🚀 go-pugleaf

I am looking for pointers to both software and introductory references
to help with what I hope will be a simple task:

I've recently learned that our library is considering the acquisition
of a large collection of literary and historical texts encoded using
SGML.  I'll be hoping to cobble together an SGML->something filter,
where "something" is a format suitable for indexing and serving out the
data via WAIS.  I don't need a general solution, just something that
will work for the particular collection of texts in question (the
"Patrologia Latina" published by Chadwick-Healey.)

I, like others, have noticed that it's hard to find a low-level entry
into SGML lore.  (Hint, hint -- a FAQ file would be very useful.)  Short
of ordering the standards from ISO, is there a good place for me to
find an overview of what SGML is all about?  And can someone recommend
the SGML software I should be looking at (public-domain preferred but
commercial also considered) for a task like the one I describe above?

Please reply by mail and I'll summarize if there is interest.  Thanks.

-- Prentiss Riddle ("aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada") riddle@rice.edu
-- Unix Systems Programmer, Office of Networking and Computing Systems
-- Rice University, POB 1892, Houston, TX 77251 / Mudd 208 / 713-285-5327
-- Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer.