RELEASE_NOTES

     RELEASE_NOTES for Ensemble version 2.00

Author: Ohad Rodeh
Last updated: 11/April/2004

RELEASE_NOTES

  This release includes a rewrite of:
  (a) all client and external API code
  (b) the IO subsysm
  (c) the iovector memory subsystem
  (d) a migration to a different cryptographic library. 

  This release is -not- backwards compatible, it does not support:
  (a) Maestro
  (b) inboard modes (C or java)
  (c) some of the more exotic stack operations
  (d) TCP mode

  This release includes a migration away from the various inboard
  modes we were supporting earlier. An inboard mode is one where user
  code, written in a language such as C or Java is linked with the
  core Ensemble code which is written in OCaml. These modes caused a
  lot of problems and were hard to support; they did not justify the
  performance gains they promised. Therefore, we do not support them
  any longer. Instead, all user-code should be written in a client
  application that connects to an Ensemble daemon through a
  socket. This release includes clients for C, Java, and .NET
  (c-sharp).

  The IO subsystem and memory management subsystem were rewritten and
  provide better performance with a cleaner code base.

  Instead of using OpenSSL this release uses the CryptoKit library
  writtenw by Xavier Leroy. CryptoKit is written in OCaml which
  simplifies a lot of the code that is needed to support it.

  From this release on, we will not support a lot of stuff that had
  been supported before. For example, Maestro. The focus is on more
  limited functionality that is better tested.

OCAML COMPILER VERSION
  We are using version 3.08 for this version. 

PORTABILITY
  This version was tested on Linux (SUSE 8.2, i386 architecture) and
  windows XP. It -should- work on any Unix system, though this has not
  been tested.