Install Sphinx Search?

[Arantor]

There's not a lot better than Sphinx.

And I don't think you understand me. There is NO WAY ON EARTH to make something in PHP that's even remotely close to Sphinx in speed and processing capacity.


EDIT: At least not that can be used by normal users. You might get something remotely close if you use something like HipHop and compile a PHP script, but even then it's still not going to be as efficient as Sphinx is.

[spiros]

Thanks, Arantor, I did not know that. Can one apply search weights with Sphinx? I.e. I use high search weight for a matching subject since it is a translation forum with matching translations in subjects and Search enhancement mod is a good way of presenting this information.

[Arantor]

I don't know how the search enhancement mod works but you can apply weightings per column in Sphinx so if a match occurs in a given column it gets ranked higher. (SMF 2 can do that too, btw)

[spiros]

Many thanks. The good thing about the search enhancement mod is that it creates a result summary (with anchored subject lines only) which when clicked go to the relevant message. I wonder whether something like this could be implemented on Sphinx.

[Arantor]

Sphinx just physically handles the search and returns values back to the rest of the code to fetch the messages and display them. I see no reason why that display couldn't be managed.

[steve51184]

And I don't think you understand me. There is NO WAY ON EARTH to make something in PHP that's even remotely close to Sphinx in speed and processing capacity.

no i totally understood you but what i was saying is that smf should support Sphinx as an option like how they support cache systems like Memcached and APC.. just make an option for it and IF it's installed to the server then it'll use it etc

[Arantor]

no i totally understood you but what i was saying is that smf should support Sphinx as an option like how they support cache systems like Memcached and APC.. just make an option for it as IF it's installed to the server then it'll use it etc

Considering that you have to expressly configure it manually for SMF, you can't just have it as a simple option like that. Mind you, 2.0 does make it considerably easier to set up.

Sphinx only supports one master configuration file per instance of the daemon process, which in this case is either entirely SMF's indexes, or you already have it set up for something else. Either way you have to manually adjust its configuration to make that work properly, so there's no magic easy set up for it.

And because AFAIK none of the major distributions are shipping it as a service, you have to compile it from scratch anyway making it even less easy to have a simple configuration option of the nature you're asking about.

[spiros]

Are the files (on the beginning of topic) for Sphinx installation the most up to date ones (for latest Sphinx version or which latest Sphinx version)? Does it run on both 1.1.x and 2RC5? Are there any installation instructions?


Sorry for the many questions but I could not decide on these matters by reading this thread.

[Arantor]

The one in this thread is for 1.1.x only. 2.0's is very very different (due to the pluggable architecture for search APIs in 2.0) and that's documented in the big boards area.

As for installation instructions see http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=127672.0

[spiros]

Many thanks. So I take it that the latest supported Sphinx version for smf1.1.x is sphinx_0-9-7-rc2 and one needs to download that specific version?

I wonder whether I qualify to access the big boards area for a forum with 300,000 posts and 100,000 topics.

The installation instructions link gives me:
The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to

[Arantor]

I really wouldn't recommend using 0.9.7 at all. 0.9.8 as a minimum, since the 0.9.7 configuration files it generates are compatible, but I have a feeling they're not compatible with 0.9.9.

Argh, that link's in the big boards area, of which access is granted on forums of 500k posts or thereabouts

[spiros]

Lol, I must either push or wait my forum to reach the 500,000 benchmark then 

[SlammedDime]

And I don't think you understand me. There is NO WAY ON EARTH to make something in PHP that's even remotely close to Sphinx in speed and processing capacity.

no i totally understood you but what i was saying is that smf should support Sphinx as an option like how they support cache systems like Memcached and APC.. just make an option for it and IF it's installed to the server then it'll use it etc

With SMF 2.1, Sphinx will likely be rolled out as an option coupled with SMF, HOWEVER, as Arantor said, it's not something you can just 'enable' and be on your way.  It requires server level access to configure, even if it's already installed.  If it's not installed, you need root access to the server to install it.

[steve51184]

And I don't think you understand me. There is NO WAY ON EARTH to make something in PHP that's even remotely close to Sphinx in speed and processing capacity.

no i totally understood you but what i was saying is that smf should support Sphinx as an option like how they support cache systems like Memcached and APC.. just make an option for it and IF it's installed to the server then it'll use it etc

With SMF 2.1, Sphinx will likely be rolled out as an option coupled with SMF, HOWEVER, as Arantor said, it's not something you can just 'enable' and be on your way.  It requires server level access to configure, even if it's already installed.  If it's not installed, you need root access to the server to install it.

well i have root so i can't wait for that

[jesterz]

Sorry to bump an old thread, however I'm running a big board and i'm upgrading to 2.0.4, which means upgrading my old sphinx stuff to 2.0+ but I don't have access to the big board area.

Can somebody help ?

Edit: Apparently one can apply through ones profile, which I just did, sorry for the bump.