March 23, 2001, 11:15 AM —
In previous articles, I have discussed XML's value as a data format for Linux users. I have also discussed a wide variety of Linux tools for processing XML. But the data that XML usually represents often comes in forms that need to be managed on hard storage. Luckily, XML storage techniques and products have developed as much as other aspects of XML. We lucky Linux users have a wealth of choices available to us as we prepare to manage our XML data persistently.
Just a little theory
Although I used the word "practical" in the title of this article, a little background might be useful in choosing the best tools and techniques for managing your XML databases in Linux.
There are almost as many uses of XML as there are XML users, but there are only two ways of looking at how XML documents are organized. XML's roots lie in SGML, which was originally conceived as a way of structuring documents for machine preparation and human consumption. XML has inherited much of that bias toward documents, and is often used for presentation-oriented publishing (POP). Examples include books, slide presentations, and company Websites. POP formats tend to have elements and text that flow in a flexible and free-form manner.
