WWW::SearchBroker - Parallel metasearcher for Internet-based services (WWW, IMAP
, LDAP, etc.)

COPYRIGHT:
    Copyright (c) 2002-2003 Nathan Bailey.  All rights reserved.
 
LICENSE:
    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
    modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
    published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at
    your option) any later version.

LIMITATIONS:
    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
    WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
    General Public License for more details.

DESCRIPTION:
    See 'perldoc WWW::SearchBroker' and 'Personalised metasearch:
    Augmenting your brain' <http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw03/papers/bailey/>
    for more details.

*******************************************************************************
STATUS:
    This code should be considered very much as work-in-progress.  Any
    part of this release could be subject to change.  'Modules list'
    status is as follows:
Name               DSLIP  Description                               Info
-----------------  -----  ----------------------------------------- -----
WWW::SearchBroker  adpOg  Parallel metasearcher for 'net services   NATE

INSTALLATION:
    WWW::SearchBroker uses the following modules/distributions.

	LWP::UserAgent	 - required (for non-WWW::Search searching)
	WWW::Search	 - required (for handcrafted web searchers)
	Data::Serializer - required (for serialized socket communications)
	Net::LDAP	 - required (for LDAP directory searching)
	Mail::IMAPClient - required (for IMAP mailbox searching)
	WWW::Scraper	 - optional (for scraper-based searches, esp. Sherlock)

    First ensure the above modules/distributions are installed (perhaps
    by using a command such as 'perl -e "use LWP::UserAgent; use \
    WWW::Search; use Net::LDAP; use Mail::IMAPClient; use WWW::Scraper;"') then
    build/test/install WWW::SearchBroker by doing:

            perl Makefile.PL
            make
            make test
            make install

    This module contains documentation on the object and its methods.
    Once installed you can use the 'perldoc WWW::SearchBroker' command to
    obtain the documentation.  This package also includes several
    test scripts with example code.

*******************************************************************************
COMPATIBILITY:
    This module was developed on Mac OS X 10.2.5, and has been tested on
    Red Hat (v8) Linux (kernel 2.4)

TODO:
    Convert existing file-based comms to debug-only code and use
    sockets exclusively.
    Look at using LWP::PUA (ParallelUserAgent) for WWW searches
    Complete refactoring to use of Common.pm
    Complete testing of LDAP and WWW components and add to distribution.

BUGS:
    Bug reports can be sent to the author via his CPAN address.