A TaxonomyReader holds a list of categories. Each category has a serial number which we call an "ordinal", and a hierarchical "path" name:
An implementation must allow multiple readers to be active concurrently with a single writer. Readers follow so-called "point in time" semantics, i.e., a TaxonomyReader object will only see taxonomy entries which were available at the time it was created. What the writer writes is only available to (new) readers after the writer's commit() is called.
In faceted search, two separate indices are used: the main Lucene index, and the taxonomy. Because the main index refers to the categories listed in the taxonomy, it is important to open the taxonomy *after* opening the main index, and it is also necessary to reopen() the taxonomy after reopen()ing the main index.
This order is important, otherwise it would be possible for the main index to refer to a category which is not yet visible in the old snapshot of the taxonomy. Note that it is indeed fine for the the taxonomy to be opened after the main index - even a long time after. The reason is that once a category is added to the taxonomy, it can never be changed or deleted, so there is no danger that a "too new" taxonomy not being consistent with an older index. @lucene.experimental
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