Replace Java-based search engine with Postgresql full-text search

[mvl22]

Agreed to investigate this in due course following the redesign.

Useful article:
https://tanzu.vmware.com/content/blog/pg-search-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-postgresql-full-text-search

[wookey]

There is also xapian full-text search which is fast and versatile. I've only used it via Omega which just indexes the whole site by traversing the URLs, but you can connect it direct as a ruby-gem: https://github.com/gernotkogler/xapian_db, which would allow incremental update.
I don't know how that compares with using the postgres built-in text search, in terms of pros and cons, but I thought it worth bringing to your attention.

[mvl22]

which just indexes the whole site by traversing the URLs

The search has to have full permissions capability though. For instance, committee members need to be able to search for things that only they should be able to see.