1. General:
    1. What is Ferret?
    2. Who is writing Ferret?
    3. Is Ferret ready to use?
    4. When will it be ready to use?
    5. Where can I get the API docs for ferret?
    6. How do I contribute an improvement?
    7. How else can I contribute?
    8. Is there a mailing list for Ferret?

General:

back to the FAQ Index

What is Ferret?

Ferret is a high performance open source search library written in C with bindings for Ruby. You can use Ferret to add google-like search features to your Ruby application.

Who is writing Ferret?

Ferret has been written and maintained by Dave Balmain with the growing help of group of developers who can be found on the Ferret mailing-list.

Is Ferret ready to use?

The current version of ferret (0.11.x) are the RCs for the final 1.0 ferret release. Ferret is being used by a number of projects already. So yes, it is ready to use.

When will it be ready to use?

Depends on the beta-phase but hopefully by the end of the year ferret will be released as version 1.0.

Where can I get the API docs for ferret?

You can get the API Documents at http://ferret.davebalmain.com/api

How do I contribute an improvement?

Use the mailinglist for proposals or write a ticket and attach patches to them.

How else can I contribute?

You can make a donation. For more information on this, see the DonationFAQ.

You can help people out on the mailing list. You can spread the word by adding a "powered by ferret" link to your site. There are a number of ways that you can contribute without having to write any code and all help is greatly appreciated.

Is there a mailing list for Ferret?

Yes, you can subscribe to the list "Ferret Talk", located at http://rubyforge.org/pipermail/ferret-talk/. If you do not want to subscribe to the list, see http://www.ruby-forum.com/forum/5 for a nice web-interface and archive to the list. You are also allowed to post there.