Welcome to Riak.

Riak is a distributed, decentralized data storage system.

Below, you will find the "quick start" directions for setting up and
using Riak.  For more information, browse the following files:

 README:  this file
 TODO:    a list of improvements planned for Riak
 LICENSE: the license under which Riak is released
 *.sh:    various startup scripts
 riak_demo.escript:  demo for a base level of Riak functionality
 doc/
   basic-setup.txt:  slightly more detail on setting up Riak
   basic-client.txt: slightly more detail on using Riak
   architecture.txt: details about the underlying design of Riak,
                     and how this affects applications using it
   index.html:       the root of the edoc output of 'make docs'
 src/
   *.erl:            the source for Riak (it's friendly)
 config/
   *.erlenv:         example configuration files


Quick Start
---

This section assumes that you have copy of the Riak source tree at
$RIAK.  You should have created this by cloning a repo or expanding
a tarball from somewhere.

The quick start goes like this:

1. Build Riak
2. Start the Riak server
3. Connect a client and store/fetch data


1. Build Riak
-
Assuming you have a working Erlang (R13 or later) installation,
building Riak should be as simple as:

$ cd $RIAK
$ make


2. Start the Riak server - Assuming no errors were generated in the
build step, $RIAK/config/riak-demo.erlenv and replace all instances of
$RIAK with the directory in which $RIAK is installed.  For example,
change:

{riak_heart_command, "(cd $RIAK; ./start-restart.sh $RIAK/config/riak-demo.erlenv)"}.

to:

{riak_heart_command, "(cd /usr/local/riak; ./start-restart.sh /usr/local/riak/config/riak-demo.erlenv)"}.

Then start riak:

$ cd $RIAK
$ ./start-fresh.sh config/riak-demo.erlenv

The server should start, then background itself, leaving you at a
command prompt.

At this point, you can use riak_demo.escript to ensure that Riak is
functioning:

$ ./riak_demo.escript config/riak-demo.erlenv
Attempting to connect to 127.0.0.1:9000 with cookie riak_demo_cookie...
Connected successfully
Looking for pre-existing object at {riak_demo, "demo"}...
  No pre-existing object found, creating new
Storing object with new value...
  Written successfully
Fetching object at {riak_demo, "demo"}...
  Fetched successfully
  Object contained correct value
SUCCESS

If riak_demo prints no "Error: ..." messages, and instead prints
"SUCCESS", then Riak is working.


3. Connect a client
-
Assuming no errors were generated during the server start step, a
simple client interaction will look like:

$ erl -name riaktest@127.0.0.1 -pa $RIAK/ebin -setcookie riak_demo_cookie

(riaktest@127.0.0.1)1> %% connect to Riak
(riaktest@127.0.0.1)1> {ok, C} = riak:client_connect('riakdemo@127.0.0.1').
{ok,{riak_client,'riakdemo@127.0.0.1',
                 "20090722191020-riaktest@127.0.0.1-riakdemo@127.0.0.1-266664"}}

riaktest@127.0.0.1)2> %% Create a shopping list for bread at /groceries/mine
riaktest@127.0.0.1)2> O0 = riak_object:new(<<"groceries">>, <<"mine">>, ["bread"]).
{r_object,<<"groceries">>,<<"mine">>,
          [{r_content,{dict,0,16,16,8,80,48,
                            {[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...},
                            {{[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...}}},
                      ["bread"]}],
          [],
          {dict,0,16,16,8,80,48,
                {[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...},
                {{[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...}}},
          undefined}

(riaktest@127.0.0.1)3> %% store the list
(riaktest@127.0.0.1)3> C:put(O0, 1).
ok

(riaktest@127.0.0.1)4> %% retrieve the list
(riaktest@127.0.0.1)4> {ok, O1} = C:get(<<"groceries">>, <<"mine">>, 1).
{ok,{r_object,<<"groceries">>,<<"mine">>,
              [{r_content,{dict,2,16,16,8,80,48,
                                {[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...},
                                {{[],[],[],[],[],[],
                                  [["X-Riak-Last-Modified",87|...]],
                                  [],[],[],...}}},
                          ["bread"]}],
              [{"20090722191020-riaktest@127.0.0.1-riakdemo@127.0.0.1-266664",
                {1,63415509105}}],
              {dict,0,16,16,8,80,48,
                    {[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...},
                    {{[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...}}},
              undefined}}

(riaktest@127.0.0.1)5> %% extract the value
(riaktest@127.0.0.1)5> V = riak_object:get_value(O1).
["bread"]

(riaktest@127.0.0.1)6> %% add milk to the list
(riaktest@127.0.0.1)6> O2 = riak_object:update_value(O1, ["milk"|V]).
{r_object,<<"groceries">>,<<"mine">>,
          [{r_content,{dict,2,16,16,8,80,48,
                            {[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...},
                            {{[],[],[],[],[],[],
                              [["X-Riak-Last-Modified",87,101,100|...]],
                              [],[],[],[],[],...}}},
                      ["bread"]}],
          [{"20090722191020-riaktest@127.0.0.1-riakdemo@127.0.0.1-266664",
            {1,63415509105}}],
          {dict,0,16,16,8,80,48,
                {[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...},
                {{[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],...}}},
          ["milk","bread"]}

(riaktest@127.0.0.1)7> %% store the new list
(riaktest@127.0.0.1)7> C:put(O2, 1).
ok


(riaktest@127.0.0.1)8> %% find out what else is in the groceries bucket
(riaktest@127.0.0.1)8> C:list_keys(<<"groceries">>).
{ok,[<<"mine">>]}