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``The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
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<title>KERNEL Release Notes
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<prepared>Kenneth Lundin
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<p>This document describes the changes made to the Kernel application.
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<title>Kernel 1.3.2</title>
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<title>Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</title>
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<p><c>file:stop</c> does not hang any more.
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<p><c>net_kernel</c> could in some situations send two
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nodeup messages to the monitor processes (processes that
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have evaluated <c>net_kernel:monitor_nodes()</c>).
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<p>This problem could make <c>global</c> hang when several
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<p>Own Id:OTP-1418; OTP-1127, OTP-1412
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<p><c>net_kernel</c> did not send nodedown messages for
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allowed nodes. If net_kernel:allow(Nodes) was used, no
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nodedown messages at all were sent to monitor processes
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<p>nodedown messages are now sent for allowed nodes but are
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ignored for connection attempts from disallowed nodes.
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<p><c>application_controller</c> had sync problems in the
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takeover phase when an application was remote started.
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<p><c>application_controller</c> did sometimes report
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<c>{error,{not_started,App}}</c> even though the
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application in question has been started on another node.
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<p><c>application_controller</c> could hang due to a
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deadlock situation during startup in a distributed system.
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<title>Improvements and new features</title>
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<p>The support for dynamic loading of drivers in module <c>erl_ddll</c> is enhanced with
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reference counting of loaded drivers and automatic unloading of drivers when the "owner"
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<p>The <c>os</c> module has got 2 new functions <c>getenv/1</c> to read environment variables from the hos operating system and <c>find_executable/1,2</c> to find executable programs using a
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<p>A new function <c>application:which_application(Module)</c> which returns the
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application that <c>Module</c> belongs to.
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<title>Kernel 1.3.1</title>
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<title>Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</title>
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<p>Malformed string/list as argument to unix:cmd/1 caused entire
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<p>It was not possible to convert a non distributed system
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into a distributed system as stated in the net_kernel
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Note that this is not the recommended way to start a
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<p><c>net_adm:world/1</c> was broken on Windows NT, since it relied
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on <c>unix:cmd/1</c>.
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<p>The <c>disk_log_server</c> now clears it's state correctly
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when a disk_log process terminates.
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<title>Kernel 1.3</title>
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<title>Improvements and new features</title>
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<p><c>net_ticktime</c> is configurable through the <c>kernel</c>
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application. <c>net_ticktime</c> specifies the time within which
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a non responding node will be considered to be down.
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<p><c>-boot_var</c> flag read by <c>init</c>. This flag is used
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to set a path variable in the boot script. If applications
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will be placed under another directory than $ROOT/lib in an
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embedded system this flag can be used.
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<p>A new function for controlling execution of applications
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is added; <c>application:permit/2</c>. The function
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controls which applications are permitted to execute on
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<p>A new configuration parameter <c>permissions</c>
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specifies the default permission an application has when
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<item><p>New functions in <c>application</c>. <br>
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<c>application:load(App, Dist)</c> - set (and check!)
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distribution configuration for an application at load
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time.<br> <c>application:get_application/0,1</c> - get the
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application of a pid.
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<item><p><c>.config</c> files are now allowed to contain
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<item><p>It is now possible to specify more than one
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configuration file to <c>erl</c>, by using the command
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line flag <c>-config</c>.
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<p>The code server (module <c>code</c>) did sometimes store
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relative pathnames which could cause troubles in some cases.
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The code server is changed to always store absolute pathnames.
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<br>Aux Id: erlang/66
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<p>An elucidation regarding strings in the <c>code</c> module.
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Since the <c>1.1</c> version of the kernel application the
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<c>code</c> module always returns directory (and file) names as
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strings. See the <c>code(3)</c> manual page.
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<p>It is preferable that directory names are provided as strings
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to all functions. The possibility to provide directory names
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as atoms may be removed in future releases. Module names
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should always be given as atoms and the possibility to provide
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module names as strings may be removed in future releases.
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<item><p> <c>code:priv_dir/1</c> was very slow and is made
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much faster now. <p>Own Id: OTP-1339
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<item><p>The module <c>disk_log</c> is moved from
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<c>stdlib</c> to <c>kernel</c>, and some new functionality
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is added. <c>disk_log</c> supports wrap and halt logs,
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the size of a log is configurable, it supports different
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file formats, and it supports replicated logs.
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<p>The <c>erl_boot_server</c> is dynamically configurable.
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<p>The functions <c>add_slave/1</c>, <c>delete_slave/1</c> and
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<c>which_slaves/0</c> are added to the <c>erl_boot_server</c>.
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<item><p> New option <c>raw</c> to <c>file:open</c> and also a
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new variant of the function which takes a list of
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options. The open with an optionlist is the recommended
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way to open a file from no on.
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<p>New format for the <c>Reason</c> field when <c>{error,Reason}</c>
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is returned from functions in the <c>file</c> module. There is
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also new documentation about this in the reference manual.
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<item><p> The configuration parameter <c>os</c> is removed
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from <c>kernel.app</c>. The function <c>os:type()</c> is
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<title>Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</title>
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<p><c>net_adm:world()</c> is corrected on Windows NT.
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<p><c>file:list_dir("c:")</c> returns "No such file..." on NT
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<p>Bad call to <c>c:c/1</c> did crash the Erlang shell.
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Solved by addition of a better test that a module name is correct.
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<br>Aux Id: erlang/73
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<p>The <c>rpc:cast</c> function was synchronous when casted function
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call was performed at the current node.
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<title>Incompatibilities with Kernel 1.1.1</title>
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<p>New format for the <c>Reason</c> field when <c>{error,Reason}</c>
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is returned from functions in the <c>file</c> module.
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This is an interface change (the format of <c> Reason</c> but
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it will only break a minimal amount (if any) of old code since
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the previous format of <c>Reason</c> was more or less useless
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in match operations. There where also errors in the documentation
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and other inconsistencies with the old format.
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<p>The most likely places where old code needs to be adjusted is where the highlevel functions <c>consult</c>, <c>path_consult</c>, <c>eval</c> and <c>path_eval</c> in combination with a match for the result <c>{error,open}</c> is used.
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<title>Known bugs and problems</title>
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<title>Kernel 1.1.1</title>
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<title>Improvements and new feature</title>
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<title>Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</title>
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<p><c>application:get_env/1</c> returned <c>undefined</c>
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for all parameters during startup of an application.
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<p>When synchronization of mandatory node fails using the
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<c>sync_nodes_mandatory</c> configuration parameter , the
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node should be takendown, but it wasn't.
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<p>Manual page for file corrected.
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<p>Attempt to start an application when already running
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causes error. Now <c>application:start/1,2</c> returns
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<c>{error,{already_started,Name}}</c> if the application
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<br>Aux Id: tir-f-087, tir-d-087
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<p>Restart (<c>init:restart/0</c>) of system did not work
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after a software upgrade. Started using the now old
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<p><c>init:stop/0</c> did not work after a restart
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(<c>init:restart/0</c>).
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<title>Incompatibilities with Kernel 1.1</title>
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<title>Known bugs and problems</title>
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<title>Kernel 1.1</title>
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<title>Improvements and new feature</title>
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<p>Application configuration paramaters can be given from
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the command line (overrides the configuration file):
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<p>Load applications before start. All applications (included
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in the boot script) are loaded before the first application is
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<p>Heart uses the hardware watchdog (Solaris), see heart(3).
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<p>Added <c>error_logger:info_msg/1,2</c>.
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<p>Support for distributed applications enhanced and
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<title>Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</title>
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<p><c>net_adm:ping(Node)</c> will never return <c>pong</c>
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if this node is not allowed (<c>net_kernel:allow/1</c>) to
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connect to <c>Node</c>.
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<p><c>net_kernel:allow/1</c> handles hidden nodes.
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<title>Incompatibilities with OTP P1G</title>
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<p>A configuration file must have suffix .config. (For example,
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to use the file sys.config, erl -config ./sys is used)
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<p>Old boot scripts won't work - generate new with systools.
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<p>Added the application behaviour.
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Change in .app file: previously, <c>{start, {M, F, A}}</c>
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was specified, now <c>{mod, {M, A}}</c> should be specified,
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and <c>M:start(Type, A)</c> is called.
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<p><c>code:root_dir/0</c>, <c>code:lib_dir/0</c>,
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<c>code:compiler_dir/0</c> and <c>code:uc_dir/0</c> returns
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<p>The <c>error_handler</c> is silent, e.g. it will not write
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<c>** cannot autoload: Mod **</c> and
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<c>** undefined registered name: Name **</c> to stdout any
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<title>Known bugs and problems</title>
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lib/kernel/src/notes_history.sgml
