This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
4Suite is an open-source platform for XML and RDF development. It allows users to take advantage of standard XML technologies rapidly and to develop and integrate Web-based applications. It comprises three separate packages:
This is a release of only the first component.
4Suite XML is a comprehensive library for XML processing. It's implemented in Python and C and supports XML (SAX-like and DOM-like), XPath, XSLT, RELAX NG, XUpdate, XInclude, XPointer, and more.
For free support (no guarantees), join, then post to the 4Suite mailing list. Other resources include The 4Suite Wiki and the 4Suite IRC channel (#4suite on irc.freenode.net).
If your main need is just basic XML processing in Python, consider using Amara XML Toolkit. EasyInstall makes it easy to install 4Suite and Amara in one go. See The Amara wiki for more info.
Python/XML Akara: A collation and annotation of many documents and other resources for Python/XML users, with an extensive and section on 4Suite.
developerWorks 4Suite tutorial update page: A page of updates and expansions on the 4Suite tutorial series on developerWorks users.
A record for 4Suite based on the Creative Commons metadata specification draft: This is an RDF vocabulary for describing information about licenses and the works they apply to.
4XSLT paper [PDF] [in Dutch]. I am hosting, a paper on the use and architecture of 4XSLT, in dutch, for Davy Friedrich, Joe Achten, and Wim Deprez, who wrote it as a student paper.
Utility scripts to manage namespace mapping files for user convenience. Namespace mappings files can be used with many 4Suite RDF tools to set prefixes a user can employ in abbreviating URIs, much like in the RDF/XML syntax. create-nsmapping-file.py establishes a mapping file for the user who invokes it. add-nsmapping-file.py adds a prefix/namespace URI pair to the mapping.
Questions on 4Suite? First stop is the official FAQ, then the Community FAQ. If you can't find your answers check the mailing archives of the 4Suite list or post to that list. Or drop by IRC (see above). Several 4Suite developers are usually on-line on the channel, but be prepared to maybe wait a few hours for response, as we may be away from the computer.
People interested in participating in or closely following the development process of 4Suite can join the mailing list for core 4Suite developers, which is open (as are its archives).
Cheshire3 is an XML repository search engine by Robert Sanderson, "written over top of 4Suite (and a bunch of other stuff)." (FTP site).
4ODS is no longer maintained, but for convenience, here is the rather sparse user guide for 4ODS in HTML and Docbook source. For the real scoop, see the ODMG 3.0 book, which was pretty strictly our implementation guide.