
$Id: README,v 1.22 2005/05/13 20:18:58 jimg Exp $

Updated for 3.5.1 beta

NOTE: This version of libdap++ is not compatible with the 3.4.x clients and
servers. 

WHAT'S IN THIS DIRECTORY?

  This directory contains the OPeNDAP C++ implementation of the Data Access
  Protocol version 2 (DAP2) with some extensions that will be part of DAP3.
  Documentation for this software can be found on the OPeNDAP home page at
  http://www.opendap.org/. The NASA/ESE RFC which describes DAP2, implemented
  by the library, can be found at http://spg.gsfc.nasa.gov/rfc/004/.

  The DAP2 is used to provide a uniform way of accessing a variety of
  different types of data across the Internet. It was originally part of the
  DODS and then NVODS projects. The focus of those projects was access to
  Earth-Science data, so much of the software developed using the DAP2 to
  date has centered on that discipline. However, the DAP2 data model is very
  general (and similar to a modern structured programming language) so it can
  be applied to a wide variety of fields.

  The DAP2 is implemented as a set of C++ classes that can be used to build
  data servers and clients. The classes may be specialized to mimic the
  behavior of other data access APIs, such as netCDF. In this way, programs
  originally meant to work with local data in those formats can be re-linked
  and equipped to work with data stored remotely in many different formats.
  The classes can also by specialized to build standalone client programs.

  The DAP2 is contained in a single library: libdap++.a. Also included in the
  library are classes and utility functions which simplify building clients
  and servers.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE?

  The file README.dodsrc describes the client-side behavior which can be
  controlled using the .dodsrc file. This includes client-side caching, proxy
  servers, et c., and is described in a separate file so it's easy to include
  in your clients.

  The file README.AIS describes the prototype Ancillary Information Service
  (AIS) included in this version of the library. The AIS is (currently) a
  client-side capability which provides a way to augment DAP attributes. This
  is a very useful feature because it can be used to add missing metadata to
  a data source. The AIS is accessed by using the AISConnect class in place
  of Connect in your client.

  This directory also contains test programs for the DAP2, a sample
  specialization of the classes, getdap (a useful command-line web client
  created with DAP2) and dap-config (a utility script to simplify linking
  with libdap++.a).

  We also have Java and C versions of the DAP2 library which interoperate
  with software which uses this library. In other words, client programs
  built with the Java DAP2 implementation can communicate with servers built
  with this (C++) implementation of the DAP2. The C DAP2 library, called the
  Ocapi, only implements the client-side part of the protocol. Clients written
  using the Ocapi are interoperable with both the Java and C++ DAP2
  libraries. Note that the Ocapi is in early beta and available only from CVS
  at this time (5 May 2005).

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

  See the file INSTALL in this directory for information on building the
  library and the geturl client.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

  The OPeNDAP DAP library is copyrighted using the GNU Lesser GPL. See the
  file COPYING or contact the Free Software Foundation, Inc., at 59 Temple
  Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA. Older versions of the DAP were
  copyrighted by the University of Rhode Island and Massachusetts Institute
  of Technology; see the file COPYRIGHT_URI.
