README.md
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# Alfresco Bulk Import Tool
[](https://travis-ci.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import)
[](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/releases)
[](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/issues)
[](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/blob/master/LICENSE)
[](https://www.codacy.com/app/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import)
[](https://codeclimate.com/github/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import)
[](http://githubstats.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import)
[](https://www.openhub.net/p/alfresco-bulk-import)
## What Is It?
A high performance bulk import tool for the open source [Alfresco Document
Management System](http://www.alfresco.org/).
"'High Performance', you say?"
Why yes. Alfresco's built-in mechanisms for moving large amounts of content into the repository (the various [file-server protocols](http://docs.alfresco.com/5.0/concepts/protocols-about.html), the venerable [ACP mechanism](http://docs.alfresco.com/3.4/concepts/acp-files.html), the mind-bogglingly inefficient [CMIS standard](https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/cmis/) etc.) all suffer from a variety of limitations that make them a lot slower than the core Alfresco repository. This tool cuts out virtually all of that nonsense, attempts to maximise "mechanical sympathy" (which, for Alfresco, basically means treating your database nicely), and makes one or two large and opinionated assumptions that allows it to be a lot faster than anything else out there.
In terms of benchmarks, the old v1.x versions of the tool have regularly demonstrated sustained ingestion rates of over 500 documents per second in production environments, and in testing, the v2.x version has been shown to be up to 4X faster than 1.x (in specific circumstances, notably for streaming imports).
## Documentation
* [Installation](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/wiki/Installation)
* [Usage](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/wiki/Usage)
* [Troubleshooting Tips](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/wiki/Troubleshooting)
* [FAQ](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/wiki/FAQ)
* [All Documentation](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/wiki/Home)
## Resources
* [Mailing List](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alfresco-bulk-filesystem-import)
* [Known Issues](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/labels/bug)
Older resources (less relevant for v2.0+):
* [Project site for v1.x](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-filesystem-import)
* [Alfresco DevCon 2011 presentation](http://www.slideshare.net/alfresco/taking-your-bulk-content-ingestions-to-the-next-level)
* [Design overview from 2009](http://blogs.alfresco.com/wp/pmonks/2009/10/22/bulk-import-from-a-filesystem/)
## What's New?
* [Commit log](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/commits/master)
## Contributing
Please see [Contributing](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md).
## Attributions
* [Contributors list](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/blob/master/CONTRIBUTORS.md)
* Icon adapted from [Appzgear](http://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/arrow-pointing-down-a-container_26007) on [www.flaticon.com](http://www.flaticon.com/).
* [Contributing](https://github.com/pmonks/alfresco-bulk-import/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) file heavily inspired by the [Atom](https://github.com/atom/atom/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) project.
## Commercial Support
**This extension is not supported by [Alfresco Software Inc.](http://www.alfresco.com/)**,
although a fork of an early, pre-release version of this tool has been included in Alfresco
Enterprise since v4.0, and has (at times) been supported by [Alfresco support](http://support.alfresco.com).
Please note that the embedded fork has never been rebased against upstream, meaning that it
is ancient - equivalent to v1.0-RC1 (circa mid-2010). It also introduced a number of serious
bugs (e.g. incorrect "source striping" algorithm, no support for Alfresco clusters) that the
original edition never had. The embedded fork has also been independently measured to be
around 25% slower than the original edition available here.
**tl;dr: use of the embedded fork is STRONGLY discouraged!**
## License
Copyright Peter Monks 2007. Licensed under the [Apache 2.0 License](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html).