Release plans, July 31, 2003

storage and querying middleware for the Semantic Web

The following message was posted on the Sesame mailinglist. It predicts the features of the upcoming Sesame development releases.

Dear Sesame-interested,

In preparation for the release of Sesame 1.0, we have set out a time line for the next releases, and identified what each release will be about. All dates mentioned are estimates.

August 13: Sesame 0.95 - the API-revision release

Main features of this release:

• Revision of the RDF model classes
  This revision will better reflect the current understanding of the RDF datamodel, including an explicit distinction between BNodes and URIs.
• Revision of the SAIL API
  The SAIL API is being revised in a number of ways, making it more usable, faster, more stable, and more generically applicable. Full details available in the Sesame-devel mailinglist archive or upon request.
• Custom inferencer
  Developed by OntoText, an inferencer that allows the user to specify his own entailment rules. This enables domain-specific inferencing, as well as partial support for OWL Lite.
• RDF Model Theory Inferencer for in-memory Sail
• Implementation of database query-forwarding in RDBMS Sail
  Query forwarding allows significant performance gains in query evaluation. Significant meaning anything between 100%-400%.
• Removal of deprecated SQL92Sail from codebase
  Since release 0.8 the SQL92Sail has been made obsolete by the RDBMS Sail. The SQL92Sail code will be removed from Sesame.

August 20: RIO - Sesame Parser Release

RIO (RDF I/O) is Sesame's own RDF parser/writer package. Since release 0.7 this has already been the default parser, and now we are releasing it as a seperate software package to be used independently of Sesame.

September 10: Sesame 0.96 - the SeRQL release

Main features of this release:

• SeRQL: optional path expressions
  With optional path expressions it becomes possible to query for property values that may not always have a defined value for certain instances.
• SeRQL: RDF Schema support
  Several RDF Schema primitives will be explicitly supported by functions.
• SeRQL: several improvements in expressiveness and syntax: nested queries and RDF syntax for queries.

October 1: Sesame 0.97 - the integration release

• Revision of the communication protocols
• Client API that is transparent w.r.t. the protocol being used
  The revised client API will allow transparent access to Sesame from client code. Developers can easily switch between HTTP, SOAP, RMI, or direct use of Sesame as a library. The API will also be more expressive, allowing direct access to SAIL methods.
• Extended functionality for in-memory RDF model manipulation
• Finalized user & developer documentation

October 10-30: Sesame 1.0 RC1..n

• Extensive testing and bugfixing

October 30: Sesame 1.0

• All APIs stable

As always, we welcome your comments and/or questions.
Jeen