MG Information Retrieval System
	===============================

This system is described in the book ``Managing Gigabytes:  Compressing
and Indexing Documents and Images'', I.H. Witten, A. Moffat, and T.C.
Bell; Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1994; ISBN 0-442-01863-0;
US$54.95; call 1 (800) 544-0550 to order.  A tutorial guide to the MG
system appears an an appendix.

The files in this directory are:

mg.tar.Z
	A tarred, compressed, collection of C and other source files.
	Use

		uncompress < mg.tar.Z | tar xf -

	to create a new directory ./mg-1.2 that contains the
	distribution.  This directory contains its own README file,
	you should read it next.

	The current version is mg-1.2, dated 26 February 1996.  (The
	previous versions: mg-1.1, dated July 1995; mg-1.0, dated
	March 1994.) This version is essentially the same as mg-1.1,
	but makes use of autoconf for greater portability.

mg.tar.gz
	The same, except gnuzip is used as the compression agent.
	Use

		gunzip < mg.tar.gz | tar xf -

	to unpack it.

mg-1.0.tar.Z
mg-1.0.tar.gz
	The previous version. Note that file format changes mean that
	databases created with mg-1.0 cannot be accessed using mg-1.1,
	they must be rebuilt from scratch.

mg-1.1.tar.Z
mg-1.1.tar.gz
	The first version, as described in the book.

mg-1.2.tar.Z
mg-1.2.tar.gz
	The current version, same as mg-tar.Z and mg.tar.gz

MG.Bibliography.bib
	A text file of MG related BibTeX citations.
	Current version, 9 June 1995.

MG.Bibliography.ps
	The same, but as a formatted postscript file. 

MG.Book.Errata
	A text file listing known errors in the book.
	Current version 26 April 1995.

MG.Book.Errata.ps
	The same, but as a formatted postscript file. 

README
	This file, last edited 26 February 1996.


See the file ./mg-1.2/INSTALL (after unpacking the archive)
for information about installation and system availability.

A Web site for MG has been created, see
	http://www.kbs.citri.edu.au/mg
One page ./mg-1.2/about_mg.html is included in the software
distribution.

There is one important feature of MG not described in the MG book.
Since completing the book we have developed an X interface.  A brief
description appears in the ``Appendix'' section of MG.Book.Errata. More
detailed guidance can be obtained by unpacking and installing the
distribution and then typing ``man xmg''.

There is no warranty of any kind provided with this software.  You use
it at your own risk; see the conditions listed in the files
./mg-1.2/COPYING and ./mg-1.2/README after unpacking the tar archive.

If you discover unreported errors in the book, or have other queries,
contact:

	Alistair Moffat, 
	Department of Computer Science, 
	The University of Melbourne, 
	Parkville, Victoria 3052,
	Australia;
	Fax +61 3 93481184; 
	Phone +61 3 93449168; 
	Internet alistair@cs.mu.oz.au;
	http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~alistair

Many people have helped us develop this software, and a full list of
contributors appears in the file ./mg-1.2/README. We hope you enjoy
playing with this software, and find it useful.  

		Tim Bell
		Alistair Moffat
		Ian Witten
		Justin Zobel
		February 26, 1996