The Greenstone software Here we explain the software packages and information collections in the Greenstone Digital Library software that you can download and run on your own computer. Installation instructions for each version of the software are given separately. Greenstone is open-source software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. For more information about how to use the software, read The Greenstone Digital Library Software manual (PDF format, 570 Kb). This document also describes how to obtain associated software, that is also freely available--ActiveState Perl and the Apache Webserver. Greenstone Distributions Versions of Greenstone are available for * Unix + Source distribution * Windows + Source distribution + Binary distributions o Local Library o Web Library o Collection Builder and you can also download some * Greenstone Collections All distributions are downloaded using the ftp protocol. The directories contain old versions too, but we recommend that you always download the latest release. Unix source distribution Greenstone has been developed and thoroughly tested on Linux systems. It has also been compiled and had some testing on SunOS 5.6. Please tell us if you port it to other flavors of Unix. Currently, only a source distribution is available for Unix (let us know if you need Unix binaries). In order to compile the Greenstone source on Unix, you will need * GCC, the Gnu C++ compiler. Greenstone makes extensive use of the C++ standard template library (we've found it to be broken on some older versions of GCC; please tell us if you have STL problems) * GDBM, the Gnu database manager (www.gnu.org) In order to run the Greenstone software, you will also need * Perl (version 5 or higher) (www.gnu.org) * Webserver software, e.g. Apache (www.apache.org) Most Unix installations will already have all that is required. Windows source distribution The source code is the same for Windows as for Unix, but the installation instructions are different. Greenstone has currently only been compiled on Windows using Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 (we use this version to retain compatibility with Windows 3.x). Minor problems may occur with compilers other than VC++ 4.2--these will be sorted out very soon for VC++ 6.0 and various Windows ports of GNU GCC. In order to compile the Greenstone source on Windows, you will need * Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 * STL, the C++ standard template library (newer versions of VC++ and GCC come with STL included) (www.sgi.com/Technology/STL) The GDBM source is included in the Greenstone source distribution. In order to run the Greenstone software, you will also need * Perl (we recommend ActivePerl, see below) * Webserver software (we recommend Apache, see below) Windows binary distributions There are three separate binary distributions for Windows: the Local Library, the Web Library, and the Collection Builder. Local Library. This enables any Windows computer to serve pre-built Greenstone collections. The package includes the Demo Collection; other collections can be downloaded in pre-built form. The software is the same as that used on Greenstone CD-ROMs. The Local Library is intended for use on standalone computers or computers that do not already have webserver software. It contains a built-in webserver, with limited web-serving configurability, so that other computers on the same network can also access the library. In order to construct new Greenstone collections, you will also need * Collection Builder Web Library. This enables any computer with an existing webserver (e.g. Apache) to serve pre-built Greenstone collections. The package includes the Demo Collection; other collections can be downloaded in pre-built form. The Web Library differs from the Local Library because the Local Library is intended for computers that do not already have webserver software. In order to run the Web Library, you will also need * Webserver software (we recommend Apache, see below) In order to construct new Greenstone collections, you will also need * Collection Builder Collection Builder. This allows you to build collections containing material of your choice. Once built, collections can be served by either the Local Library or the Web Library package. Several NZDL collections can be downloaded in unbuilt form (see below) and built using the Collection Builder. This package does not include any collections. You need to download a collection (e.g. the Demo Collection) in order to try it out. In order to run the Collection Builder, you will also need * Perl (we recommend ActivePerl, see below) In order to serve any collections you build, you will also need * Local Library or Web Library package Associated Software Perl. We recommend ActivePerl from www.activestate.com It seems that newer versions (Perl 5.6) do not work with the Greenstone building programs: accordingly, you should download a pre-5.6 version. (Whether this is a bug in our code, in ActiveState's port of Perl 5.6, or in Perl 5.6 itself, is difficult to say.) Please tell us any information on which Perl ports work and which don't. Apache Webserver. Apache is free, and easy to install. Greenstone Collections Several of the collections on the NZDL website are available for download, either in pre-built or unbuilt form. Note: on Windows, you need the Collection Builder package to make use of unbuilt collections. The following collections are currently available Arabic Demonstration Collection arabic 4.2 Mb Bibliotheque pour le developpement ... tulane 340 Mb Chinese Demonstration Collection chinese 0.47 Mb Collection on Critical Global Issues unu 71 Mb Collection on Critical Global Issues 2 ccgi 102 Mb Computer Science Bibliographies csbib 112 Mb Computer Science Technical Reports cstr 1800 Mb Demo Collection demo 2.5 Mb Food and Nutrition Library fnl 98 Mb HCI Bibliography hcibib 4.8 Mb Humanity Development Library hdl 387 Mb Indigenous Peoples Collection ipc 3.6 Mb Mäori Newspapers niupepa 659 Mb Medical and Health Library mhl 73 Mb Project Gutenberg Collection gberg 428 Mb Sahel Point Doc unesco 78 Mb The Computists' Weekly tcc 5.0 Mb Tidbits tidbits 5.4 Mb Virtual Disaster Library paho 73 Mb Women's History Collection whist 12 Mb World Environment Library envl 220 Mb Youth Oral History collection ohist 421 Mb Bugs Please report bugs or installation problems to greenstone@cs.waikato.ac.nz ----------------------------------------------- New Zealand Digital Library Project Department of Computer Science, University of Waikato, New Zealand April 2000