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ANNOUNCE-6.10
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ANNOUNCE-6.10
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Meta-HTML 6.10 Source Release
Version 6.10 of the Meta-HTML Web Language distribution is now
available for download from:
ftp://ftp.metahtml.com/pub/GNU/metahtml-6.10.tar.gz
It should also be available from ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu, and GNU mirror
sites (see http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html).
------------------------------------------------------------
What is it?
Meta-HTML is a programming language specifically designed for working
within the World Wide Web environment. Although it is a genuine
programming language, suitable for large-scale symbolic manipulation,
it provides the most commonly wanted Web functionality as built-in
primitives, so you don't have to write them. You can find out more
about the theory of implementation in this white paper
[http://www.metahtml.org/documentation/manifesto.html].
Web pages are authored using HTML and Meta-HTML statements freely
intermixed. When a page is requested by a browser, the page is passed
through the Meta-HTML interpreter, which dynamically processes any
Meta-HTML statements to produce a final HTML page that is delivered
to the browser.
The source distribution provides several different interpreter options:
* A CGI engine which can be run by any Unix Web server,
* A FastCGI engine which can be run under FastCGI compliant servers,
* A full-featured Web server (mhttpd) with the interpreter built in,
* A standalone processor, much like Perl or Tcl, and
* An interactive debugger, with a feel similar to GDB (mdb)
------------------------------------------------------------
Major Changes in 6.10 from 5.10
* There no longer is a non-free version of Meta-HTML.
All features which were reserved for "paying" customers
have been placed under the GPL, and are available in this
release.
That's far too many to mention here, but the super highlights
are:
o ODBC database connectivity (Oracle, Sybase, etc) via
the OpenLink driver set. See http://www.openlinksw.com
for more info on the multitude of supported databases.
o Byte Compiler and Runtime Engine.
Ed Gamble Jr. has written his first pass at the byte
compiler and runtime. The byte compiler can be used
to compile functions and data, and can return speed
increases of 200 times for arithmetic functions, and
50 to 90 times for textual manipulation.
------------------------------------------------------------
Major Changes in 5.10 from 5.09
* New &attributes parameter specifier makes it easier and cleaner
to write new language features.
* Better and cleaner database support for MySQL, mSQL, and ODBC.
* New module-based interface to the Thomas Bruell's GD library.
See (image::*).
* Written from scratch flexible date parser which doesn't care
about the year 2000 (unlike GNU getdate).
* Extra support for running Meta-HTML under Apache+mod_ssl.
Not heavily documented.
* Support for Virtual Servers in mhttpd. Using the *exact* same
syntax as Apache (<VirtualServer foo.bar.com:8081>...</VirtualServer>
you can have mhttpd listen on many IP/ports, change the document
root directory on the fly dependent on the "Host:" header, and
generally manage an infinite number of servers from a single
mhttpd server.
* The session database can now be TCP based. There is a TCP server
shipped in the modules directory which can manage sessions.
This means (among other things) that you can run many Meta-HTML
servers in a "web farm" to distribute processing loads.
* Target to build an RPM under RedHat is now in place.
------------------------------------------------------------
Major Changes in 5.09 from 5.08
* The disk containing my CVS repository (which contained
detailed changelogs) died. I'm just winging the changes
here.
* Interface to "gnuplot" provides an intuitive and simple API
for dynamically creating graphs and plots of data.
* New functions for manipulating association lists, including
ALIST-PACKAGE-DELETE and ALIST-PACKAGE-NAMES.
* An annoying bug where mhttpd could dump core after serving pages
has been fixed.
* The basic-auth package has been updated, and is now part of the
standard distribution.
* Bug fixes to the SQL database interface now allow very large
numbers of records to be manipulated (the bug was a memory leak
which could cause MySQL or mSQL accesses to run out of memory).
* libserver/http.c (mhttpd_metahtml_engine): Set
mhtml::last-modification-time based on the mod time of the
document. Similar changes to pagefuncs.c:include and
require.c:require_search keep this value updated. By the
end of the page, the last modification time is correctly set
to the most recent modification time of any page that was
needed to build the current one.
------------------------------------------------------------
Major Changes in 5.08 from 5.07
* The module system has been revamped and fortified. Many new
commands are available through the use of dynamically
loaded modules, such as trigonometric math functions.
* Several new primitives, including <%%after-page-return>, <apply>,
<%%read-sexp>, and <%%function-alist>.
* New commands for direct manipulation of the contents of
association lists, including <alist-get-var>,
<alist-set-var>, etc.
* New and improved SQL examples, such as the SQL-Rolodex,
demonstrate our own tried and true methodology for building
complex Web-based SQL database backed applications.
* The SQL database command sets are now only compiled as
modules. This keeps the size of the executable down, and
has the added advantage of allowing one to "plugin" new
database modules into an existing system.
* New SQL database convenience functions, such as
<sql::standard-search-form>. Please see the documentation
for more details.
* Improvements to MDB, the Meta-HTML debugger. Documentation
can now be displayed by typing C-M-D while the cursor is
within a function call -- C-M-A displays only the argument
list, etc. These commands are also available from within
Emacs using Meta-HTML mode (implemented in elisp/mhtml.el).
* Various and sundry minor bug fixes.
* Better and more complete documentation.
------------------------------------------------------------
Major Changes in 5.07 from 5.06
* An example SQL/Meta-HTML application which demonstrates how
to create complete SQL-based Meta-HTML Web applications.
This one is a Rolodex style application.
* tagsets/sql.mhtml: New functions generate generic search forms
for specific SQL database tables.
* modfuncs.c (pf_load_module): Allow a different initialization
function to called, instead of `module_initialize'. When the
keyword argument "initfunc" is given, this overrides the default
of inhibiting initialization on some systems (linux,
solaris, etc).
* parser.c (mhtml_execute_function): New definition keyword
&unevalled causes arguments appearing to the right of it
not be evalled before assignation.
* Compensations for Apache virtual servers running the engine.
HTTP_HOST is now used to search for hostname.conf, and
hostname-engine.conf.
* Improvements to the Meta-HTML debugger, "mdb".
`list FUNCTION-NAME' finds and lists that function if defined
in a loaded file.
`break FUNCTION-NAME' sets a breakpoint at that function.
Automatic loading and saving of command-line history.
Breakpoints can be set for the start of execution of primitives,
and built-ins.
New command `apropos STRING' displays all symbols containing STRING.
* <dump-package ...> displays nicely in the debugger.
* <redirect ...> can now take an optional "target=window-spec"
argument, making it trivial to work within sites built on
complex framesets.
* New primitives, including: <neq>, <string-neq>, <unix::mkfifo>,
<dir::dirname>, <dir::read-file>, <dir::write-file> and more.
* Optional auto-encryption of session data for those sensitive
applications where the exposure of session information could
comprise users personal information. Any size key is
supported, and the server can generate a large, random one
for you.
* "configure" now works on more systems. Various libraries are
found more readily.
* Bug fixes.
------------------------------------------------------------
Meta-HTML Changes in 5.06 from 5.05
* FastCGI Engine works with the Apache Stronghold SSL Server.
* Included support for the mySQL database.
* Generic SQL database interface functions work with mSQL and mySQL.
* <base64encode> and <base64decode> both provided.
* Support for version 2.x of Eric Young's DES library.
* Automatic initialization function for libraries and <require>.
* An elusive bug in the Engine and FastCGI Engine which could
allow extra characters to appear has been fixed
* Default settings in the server initialization files assume a
greater need for security.
* Functions in the server initialization allow the setting
of the user and group id under which the server will run.
* Numerous execution enhancements resulting in easier
debugging and faster interpretation.
* Several functions have been rewritten as primitives,
including string-length and file-exists.
* Rewrite of arithmetic and relational operators, allowing any
number of arguments to be passed (e.g. <add 2 3 4 5> --> 14).
* Documentation revamped. Functions written in Meta-HTML can now
be documented at the time that you write them.
* New function declaration syntax allows keywords, optional
arguments and variable numbers of arguments. An example:
<defun hairy-fun foo &optional bar &key this that &rest args[]>
...
</defun>
might be called as follows:
<hairy-fun this=keyword foo-arg bar-arg these "are the" rest args>
resulting in the bindings:
foo --> foo-arg
bar --> bar-arg
this --> keyword
that -->
args[] --> Array of "these" "are the" "rest" "args"
-----------------------------------------------------------
Meta-HTML Changes in 5.05 from 5.04
* All reported bugs have been fixed. I'm happy to say that
there just haven't been many bugs reported!
* The server is now able to perform DNS caching -- this should
improve request response time for sites that have client name
resolution turned on (the default). It is controlled by
a variable in the server config file.
* A new set of documented array operators, including:
array-append, array-member, array-size, array-add-unique,
array-shift, array-concat, foreach, and a new "sort"
function.
* Complete support for mSQL 2.x as well as mSQL 1.x. Many
bugs were found and fixed in this code.
* Improvements to various functions, documentation for same.
Specifically, cgi-exec, sort, with-open-stream, stream-get,
page-debug, system-error-output, and debugging-output have
all improved.
* Dynamically loaded modules allow C language extensions to be
added to the running Meta-HTML interpreter. Several useful
examples are included.
* FastCGI support for all platforms now built automatically.
* Better configuration mechanism allows compilation on many
more machine/OS's than before.
* Again, more and improved documentation.
* More control over cookie manipulation and session IDs.
* The ability to include binary representations of Meta-HTML
source code directly in the compiled Engine, Server,
Debugger, and Standalone Processor. See libmhtml/bootstrap.mhtml.
------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail Addresses and URLs
Bug reports for Meta-HTML should be sent to [email protected].
Bug reports for the documentation should be sent to [email protected].
There is a user mailing list: [email protected]. You can
subscribe on the Web [http://www.metahtml.com/E-Mail/], or by
sending mail to [email protected].
The various mailing lists are gatewayed to a news group:
news://news.metahtml.com/metahtml.users
news://news.metahtml.com/metahtml.wizards
news://news.metahtml.com/metahtml.bug.metahtml
news://news.metahtml.com/metahtml.bug.manual
------------------------------------------------------------
Authors and Maintenance
Meta-HTML was designed and implemented by Brian J. Fox ([email protected]).
Meta-HTML version 5.09 is released under terms nearly identical to the
GPL. The code and utilities are maintained by Brian J. Fox and
Jarlath O'Carroll.
------------------------------------------------------------