[Vortex] [ANN] Vortex Library 0.8.10 is available!

Francis Brosnan Blazquez francis at aspl.es
Tue Mar 7 22:44:41 CET 2006


       ###########################################
       ## Vortex Library 0.8.10 Stable Release  ##
       ###########################################

Release note
~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Advanced Software Production Line is proud to announce the Vortex
  Library 0.8.10 availability: an open source "BEEP Core" protocol
  implementation written in C, mapped into TCP/IP.

  Vortex Library is a powerful toolkit to write new application
  protocols and application over the well-defined "BEEP Core" protocol
  defined at RFC3080/RFC3081. 

  Vortex Library has been developed inside the Af-Arch project as its
  data transport layer.

  Vortex Library is a stable and robust application protocol
  development toolkit. Currently it is running under Microsoft Windows
  and GNU/Linux platforms.

  Check out the following links to get ready with Vortex Library:

    - http://vortex.aspl.es
      [Vortex Library homepage]

    - http://www.sf.net/projects/vortexlibrary
      [Sources and Win32 binaries]

    - http://fact.aspl.es
      [Af-Arch homepage where Vortex Library is being developed]

    - http://www.beepcore.org
      [BEEP Core community web site]
    
The release in short
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  A new, not planned, Vortex release have been reached. It comes
  mainly to give better support for people developing under the Win32
  platform.
 
  A new windows installer have been created to deliver Vortex Library
  into win32 platforms in the form of a SDK. It includes an already
  prepared Vortex Library with all features enabled such as TLS, SASL,
  vortex-client tool, the ongoing XML-RPC implementation, development
  headers, import libraries and all dependencies required.

  This new installer is great not only for those interested on testing
  a the library under Windows but also for those ones developing BEEP
  based applications under this platform. We hope you find it helpful!

  Several Win32 bugs where squashed on this release as well as other
  non platform specific bugs.

  A new IO abstraction layer have been added to support other APIs,
  such as epoll, for people interested on making vortex library to use
  different interfaces than socket "select" call.


Changes since 0.8.9
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* [fix] adding initial implementation for vortex client to implement
  XML-RPC invocations.

* [new] adding two new functions to get current method invocator name
  and method param numbers from a XmlRpcMethodCall object. Also added
  a function to get current params number added to a invocator
  object. API added:

   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_get_name
   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_get_num_params
   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_get_current_num_params

* [new] adding initial implementation for a marshalling function from
  object into xml representation for a invocator object. API added:
   
   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_marshall

* [fix] updating VortexXmlRpcValidateResource async handler to also
  include the channel number where the XML-RPC boot request was
  received.

* [fix] fixing a bug on vortex_channel_validate_err. It was not
  properly reading error message code and textual diagnostics.


* [new] adding a new section to the vortex library manual explaining
  how to properly implement the request/response pattern. Updated
  documentation for the function vortex_channel_set_receive_handler to
  notify about this new section added.

* [new] adding more function to the XML-RPC API:

   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_get_param_value: which allows to get
   current param name from a given method call object.
 
   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_value_get_type: which allows to get current
   method value type.

   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_value_get_as_int: which allows to get
   current integer and boolean value for a method value object.

* [fix] implemented vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_marshall to marshall a
  method call into the corresponding XML format.

* [fix] making vortex client to report fault code and fault string
  while performing XML-RPC invocations. Making also to report method
  value returned in the case the XML-RPC invocation have finished.

* [new] added support to the method call object to be not deallocable
  according to API configuration. API added:
    
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_release_after_invoke
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_must_release

* [fix] adding missing xml-rpc method value XML_RPC_DOUBLE_VALUE

* [new] adding new API to manage method response object.
    
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_new
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_free
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_get_status
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_stringify
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_get_fault_code
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_get_fault_string

* [fix] making error codes to use negative values to allow positive
  integer comparisons. Added new XML-RPC error codes:

     - XML_RPC_CHANNEL_NOT_READY
     - XML_RPC_NOT_XML_RPC_CHANNEL
     - XML_RPC_WAITING_PREVIOUS
     - XML_RPC_INVOCATION_FAILURE
     - XML_RPC_TIMEOUT_ERROR

* [new] uploading first XML-RPC implementation that is able to at
  least perform the invocation, marshall the object invocator into the
  xml-rpc and keep on waiting for its reply.

* [fix] making vortex channel close operation to keep attention to the
  connection status to avoid infinite blockings while waiting for
  remining replies that will never arrive because the connection is
  broken.

* [fix] reimplemented internal XmlRpcMethodValue representation to use
  union struct. Modified all internal source code to conform previous
  change.

* [new] added new API to create XmlRpcMethodValue objects from an
  string. Also added convenience function for method call. API added:
   
   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_value_new_from_string
   - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_create_value_from_string

* [fix] now xml-rpc implementation is able to parse incoming method
  calls into a a XmlRpcMethodCall object.

* [new] modifying XmlRpcMethodCall internal representation to include
  the channel and the message number to be used while performing a
  reply to the method call received. API added:
   
   - vortex_xml_rpc_notify_reply
   - __vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_set_reply_data
   - __vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_get_reply_data

  This allows to defer the reply rather than replying at the time the
  method call was received.

* [new] adding a new function to perform comparisons with the given
  XmlRpcMethodCall with some selected criteria. API added:
   
  - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_is

* [new] adding initial header to implement XmlRpcMethodResponse
  marshalling into XML.
  
  - vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_marshall

* [fix] updated internal frame received handler for the xml-rpc module
  to implement and initial general service dispatch invocation,
  getting its result and making a reply at the time or just returning
  if the invocation have decided to defer the reply.

* [fix] extended vortex_xml_rpc_accept_negociation function to include
  the possibility to define user space pointers that will be passed in
  to the resource validation and the service dispatch function.


* [fix] updating vortex documentation center to differentiate section
  titles inside the Vortex Library documentation.


* [new] added an abstraction IO layer to implement blocking waits in
  an abstract configurable manner. Now vortex writer and vortex reader
  will invoke vortex_io module to get access to blocking interface
  rather than calling to the default implementation based on BSD
  select. API added:

    - VortexIoCreateFdGroup [handler]
    - VortexIoDestroyFdGroup [handler]
    - VortexIoClearFdGroup [handler]
    - VortexIoWaitOnFdGroup [handler]
    - VortexIoAddToFdGroup [handler]
    - VortexIoIsSetFdGroup [handler]

    - __vortex_io_waiting_default_create [private]: default
      implementation to create a fd group descriptor.

    - __vortex_io_waiting_default_destroy [private]: default internal
      implementation to release fd set created.

    - __vortex_io_waiting_default_clear [private]: default internal
      clear implementation.

    - __vortex_io_waiting_add_to_default [private]: default internal
      add to fd set implementation.

    - __vortex_io_waiting_is_set_default [private]: default internal is
      set socket descriptor inside the fd set implementation.
    
    - vortex_io_waiting_set_create_fd_group [public] allows to set
      current create handler.

    - vortex_io_waiting_invoke_create_fd_group [private] allows to
      invoke current create handler.

    - vortex_io_waiting_set_destroy_fd_group [public] allows to set
      current destroy handler.

    - vortex_io_waiting_invoke_destroy_fd_group [private] allows to
      invoke current destroy handler.
    
    - vortex_io_waiting_set_clear_fd_group [public] allows to set
      current clear handler.

    - vortex_io_waiting_invoke_clear_fd_group [private] allows to invoke
      current clear handler.

    - vortex_io_waiting_set_add_to_fd_group [public] allows to set
      current add to handler.

    - vortex_io_waiting_invoke_add_to_fd_group [private] allows to
      invoke current add to handler.
  
    - vortex_io_waiting_set_is_set_fd_group [public] allows to set
      current is set handler.

    - vortex_io_waiting_invoke_is_set_fd_group [private] allows to
      invoke current is set handler.
  
    - vortex_io_waiting_set_wait_on_fd_group [public] allows to set
      current wait handler.

    - vortex_io_waiting_invoke_wait [private] allows to invoke current
      wait handler.

* [new] adding a new section explaining how to use new abstraction
  mechanism implemented.
  
* [fix] modified vortex reader and vortex writer to no longer perform
  a direct reference to the select based API and to use services
  provided by the vortex_io module.

* [fix] fixing typo errors inside the vortex manual.

* [fix] adding a reference to the latest documentation inside the SVN
  repository.

* [fix] fixing a race condition inside the first level invocation for
  the frame receive event.

* [fix] fixing type signature checking inside
  vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_is.  Now, the function not only checks
  for method name and method parameter number but also check type
  signature for parameters received.

* [new] adding a helper macro called REPLY_FAULT which fills the fault
  code, the fault string and return with the provided value to make
  more easy write XML-RPC services using C language.

* [new] making vortex-client to be able to parse uri style host to
  connect information.  Now vortex client is able to use the connect
  connect using uri-style scheme.

* [fix] starting to produce support to unmarshall XML-RPC replies into
  an appropriate type so the reply could be passed to upper
  levels. Currently we are stuck on making libxml to work while
  parsing XmlRpcMethodValue arguments. This library is a complete
  mess. We are spending more time on making libxml to work rather than
  working on Vortex profiles. It is time to solve this issue.

* [new] adding new API to allow getting (already unmarshalled)
  parameter values received inside method call objects
  (XmlRpcMethodCall). API added:
   
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_get_param_value_as_int
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_get_param_value_as_double
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_call_get_param_value_as_string

* [new] adding new API to create method response object
  (XmlRpcMethodResponse) by only providing the XmlRpcMethodValue that
  will contain.
  
     - vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_create

* [fix] fixing vortex_xml_rpc_method_response_marshall function, it
  was producing xml representation that weren't using <value> inside
  <param>. Making this function to also use services provided by
  __vortex_xml_rpc_parse_value, so request and response could reuse
  the same piece of code to parse value element.

* [new] adding new API to produce replies while receiving xml-rpc
  method calls:
     
     - CREATE_OK_REPLY
     - CREATE_FAULT_REPLY

* [fix] making vortex_win32.[ch] to be included on make dist command
  (previous releases) wasn't being including this file.

* [fix] making some variable declaration to be at the top of the
  function before any sentence and the vortex tls and vortex channel
  module. ANSI compilers doesn't like too much this.

* [fix] fixing a bug found on code that makes a connection to be
  blocking on windows platform: it wasn't properly setting default
  value.

* [fix] fixing a compile error inside the vortex io module (a variable
  declaration the called the same as the time).

* [fix] making fixing vortex-client "new channel" command.

* [fix] adding support for Makefile.win inside the test directory to
  compile test, not only vortex-client, but also listeners.

* [fix] fixing vortex-client tool, under some circumstances, while
  providing uri data for the host to connect to, it generates NULL
  strings that are not properly implemented by windows printf
  implementation. Ensuring that this function don't receive a NULL
  reference.

* [fix] adding the nsi definition file and the Win32 readme for Vortex
  Library package.

About Us
~~~~~~~~

  Advanced Software Production Line is leading the Af-Arch project: a
  complete framework to develop distributed application to manage
  enterprise process.

  Af-Arch project relies on Vortex Library to exchange data between
  its distributed nodes.

  Advanced Software Production Line also provides GNU/Linux support
  and consulting services on how organization can introduce GNU/Linux
  inside its process, making other platforms to interact with
  GNU/Linux.

  Contact us, using English or Spanish, to get commercial support
  and/or BEEP based development services.

  You can reach us:

       http://www.aspl.es - info at aspl.es

  We hope Vortex Library help you. Enjoy Vortex Library!
         
--
Francis Brosnan Blázquez           - francis at aspl.es
Advanced Software Production Line  - http://www.aspl.es
7th Mar 2006, Madrid (Spain)




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