> Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 10:19:26 -0500
> From: Ray Denenberg <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > 90% or more of the servers that we're going to want to build
> > gateways for are going to be of the kind that understand BIB-1 and
> > only BIB-1.
> >
> > Persuading server maintainers to add support for type-105 (of
> > whatever we call it) will not be trivial; but that will be a piece
> > of cake compared with persuading them to grok a whole new
> > attribute set, just so that they can implement one new attribute
> > from it. I think that CQL-like pattern matching must go in BIB-1.
>
> The part I'm having trouble understanding is the effort-gap between
> adding support for this in bib-1 versus doing it in another set. If
> we're talking strictly about version 2 implementations (where you
> can't mix attribute sets in one query) it makes sense. Is that the
> 90% you're talking about?

Well, the proportion of v2-only servers is as high as 90% -- Index
Data's server-stats page at http://indexdata.dk/targettest/stat.php
doesn't say explicitly, but does say that 23% of targets are based on
Yaz, which supports v3, so there are 23% or more that grok v3. But
still, there must be a lot of v2 servers out there, and their
maintainers will surely flatly refuse to upgrade to v3 just to support
our new attribute. Why create this problem, even if only for a small
proportion of servers?

> And this discussion pertains equally to the 'any' and 'all' issue.

Yes.

> I agree that it's essential to do whatever is necessary to provide
> implementable mappings from cql to Z39.50. If perpetuating bib-1
> and version 2is the only way, what does this say about the future
> development of Z39.50?

This is very explicitly not about the future development of Z39.50:
it's about providing new interfaces to _legacy_ Z39.50 services. I'm
sure we all hope that new Z servers will support v3 and the AA, but if
we want to give SRW maximum leverage, we can't afford to limit its
gatewaying ability to those v3 servers only.

 _/|_ _______________________________________________________________
/o ) \/ Mike Taylor <[log in to unmask]> www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\ "If you can't convince them, confuse them" -- Harry S. Truman.