J-Spider

J-Spider is an alpha release under the GNU Library or LGPLM licence. The J-Spider source includes some dependencies on Apache software:

• The class net.javacoding.jspider.core.logging.impl.CommonsLoggingLogProvider depends on the package org.apache.commons.logging released under the Apache Software License.
• The class net.javacoding.jspider.mod.plugin.velocity.VelocityPlugin depends on the packages org.apache.velocity, org.apache.velocity.app and org.apache.velocity.context, released under the Apache Software License.

Initial review notes

J-Spider is designed to be a spidering engine, not an application itself, so it has a set of interfaces that can be used to add custom functionality and features. Plugins can fulfil tasks such as saving content to a file or reporting responses to URL requests. The spidering requirements are configured by a set of Rules. Events are triggered by incidents such as identifying a new site or finding a 404 error. Each activity is defined as a Task.

J-Spider has a well layered and extensible architecture and there is a detailed user guide. A developer guide is expected soon. The plugin configurations can be written in plain text name/value format. The apparent dependencies on the Apache logging and Velocity packages are for optional plugins only and do not compromise the licence status of the system as a whole.

J-Spider requires a Java 1.3 compatible runtime environment and an XML parser, Apache Xerces is provided as standard. The GNU Aelfred XML parser should be equally suitable. Provided this is confirmed, J-Spider would be a recommended for the MKSearch project.