTP_HOME/wwwlib and HTTP_HOME/cgi-bin if you performed the previous steps in a directory different from HTTP_HOME.
  7. Move files from directory 'news' to HTTP_NEWSHOME directory, or delete 'news' directory if you don't want to install news archive.
  8. Make sure you configured directory HTTP_HOME/cgi-bin as a script directory on your server. For httpd 1.2, this requires adding line 
    ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ HTTP_HOME/cgi-bin/
    in your resource file (usually srm.conf)
  9. Configure the archives using Archive Manager, which is located in HTTP_HOME/wwwlib/amgr.
    NOTE: Archive Manager generates HTML file (ghindex.html by default) in each of the directories of your archive(s), which may overwrite your existing HTML files. So before executing "Index" command of the archive manager, make sure you understand what you are doing.
  10. Now you can use HTML forms interface to aglimpse. Sample form is located in file HTTP_HOME/wwwlib/sample-form.html
  11. If you already have HTML indices describing your directories, you can add hyperlinks 
    http://your.host/cgi-bin/aglimpse/<archive-id>/<archive-path>?query
    which, when followed, will search archive archive-id in files matching arhive-path within given archive for query and return the list of matches. Using search in files whose name matches some pattern allows you to implement combination of browsing and searching.
    If you don't have HTML indices, you can use "Index" option of Archive Manager to generate HTML indices and, by request, build Glimpse indices. To generate indices, indexer combines single HTML template file and per-directory description file to build HTML indices in each directory. (see Indexing Notes for details) Using this indexer automatically allows users of your system to use combination of browsing and searching.
  12. You may wish to take a look at our Demo Archive to see how does GlimpseHTTP looks at work.

    Important tips and tricks

    All the distribution files should be world readable in order for them to work. Scripts in cgi-bin/ and wwwlib/ should be world executable. The reason is that most HTTP servers execute CGI scripts under user 'nobody'.