The newest release of Fourthought's Python 4Suite XML processing tools and 4Suite Server XML application platform includes many new features and improvements.

As Uche Ogbuji explains in his announcement, 4Suite provides support for "XML parsing, several transient and persistent DOM implementations, XPath expressions, XPointer, XSLT transforms, XLink, RDF, XInclude, XUpdate and ODMG object databases." The latest version includes improvements and simplification of the RDF API, fixes and extension to the XSLT processor and many optimizations and bug fixes.

4Suite Server features "an XML data repository, metadata management, a rules-based engine, XSLT transforms, XPath and RDF-based indexing and query, XLink resolution and many other XML services. It also provides transactions and access control features. Along with basic console and command-line management, it supports remote, cross-platform and cross-language access through CORBA, WebDAV, HTTP, FTP and other request protocols."

New features in 4Suite Server include among others the addition of RDF add and remove XSLT extensions, additional and new examples, fixing of backup/restore, normalization of namspaces.

The 4Suite and 4Suite Server software is open source, distributed under an Apache-like license.