> > Lester, let's assume we have this full-text feature. How do you
> > want to use it? Please sketch some queries.
>
> I did at the start :)

Nope, you didn't.

> > The idea is that one should be able to search for 'CAINE' and
> > match all the 'CAIN', 'KANE', 'CANE', 'KINE' equivalents, and then
> > search on 'BIRTH' or 'ISLE OF MAN' to further restrict the result
> >set.

This can be easily satisfied with a UDF that computes the SOUNDEX
code. Full-text search is primarily about phrases. So, if we take your
description as requirement - we don't need full-text search.

> I have an assortment of databases and documents forming the results
> of searching for family history information. Ideally the whole lot
> needs to be massaged into a consistent database with links to each
> piece of source information relating to each 'person' record, but
> just searching the data is a start.

What prevents you from creating a specific database and use Lucene in
parallel to your database? If I understand your requirements
correctly, you do not really need an integration of full-text search
and SQL (which I assume should be used to specify queries).


Roman