2020-06-14 20:53:20 +00:00
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---
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layout: docs
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title: Fulltext Search Engine
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---
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# Choose a Fulltext Search Engine
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It should be possible to search the contents of all documents.
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## Context and Problem Statement
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To allow searching the documents contents efficiently, a separate
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index is necessary. The "defacto standard" for fulltext search on the
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JVM is something backed by [Lucene](https://lucene.apache.org).
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Another option is to use a RDBMS that supports fulltext search.
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This adds another component to the mix, which increases the complexity
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of the setup and the software. Since docspell works great without this
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feature, it shouldn't have a huge impact on the application, i.e. if
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the fulltext search component is down or broken, docspell should still
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work (just the fulltext search is then not working).
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## Considered Options
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* [Apache SOLR](https://lucene.apache.org/solr)
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* [ElasticSearch](https://www.elastic.co/elasticsearch/)
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* [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/textsearch.html)
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* All of them or a subset
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## Decision Outcome
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2020-06-23 21:02:58 +00:00
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If docspell is running on PostgreSQL, it would be nice to also use it
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for fulltext search to save the cost of running another component. But
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I don't want to lock the database to PostgreSQL *only* because of the
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fulltext search feature.
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2020-06-14 20:53:20 +00:00
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ElasticSearch and Apache SOLR are quite similiar in features. SOLR is
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part of Lucene and therefore lives in the Apache ecosystem. I would
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2020-06-23 21:02:58 +00:00
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choose SOLR over ElasticSearch, because I used it before.
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2020-06-14 20:53:20 +00:00
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The last option (supporting all) is interesting, since it would enable
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2020-06-23 21:02:58 +00:00
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to use PostgreSQL for fulltext search for those that use PostgreSQL as
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the database for docspell.
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In a first step, identify what docspell needs from a fulltext search
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component and create this interface and an implementation for Apache
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SOLR. This enables all users to use the fulltext search feature. As a
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later step, an implementation based on PostgreSQL and/or ElasticSearch
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could be provided, too.
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