[ANN] BaseX 9.0: The Spring Edition

[=?UTF-8?Q?Christian_Gr=C3=BCn?= <christian.gruen@gmail.com>]

Dear XML aficionados,

We are very happy to announce the release of BaseX 9.0!

The new version of our XML database system and XQuery 3.1 processor
includes some great new features and a vast number of minor
improvements and optimizations. It’s both the usage of BaseX in
productive environments as well as the valuable feedback of our open
source users that make BaseX better and better, and that allow and
motivate us to keep going. Thanks to all of you!

Along with the new release, we invite you to visit our relaunched
homepage: http://basex.org/.

Java 8 is now required to run BaseX. The most prominent features of
Version 9.0 are:

 XQUERY
 - Comprehensive extensions in the internal XQuery optimizer framework
 - Dynamic hash joins rewritings of general comparisons
 - Register query jobs as persistent services
 - Process very large CSV files via the new CSV 'xquery' format
 - Update Module: higher-order functions for performing updates
 - Unified static typing, including maps, arrays and function items
 - COPYNODE: Lightweight copying of XML fragments
 - ENFORCEINDEX: Enforce rewriting for index access

 STORAGE
 - Improved database compression (short strings, whitespaces)

 WEB APPLICATIONS
 - Permissions layer: Unified definition of RESTXQ access patterns
 - RESTXQ: Full support for client- and server-side quality factors
 - REST: Run BaseX command scripts
 - Web server upgrade to Jetty 9

 REPOSITORIES
 - Combined packaging mechanism (XQuery and Java)
 - Java Packaging: Bundling of additional libraries

 DISTRIBUTIONS
 - Revised detection and configuration of BaseX home directory
 - Windows executable: better detection of Java libraries

 DBA: BASEX DATABASE ADMINISTRATION
 - Improved editing and evaluation of XQuery modules
 - Revised file, session and job management

More details can be found on our homepage. We are looking forward to
your feedback.

Enjoy and have fun,
Christian, BaseX Team