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<!DOCTYPE chapter SYSTEM "chapter.dtd">
<chapter>
<header>
<copyright>
<year>2006</year><year>2009</year>
<holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
</copyright>
<legalnotice>
The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
under the License.
</legalnotice>
<title>Kernel Release Notes History</title>
<prepared></prepared>
<docno></docno>
<date></date>
<rev></rev>
</header>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.10</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Added documentation of configuration parameter
<c>net_setuptime</c>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5117 Aux Id: seq8908</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>The <c>disk_log</c> module has been slightly changed for
the purpose of reducing the risk of memory problems due
to corrupt files. The <c>chunk</c> commands have been
optimized by increasing the chunk size from 8 kilobytes
to 64 kilobytes.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4530 Aux Id: seq7646</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>The code server used <c>prim_file</c> for its file
operations. This made it impossible to load code from a
boot server. Now the code server uses <c>erl_prim_loader</c>
for these operations instead.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4819 Aux Id: OTP-4802, OTP-4846</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>New functions - <c>rpc:call/5</c> and
<c>rpc:block_call/5</c>. They have a timeout argument! See
the documentation for details.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4849 Aux Id: seq8250</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>A new environment parameter <c>browser_cmd</c> has been
introduced which defines how to display help text (HTML
files).</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4852</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>The system configuration file <c>sys.config</c> can now
contain names of other configuration files as well as
application configuration data.</p>
<p>Thus, it is now possible to have several configuration
files in connection with release handling. See
<c>config(4)</c> and <em>OTP Design Principles</em> for
more information.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4867 Aux Id: OTP-1968</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>It is now possible to compile files with <c>erlc</c> without
getting a lot of (for compilation) unnecessary code
loaded and executed (like distribution, inet config,
etc). <c>erlc</c> now also calls <c>erl</c> with <c>-boot start_clean</c> (so that SASL is not started even if
<c>start_sasl</c> is default boot script).</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4878</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>Disk logs can now be opened or closed in parallel. In
particular, if some log is being repaired, other logs can
still be opened or closed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4913</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>Native lookup (system calls) is now default resolver
method on all platforms. Also the user inet configuration
method has changed so that a Kernel variable, <c>inetrc</c>,
should now be used to specify the name of the user inet
config file (if it exists). This is all documented in the
ERTS User's Guide.</p>
<p>*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4983</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>Previously missing documentation of
<c>erlang:system_info/1</c> and <c>erlang:system_flag/2</c>
have been added.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5038 Aux Id: seq8708</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.6.8</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>The code server now caches <c>.app</c> files as well as
<c>.beam</c> files. Application controller calls
the function <c>code:where_is_file/1</c> to locate
the cached <c>.app</c> file so that <c>file:consult/1</c>
may be used instead of <c>file:path_consult/2</c> to read
the file. This is much more efficient.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5097 Aux Id: seq8956</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.6.7</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Improved setup of connection between nodes to avoid that
some nodes get lower priority (and thus times out) when
many nodes are connected simultaneously.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5116 Aux Id: seq8908</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>There is now a packet size limit option for <c>gen_tcp</c>
sockets. See the manual for <c>inet:setopts/2</c>.</p>
<p>The ASN.1 BER packet decoding for <c>gen_tcp</c> sockets
can now decode indefinite length packets.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5128</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.6.6</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>A helper for <c>global</c> would terminate if it received
unknown types of messages, causing <c>global</c> to
terminate too. Changed so that the helper process logs and
ignore strange messages.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5078 Aux Id: seq_8839</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>The ability to set system wide options for TCP sockets is
added through the Kernel application variables
<c>inet_default_listen_options</c> and
<c>inet_default_connect_options</c>, see the <c>inet</c>
manual page for details.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5080</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.6.5</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Fixed error that made code server crash if invalid
directories were added to the path.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5070 Aux Id: OTP-5060, EABln14115</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.6.4</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Speed improvements in <c>code:add_path(s)[az]/1</c> when
the cache is activated.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5060 Aux Id: seq8315, EABln14115</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.6.2</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Remote spawn on a nonreachable node now gives warning
instead of error in the error_log.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5030 Aux Id: seq8663]</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.6.1</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>An error that made the code server ignore version numbers
on <c>lib</c> directories has been corrected.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5020</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.5</title>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>A possibility to make distribution messages be queued up
during running of Erlang code, so that larger packages is
sent over the network is added.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4916</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>When code loading failed it was impossible to know
exactly what caused it, only <c>{undef,[{M,F,A}|...]}</c>
would be reported. Now the primitive loader lets the
<c>error_logger</c> print an error report if a file
operation fails. All file errors except <c>enoent</c> and
<c>enotdir</c> are reported this way.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4925 Aux Id: OTP-4952</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.4</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Bugs have been fixed in the <c>disk_log</c> module: if
<c>reopen</c> failed to rename a file, a message could
erroneously be sent to the client; if requests were
queued while a log was blocked, no replies were sent to
the blocked processes should the log be closed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4880 Aux Id: seq7902</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>In rare cases, the <c>global</c> name registration could
hang during simultaneous startup of several nodes, due to a
cyclic deadlock in the <c>global:loop_the_locker</c>
processes.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4902 Aux Id: seq8275</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>The Kernel variable <c>net_setuptime</c> can now be defined
in fractions of seconds (using a floating point number).</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4915</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.3</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>The driver for dynamically linked in drivers has been
fixed to delete loaded drivers when its Erlang server
dies. The Erlang server has also been updated to improve
the start-on-demand behaviour.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4876 Aux Id: OTP-4855 seq8272</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section>
<title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>Starting Erlang with the <c>+Bi</c> flag (to ignore ^C), now
also disables the quit ('q') option in the JCL menu.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4897</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>A STDLIB application variable, <c>shell_esc</c>, has been
introduced that controls the behaviour of ^G. If
<c>shell_esc</c> is set to <c>abort</c>, ^G restarts the
shell. If set to <c>jcl</c>, ^G invokes the JCL menu. The
latter is default.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4898 Aux Id: OTP-4897</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.2</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>The boot server had become broken. Now it works again.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4846 Aux Id: OTP-4802, OTP-4819</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>When loading a dynamically linked in driver through
<c>erl_ddll</c>, the server <c>ddll_server</c> that held
the port for the driver handling shared libraries got
the group leader of the invoking application. Later, when
the application was terminated, it killed all processes in
its group, also the <c>ddll_server</c>, so the driver still
had some shared libraries loaded. Finally, when
the <c>ddll_server</c> was restarted it assumed that all
shared libraries its driver knew of was statically linked,
so the dynamically linked in drivers that was loaded when
<c>ddll_server</c> was killed could neither be loaded nor
unloaded. This bug has now been fixed by setting the group
leader of <c>ddll_server</c> to something harmless and more
eternal, and by unloading all remaining dynamically linked
in drivers when <c>ddll_server</c> starts. A race condition
when starting <c>ddll_server</c> has also been fixed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4855 Aux Id: OTP-4876 seq8272</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Kernel 2.9.1</title>
<section>
<title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list type="bulleted">
<item>
<p>When the emulator was started with command line arguments
<c>-run</c> or <c>-s</c> and the started code did an
uncatched <c>erlang:throw/1</c>, the emulator ignored
the throw which is rather strange. Now the init process
exits with <c>nocatch</c> as expected.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4788 Aux Id: seq8129</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>The code server could hang if invoked early in the startup.
For example if the emulator was started with <c>"-s file eval Filename"</c> and <c>Filename</c> contained a
call to <c>code:add_patha/1</c> the code server accidentally
tried to execute code in an unloaded module from inside
the code that loaded a module - hence hangup. This bug has
now been fixed.</p>
<p>Note! Starting Erlang through code loading from a remote
Erlang boot server will not work after this patch. It will
be fixed in a later patch. Rumours has it that remote boot
server code loading did not work before this patch either.
It is not a commonly used feature.</p>
<p>*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4802 Aux Id: seq8314</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
</chapter>
