Install fourstore with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• 4s-admin
• 4s-backend
• 4s-backend-copy
• 4s-backend-destroy
• 4s-backend-info
• 4s-backend-passwd
• 4s-backend-setup
• 4s-boss
• 4s-cluster-copy
• 4s-cluster-create
• 4s-cluster-destroy
• 4s-cluster-file-backup
• 4s-cluster-info
• 4s-cluster-start
• 4s-cluster-stop
• 4s-delete-model
• 4s-dump
• 4s-file-backup
• 4s-httpd
• 4s-import
• 4s-info
• 4s-query
• 4s-restore
• 4s-size
• 4s-ssh-all
• 4s-ssh-all-parallel
• 4s-update

Project history

The project was designed by Steve Harris and developed at Garlik to support Semantic Web applications. The README says it had already served as Garlik's base platform for about three years, including databases of about 15GT and a web application used by thousands of people.

The public GitHub repository dates to 2009 and uses the 4store name for a suite of administrative, backend, import, HTTP, query, dump, restore, and cluster tools. Its changelog shows continued maintenance through the 1.1.x line, including SPARQL Update, RDF 1.1 bNode skolemisation, clustering/admin changes, HTTP output formats, and portability fixes.

Adoption history

The strongest official adoption signal is Garlik's own use: 4store was built to underpin production Semantic Web applications before being packaged as a standalone open source database. In package-manager culture it became a compact command-line triplestore option for developers who needed RDF and SPARQL without deploying a larger semantic-web stack.

How it is used

A typical workflow creates and manages knowledge bases with tools such as 4s-backend-setup and 4s-admin, imports RDF with 4s-import, queries with 4s-query or the HTTP daemon, and uses dump, restore, backup, and cluster commands for operations.

The README documents Raptor and Rasqal as RDF/SPARQL prerequisites, and notes operational details such as the store directory under /var/lib/4store and /etc/4s-cluster for clustered frontends.

Why package nerds care

4store is package-nerd interesting because it is a C-era Unixy semantic-web database delivered as many small executables rather than a single monolithic service. It exposes the operational vocabulary of RDF stores directly: import, query, update, dump, cluster copy, cluster start/stop, and HTTP serving.

It also captures a historical moment when RDF/SPARQL infrastructure was commonly distributed through native package managers and built against libraries such as Raptor and Rasqal.

Timeline

• 2009: Public GitHub repository was created.
• v1.1.3: lib4store allowed C programs to connect to 4store backends directly.
• v1.1.5: Added features including non-MDNS administration, RDF 1.1 bNode skolemisation, SPARQL Update, and access-control work.
• v1.1.7: README and build documentation were refreshed.

Related projects

• Raptor and Rasqal are closely related dependencies for RDF parsing and SPARQL parsing.
• 4store belongs to the same broad RDF triplestore and SPARQL database family as other semantic-web storage systems, but its official material emphasizes its own command-line and clustered backend tooling.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/4store/4store
• https://github.com/4store/4store
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/4store/4store/master/CHANGELOG.md
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/4store/4store/master/README.md