ri on sqlite

[Intransition]

What do others think of a creating a new ri tool which uses a SQLite
database for storage instead of flat files? I figure doing that would
make it easy to create dynamic documentation websites (using ones
favorite web framework), not to mention that the ri command line tool
should be pretty fast.

 

[Brian Candler]

Have you looked at fastri?

Don't know how it works internally, but it's a lot faster than the 1.8
ri.

 

[Gavin Sinclair]

What do others think of a creating a new ri tool which uses a SQLite
database for storage instead of flat files? I figure doing that would
make it easy to create dynamic documentation websites (using ones
favorite web framework), not to mention that the ri command line tool
should be pretty fast.

I've thought of it many times, but would never personally undertake
such a project.

In addition to hoped-for speed, the motivating factor for me would be
deeper documentation knowledge.

For instance, if you do 'ri String' now, you are told about all String
methods from any library you have installed, as if they were all
available all the time. You're not told what you have to "require" to
get access to the various methods.

ri's knowledge is static and shallow; the potential exists for it to
be dynamic and deep. Or something.

I haven't really looked at or used ri for some time now, so apologies
if my comments are outdated.

Gavin