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diff --git a/erts/doc/src/notes.xml b/erts/doc/src/notes.xml index 09950e865b..6b6a3374d1 100644 --- a/erts/doc/src/notes.xml +++ b/erts/doc/src/notes.xml @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ <chapter> <header> <copyright> - <year>2004</year><year>2010</year> + <year>2004</year><year>2011</year> <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder> </copyright> <legalnotice> @@ -30,6 +30,3020 @@ </header> <p>This document describes the changes made to the ERTS application.</p> +<section><title>Erts 5.9.1.1</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + If threads support for the runtime system had been + disabled at compile time (<c>--disable-threads</c> had + been passed to <c>configure</c>), and the <c>+A</c> + command line argument of <c>erl</c> was passed when + starting the runtime system, <seealso + marker="erl_driver#driver_system_info">driver_system_info()</seealso> + erroneously claimed that the runtime system had async + threads even though it had not.</p> + <p> + Due to this bug the file driver did not split tasks into + smaller chunks, but instead completed the whole task at + once, i.e., the scheduler got occupied with I/O for a + longer time than intended.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10059</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + A proposal for a new scheduler wakeup strategy has been + implemented. For more information see the documentation + of the <seealso marker="erl#+sws">+sws</seealso> command + line argument of <c>erl</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10033 Aux Id: Seq12025 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A switch for configuration of busy wait length for + scheduler threads has been added. For more information + see the documentation of the <seealso + marker="erl#+sbwt">+sbwt</seealso> command line argument + of <c>erl</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10044 Aux Id: Seq11976 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The extra memory barriers introduced by bug-fix OTP-9281 + were unnecessarily used also on tables without the + <c>write_concurrency</c> option enabled. This could + unnecessarily degrade performance of ETS tables without + <c>write_concurrency</c> on some hardware (e.g. PowerPC) + while not effecting performance at all on other hardware + (e.g. x86/x86_64).</p> + <p> + OTP-9281 (R14B03): ETS tables using the + <c>write_concurrency</c> option could potentially get + into an internally inconsistent state.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10048 Aux Id: OTP-9281 </p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.9.1</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p><c>erlang:system_profile</c> errorneous profiled the + profiler process when observing runnable processes. This + has been corrected. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9849</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Calling trace_info/2 asking for information about a + function that had native could could crash the run-time + system.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9886</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + reduce smp locking time range in erts_garbage_collect + (thanks to Jovi Zhang)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9912</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix typo in supervisor behaviour doc (Thanks to Ricardo + Catalinas Jim�nez)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9924</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Correct spelling of registered (Thanks to Richard + Carlsson)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9925</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + erts: Remove unused variable (Thanks to Jovi Zhang)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9926</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix bug in ETS with <c>compressed</c> option and + insertion of term containing large integers (>2G) on + 64-bit machines. Seen to cause emulator crash. (Thanks to + Diego Llarrull for excellent bug report)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9932</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Handle Linux OS where /sys/devices/system/node is only + readable by root. Fallback to /sys/devices/system/cpu for + topology info.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9978</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> When an escript ends now all printout to standard + output and standard error gets out on the terminal. This + bug has been corrected by changing the behaviour of + erlang:halt/0,1, which should fix the same problem for + other escript-like applications, i.e that data stored in + the output port driver buffers got lost when printing on + a TTY and exiting through erlang:halt/0,1. </p> + <p> The BIF:s erlang:halt/0,1 has gotten improved + semantics and there is a new BIF erlang:halt/2 to + accomplish something like the old semantics. See the + documentation. </p> + <p> Now erlang:halt/0 and erlang:halt/1 with an integer + argument will close all ports and allow all pending async + threads operations to finish before exiting the emulator. + Previously erlang:halt/0 and erlang:halt(0) would just + wait for pending async threads operations but not close + ports. And erlang:halt/1 with a non-zero integer argument + would not even wait for pending async threads operations. + </p> + <p> To roughly the old behaviour, to not wait for ports + and async threads operations when you exit the emulator, + you use erlang:halt/2 with an integer first argument and + an option list containing {flush,false} as the second + argument. Note that now is flushing not dependant of the + exit code, and you can not only flush async threads + operations which we deemed as a strange behaviour anyway. + </p> + <p>Also, erlang:halt/1,2 has gotten a new feature: If the + first argument is the atom 'abort' the emulator is + aborted producing a core dump, if the operating system so + allows. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9985</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Added check to inet driver to avoid building on operating + systems that do not yet have IPv6 compatible socket API. + (Thanks to Peer Stritzinger)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9996</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix bug when the number of CPUs actually found is lower + than the configured value. (Thanks to Benjamin + Herrenschmidt)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10004</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The runtime system without SMP support and without thread + support erroneously busy waited when no work was present. + This bug first appeared in <c>erts-5.9</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10019</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Various typographical errors corrected in documentation + for common_test, driver, erl_driver and windows + installation instructions. (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10037</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix memory leak caused by race on exiting process</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10041</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p>Add <c>erlang:statistics(scheduler_wall_time)</c> to + ensure correct determination of scheduler utilization. + Measuring scheduler utilization is strongly preferred + over CPU utilization, since CPU utilization gives very + poor indications of actual scheduler/vm usage.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9858</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + ERTS internal API improvements. In some cases the amount + of atomic read operations needed have been reduced due to + this.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9922</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The DTrace source patch from Scott Lystig Fritchie is + integrated in the source tree. Using an emulator with + dtrace probe is still not supported for production use, + but may be a valuable debugging tool. Configure with + --with-dynamic-trace=dtrace (or + --with-dynamic-trace=systemtap) to create a build with + dtrace probes enabled. See runtime_tools for + documentation and examples.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-10017</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + enif_make_copy may invalidate enif_inspect_binary.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9828</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.9.0.1</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + A feature test for the <c>lwsync</c> instruction + performed on PowerPC hardware at runtime system startup + got into an eternal loop if the instruction was not + supported. This bug was introduced in erts-5.9/OTP-R15B.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9843</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + I/O events could potentially be delayed for ever when + enabling kernel-poll on a non-SMP runtime system + executing on Solaris. When also combined with + async-threads the runtime system hung before completing + the boot phase. This bug was introduced in + erts-5.9/OTP-R15B.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9844</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.9</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + Honor option <c>packet_size</c> for http packet parsing + by both TCP socket and <c>erlang:decode_packet</c>. This + gives the ability to accept HTTP headers larger than the + default setting, but also avoid DoS attacks by accepting + lines only up to whatever length you wish to allow. For + consistency, packet type <c>line</c> also honor option + <c>packet_size</c>. (Thanks to Steve Vinoski)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9389</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> A few contracts in the <c>lists</c> module have been + corrected. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9616</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The Unicode noncharacter code points 16#FFFE and 16#FFFE + were not allowed to be encoded or decoded using the + <c>unicode</c> module or bit syntax. That was + inconsistent with the other noncharacters 16#FDD0 to + 16#FDEF that could be encoded/decoded. To resolve the + inconsistency, 16#FFFE and 16#FFFE can now be encoded and + decoded. (Thanks to Alisdair Sullivan.)</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9624</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Make epp search directory of current file first when + including another file This completes a partial fix in + R11 that only worked for include_lib(). (Thanks to + Richard Carlsson)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9645</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fixed memory leak in + <c>enif_inspect_io_list_as_binary</c> when applied on a + process independent environment.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9668</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>The number of beam catches allowed in code are no + longer statically defined and will grow according to its + need.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9692</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Add missing parenthesis in heart doc.</p> + <p> + Add missing spaces in the Reference Manual distributed + section.</p> + <p> + In the HTML version of the doc those spaces are necessary + to separate those words.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9693</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fixes module erlang doc style: option description (Thanks + to Ricardo Catalinas Jim�nez)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9697</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Specifying a scope to binary:match/3 when using multiple + searchstrings resulted in faulty return values. This is + now corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9701</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The runtime system crashed if more than one thread tried + to exit the runtime system at the same time.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9705</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix documentation for erlang:process_flag/2</p> + <p> + For the subsection about process_flag(save_calls, N) + there's an unrelated paragraph about process priorities + which was copied from the preceeding subsection regarding + process_flag(priority, Level). (Thanks to Filipe David + Manana)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9714</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Calls to <c>erlang:system_flag(schedulers_online, N)</c> + and/or <c>erlang:system_flag(multi_scheduling, + block|unblock)</c> could cause internal data used by this + functionality to get into an inconsistent state. When + this happened various problems occurred. This bug was + quite hard to trigger, so hopefully no-one has been + effected by it.</p> + <p> + A spinlock used by the run-queue management sometimes got + heavily contended. This code has now been rewritten, and + the spinlock has been removed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9727</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Use libdlpi to get physical address (Thanks to Trond + Norbye)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9818</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> An option list argument can now be passed to + <c>file:read_file_info/2, file:read_link_info/2</c> and + <c>file:write_file_info/3</c> and set time type + information in the call. Valid options are <c>{time, + local}, {time, universal}</c> and <c>{time, posix}</c>. + In the case of <c>posix</c> time no conversions are made + which makes the operation a bit faster. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-7687</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>A number of memory allocation optimizations have been + implemented. Most optimizations reduce contention caused + by synchronization between threads during allocation and + deallocation of memory. Most notably:</p> <list> <item> + Synchronization of memory management in scheduler + specific allocator instances has been rewritten to use + lock-free synchronization. </item> <item> Synchronization + of memory management in scheduler specific pre-allocators + has been rewritten to use lock-free synchronization. + </item> <item> The 'mseg_alloc' memory segment allocator + now use scheduler specific instances instead of one + instance. Apart from reducing contention this also + ensures that memory allocators always create memory + segments on the local NUMA node on a NUMA system. </item> + </list> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-7775</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The ethread atomic memory operations API used by the + runtime system has been extended and improved.</p> + <p> + The ethread library now also performs runtime tests for + presence of hardware features, such as for example SSE2 + instructions, instead of requiring this to be determined + at compile time.</p> + <p> + All uses of the old deprecated atomic API in the runtime + system have been replaced with the use of the new atomic + API. In a lot of places this change imply a relaxation of + memory barriers used.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9014</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>gen_sctp:open/0-2 may now return + {error,eprotonosupport} if SCTP is not supported</p> + <p>gen_sctp:peeloff/1 has been implemented and creates a + one-to-one socket which also are supported now</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9239</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Sendfile has been added to the file module's API. + sendfile/2 is used to read data from a file and send it + to a tcp socket using a zero copying mechanism if + available on that OS.</p> + <p> + Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz and Steve Vinovski for original + implementation</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9240</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + enif_get_reverse_list function added to nif API. This + function should be used to reverse small lists which are + deep within other structures making it impractical to do + the reverse in Erlang.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9392</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The deprecated concat_binary/1 BIF has been removed. Use + <c>list_to_binary</c> or <c>iolist_to_binary/1</c> + instead.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9421</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Erlang/OTP can now be built using parallel make if you + limit the number of jobs, for instance using '<c>make + -j6</c>' or '<c>make -j10</c>'. '<c>make -j</c>' does not + work at the moment because of some missing + dependencies.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9451</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Line number and filename information are now included + in exception backtraces as a fourth element in the MFA + tuple. The information will be pretty-printed by the + shell and used by <c>common_test</c> to provide better + indication of where a test case.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9468</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>All binary constants used to be handled as heap + binaries (i.e. the entire binary would be copied when + sent to another process). Binary constants larger than 64 + bytes are now refc binaries (i.e. the actual data in the + binary will not be copied when sent to another + process).</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9486</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + If a float and an integer is compared, the integer is + only converted to a float if the float datatype can + contain it. Otherwise the float is converted to an + integer.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9497</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Add NIF function enif_is_number</p> + <p> + This function allows for easily determining if a term + represents or not a number (integer, float, small or + big).(Thanks to Filipe David Manana)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9629</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The ERTS internal system block functionality has been + replaced by new functionality for blocking the system. + The old system block functionality had contention issues + and complexity issues. The new functionality piggy-backs + on thread progress tracking functionality needed by newly + introduced lock-free synchronization in the runtime + system. When the functionality for blocking the system + isn't used, there is more or less no overhead at all. + This since the functionality for tracking thread progress + is there and needed anyway.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9631</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + An ERTS internal, generic, many to one, lock-free queue + for communication between threads has been introduced. + The many to one scenario is very common in ERTS, so it + can be used in a lot of places in the future. Currently + it is used by scheduling of certain jobs, and the async + thread pool, but more uses are planned for the future.</p> + <p> + Drivers using the driver_async functionality are not + automatically locked to the system anymore, and can be + unloaded as any dynamically linked in driver.</p> + <p> + Scheduling of ready async jobs is now also interleaved in + between other jobs. Previously all ready async jobs were + performed at once.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9632</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Tuple funs (a two-element tuple with a module name and a + function) are now officially deprecated and will be + removed in R16. Use '<c>fun M:F/A</c>' instead. To make + you aware that your system uses tuple funs, the very + first time a tuple fun is applied, a warning will be sent + to the error logger.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9649</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Changed the internal BIF calling convention. Will make + simpler faster code and allow BIFs with an arbitrary + arity.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9662</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Windows native critical sections are now used internally + in the runtime system on Windows as mutex implementation. + This since they perform better under extreme contention + than our own implementation.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9671</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Convert some erl_nif macros into inline functions. Allow + for better compile time type checking. (Thanks to Tuncer + Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9675</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The <c>+scl</c> command line flag has been added. It can + be used for disabling compaction of scheduler load. For + more information see the <c>erl(1)</c> documentation.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9695</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>The build system has been updated so that Erlang/OTP + can be built on Mac OS X Lion systems without a GCC + compiler. The INSTALL guide has been updated with + instructions on how to install a GCC compiler and build + Erlang/OTP with it, in order to get a run-time system + with better performance.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9712</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + When loading a module, the system use to run on a single + scheduler during the entire loading process. This has + been changed to only take down the system just before + inserting the loaded code into the system tables, + resulting in a much shorter disruption if a module is + loaded in a busy system. (Suggested by Bob Ippolito.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9720</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Possible to run HiPE without floating point exceptions + (FPE). Useful on platforms that lack reliable FPE. Slower + float operations compared to HiPE with FPE.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9724</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + As of ERTS version 5.9 (OTP-R15B) the runtime system will + by default <em>not</em> bind schedulers to logical + processors.</p> + <p> + If the Erlang runtime system is the only operating system + process that binds threads to logical processors, this + improves the performance of the runtime system. However, + if other operating system processes (as for example + another Erlang runtime system) also bind threads to + logical processors, there might be a performance penalty + instead. In some cases this performance penalty might be + severe. Due to this, we change the default so that the + user must make an active decision in order to bind + schedulers.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9726</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The use of <c>erlang:system_flag(scheduler_bind_type, + _)</c> and <c>erlang:system_flag(cpu_topology, _)</c> + have been deprecated and scheduled for removal in + erts-5.10/OTP-R16. For more information see the + documentation of <c>erlang:system_flag/2</c>.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9749</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + An ancient workaround for a Windows bug was removed from + the open_port code, open_port({spawn,...}...) is now + faster. Thanks to Daniel Goertzen.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9766</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The use of deprecated 32bit time_t on 32bit Windows is + removed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9767</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The NIF <c>reload</c> mechanism is deprecated. Do not use + it as an upgrade method for live production systems. It + might be removed in future releases. It can still serve + as a development feature but a warning message will be + logged each time it is used.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9771</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>The driver interface has been changed to enable 64-bit + aware drivers. Most importantly the return types for + ErlDrvEntry callbacks 'call' and 'control' has ben + enlarged which require drivers to be changed or they will + cause emulator crashes. See <seealso + marker="erl_driver#rewrites_for_64_bits"> Rewrites for + 64-bit driver interface </seealso> in the driver manual. + </p> + <p>Due to this driver <seealso + marker="erl_driver#version_management">version + management</seealso> is now mandatory. A driver that is + not written with version management or a driver that was + compiled with the wrong major version will be not be + loaded by the emulator.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9795</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Eliminate use of deprecated regexp module</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9810</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.5</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + Several bugs concerning constant binary constructions + such as <<0:4294967295>> have been corrected. + Depending on the actual size of the binary and the type + of run-time system (32-bit, halfword, 64-bit), such + expression could either crash the run-time system or make + the loader refuse loading of the module.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9284</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The Erlsrv utility failed to stop the erlang machine if + no StopAction was defined when the service was stopped. + This is now corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9344</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Due to a bug in glibc the runtime system could abort + while trying to destroy a mutex. A fix for this was + introduced in R14B02. This fix did, however, not solve + the problem. The runtime system will now issue a warning + instead of aborting.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9373 Aux Id: OTP-9009 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Replace atom in DRV macro in prim_file with string</p> + <p> + An experimental version of Dialyzer discovered that the + atom that replaced the DRV macro in prim_file ends up in + calls to erlang:open_port({spawn, Driver}, Portopts) as + the Driver argument. The documentation states that this + call requires a string there.</p> + <p> + This change is also consistent with the one introduced in + commit 0f03b1e9d2bef3bc830c31a369261af4c5234727 by Kostis + Sagonas.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9377</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix typos in the epmd documentation (Thanks to Holger + Wei� )</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9387</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix faulty integer terms created by NIF API from 64-bit + integers on halfword emulator. (Thanks to Paolo Negri and + Paul Davis)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9394</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix <c>epmd</c> crash on vxworks caused by faulty + argument to select() system call.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9427 Aux Id: seq11855 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The ets:test_ms function could in rare cases truncate the + error messages. This is now corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9435</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix bug related to hibernate and HiPE (clear + F_HIBERNATE_SCHED flag)</p> + <p> + F_HIBERNATE_SCHED flag that was introduced in + b7ecdcd1ae9e11b8f75e must be cleared in hipe_mode_switch + as well. Otherwise, processes running HiPE code that + hibernate, wake up and then trap into a BIF will not be + rescheduled.(Thanks to Paul Guyot)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9452</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix bug in FreeBSD topology detection code (Thanks to + Paul Guyot)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9453</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix use of logical operator && with constant + operand instead of bitwise & (Thanks to Cristian + Greco)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9454</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + inet: error if fd does not match socket domain</p> + <p> + If an IPv4 fd is opened as an IPv6 socket, unexpected + behaviour can occur. For example, if an IPv4 UDP socket + is opened and passed into Erlang as an IPv6 socket, the + first 3 bytes (corresponding to 1 byte representing the + protocol family, 2 bytes set to the port) are stripped + from the payload. The cause of the UDP payload truncation + happens in inet_drv.c:packet_inet_input when a call to + inet_get_address fails silently because the family is set + to PF_INET6 but the buffer len is the size of an IPv4 + struct sockaddr_in.</p> + <p> + (Thanks to Andrew Tunnell-Jones for finding the bug and + the test case!)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9455</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + erts: use a union to avoid strict aliasing issues</p> + <p> + Use a union for pointer type conversion to avoid compiler + warnings about strict-aliasing violations with gcc-4.1. + gcc >= 4.2 does not emit the warning. erts: adapt + matrix_nif to R14 erl_nif API changes (Thanks To Tuncer + Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9487</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + fix 64-bit issues in the garbage collection (Thanks to + Richard Carlsson)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9488</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + epmd: fix compiler warnings</p> + <p> + Suppress compiler warnings about ignored return values. + (Thanks to Michael Santos )</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9500</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix non-existing function (erlang:disconnect/1) in + distributed reference manual (Thanks to Fabian Kr�l)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9504</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Document fdatasync -lrt requirement (SunOS <= 5.10) + (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9512</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Let epmd ignore empty ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS</p> + <p> + If the environment variable ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS is set to + the empty string, empd now behaves like it does by + default when ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS is unset. That is, in this + case, epmd now listens on all available interfaces + instead of using only the loopback interface, which + happened because epmd added the loopback address to the + (in this case empty) list of addresses specified via + ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS.</p> + <p> + Also, epmd now ignores ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS if it contains + only separator characters (comma and space).</p> + <p> + The same applies to epmd's -address option.(Thanks to + Holger Wei�)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9525</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Remove dead code in erl_compile (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9527</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Add erlang:external_size/2 BIF</p> + <p> + This BIF's second parameter is a list of options. + Currently the only allowed option is {minor_version, + Version} where version is either 0 (default) or 1. + (Thanks to Filipe David Manana )</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9528</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix enif_compare on 64bits machines</p> + <p> + In 64bits machines the Sint type has a size of 8 bytes, + while on 32bits machines it has a 4 bytes size. + enif_compare was ignoring this and therefore returning + incorrect values when the result of the CMP function + (which returns a Sint value) doesn't fit in 4 bytes. + (Thanks to Filipe David Manana)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9533</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Implement or fix -Werror option</p> + <p> + If -Werror is enabled and there are warnings no output + file is written. Also make sure that error/warning + reporting is consistent. (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9536</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>In some rare cases we did not have a run queue when + scheduling misc ops. This is now fixed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9537</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Remove misc. compiler warnings</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9542</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Two bugs in gen_sctp has been corrected: getopts/setopts + hence also send could only be called from socket owner, + and options 'linger', 'rcvbuf' and 'sndbuf' was read from + wrong protocol layer hence read wrong values by getopts.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9544</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Erlang/OTP can now be built on MacOS X Lion.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9547</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> XML files have been corrected. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9550 Aux Id: OTP-9541 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix potential errors inspired by running cppcheck(1) + (Thanks to Christian von Roques)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9557</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>When auxiliary work was enqueued on a scheduler, the + wakeup of the scheduler in order to handle this work + could be lost. Wakeups in order to handle ordinary work + were not effected by this bug. The bug only effected + runtime systems with SMP support as follows:</p> <list> + <item>Deallocation of some ETS data structures could be + delayed.</item> <item>On Linux systems not using the NPTL + thread library (typically ancient systems with kernel + versions prior to 2.6) and Windows systems, the <c>{Port, + {exit_status, Status}}</c> message from a terminating + port program could be delayed. That is, it only effected + port programs which had been started by passing + <c>exit_status</c> as an option to + <c>open_port/2</c>.</item> </list> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9567</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Handle rare race in the crypto key server functionality</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9586</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> Types and specifications have been added. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9356</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + New allocator strategy "address order first fit". May + ease the emptying of memory carriers and thereby real + release of memory back to the OS.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9424</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The new <c>erlang:check_old_code/1</c> BIF checks whether + a module has old code.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9495</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> Update documentation and specifications of some of + the zlib functions. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9506</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Detect the available CPUs on IRIX</p> + <p> + Add support for querying the number of configured and + online processors on SGI systems running IRIX.(Thanks to + Holger Wei�)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9531</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.4</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p>Fix binary and iolist overflow problems. Typically + problems arose in length calculation where the result + would exceed (1 bsl 32 - 1).</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9118</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Using the old erlang shell (i.e. erl instead on werl) on + windows and doing several init:restart's would eventually + hang the VM. That is no longer the case.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9139</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Removed recursive C code when printing Erlang terms to + buffers, avoiding stack overflows that could cause VM to + crash.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9140</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The send_timeout option in gen_tcp did not work properly + in active mode or with {active,once} options. This is now + corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9145</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fixed various typos across the documentation (Thanks to + Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9154</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Remove duplicate stack entries which could occur after + calling certain BIFs.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9163</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A race when starting two nodes simultaneously using + run_erl has been removed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9164</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Add documentation on .erlang processing back again + (Thanks to Gabor Liptak)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9189</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Remove gratuitous paren in driver_entry(Thanks to Tuncer + Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9192</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix some wrong pointer dereferences (Thanks to Cristian + Greco)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9194</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + erts: Remove unused variables (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9205</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The documentation for <c>init:get_args/0</c> has been + removed. <c>init:get_args/0</c> itself was deprecated in + R9C and removed in R12B. (Thanks to Eric Pailleau.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9209</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Allow user to specify the IP address epmd binds to</p> + <p> + The IP address(es) epmd binds to can now be specified by + the user, either via epmd's new "-address" option or (if + that's not used) by setting the environment variable + ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS. Multiple addresses may be specified + using a comma-separated list. If the loopback address is + not in this list, it will be added implicitly, so that + the daemon can be queried by an interactive epmd + process.(Thanks to Holger Wei�)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9213</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + epmd: include host address in local access check</p> + <p> + In FreeBSD jails, the source and destination address of + connections to localhost are changed to be the IP address + of the jail. Consider connections from the host's IP + address to itself (e.g., the source and destination + address match) to be local for the access control checks. + (Thanks to Michal Santos and Tom at diogunix.com)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9214</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix list returned by net_kernel:epmd_module</p> + <p> + Function epmd_module of net_kernel returns a list instead + of an atom, when the epmd_module-flag is used. (Thanks to + Markus Knofe)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9215</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix epmd's dbg_perror() output</p> + <p> + The dbg_perror() function now hands the current errno + value over to dbg_gen_printf(). This fixes the problem + that errno had been reset to zero by the time it was used + (to print the corresponding error message) in the + dbg_gen_printf() function. (Thanks to Holger Wei�)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9223</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + heart: remove garbage appended to heart command</p> + <p> + heart:get_cmd/0 is documented to return an empty string + if the command is cleared. get_cmd/0 returns 2 extra + bytes: 1 byte for the trailing null, 1 byte from the op + (the op is an unsigned char and 2 bytes are allocated for + it in the returned buffer). (Thanks to Michael Santos)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9224</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + file: fix hang reading compressed files</p> + <p> + The gzio driver goes into an infinite loop when reading + past the end of a compressed file. Reported-By: Alex + Morarash (Thanks to Michael Santos)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9245</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Eliminate alias warnings from gcc 4.5.2</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9250</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Unsigned integer may overflow in error message (Thanks to + Michael Santos)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9251</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Driver names should be strings, not atoms</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9253</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + driver_entry: Remove gratuitous paren and fix typo + (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9254</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix format specifiers in erl_exit messages</p> + <p> + Fix an error message by using an unsigned integer + specifier as seen in a tweet by @metabrew: #erlang VM + crashed with "no next heap size found: -2090496108, + offset 0", suddenly allocated all available RAM</p> + <p> + Also correct mis-typed string formats in bif.c.(Thanks to + Michael Santos)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9262</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + net_drv: remove unused tcp request id inet_drv: remove + gratuitous assignment (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9263</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Teach run_erl RUN_ERL_DISABLE_FLOWCNTRL for disabling + flow control</p> + <p> + Flow control can cause unwanted behaviour of the beam + process, if accidentally hit Ctrl-S (instead of Ctrl-D to + detach) the entire beam may be blocked.</p> + <p> + Fix this problem by making it possible to turn off flow + control by setting the environment variable + RUN_ERL_DISABLE_FLOWCNTRL. (Thanks to Jonas Faklkevik)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9270</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>The following bugs due to missing memory barriers have + been fixed:</p> <list> <item><p> ETS tables using the + <c>write_concurrency</c> option could potentially get + into an internally inconsistent state. </p></item> + <item><p> ETS tables using the <c>ordered_set</c> option + could potentially get into an internally inconsistent + state. </p></item> <item><p> A number of memory barriers + have been added when building with the + <c>libatomic_ops</c> API (i.e. when passing + <c>--with-libatomic_ops=PATH</c> to <c>configure</c>) and + the tilera atomics API (i.e. when building for the tilera + chip). Note that these bugs were due to erroneous usage + of the APIs, and not in the implementations of the APIs. + When using these APIs the following bugs where + present:</p> <list> <item><p> The BIF + <c>erlang:ports/0</c> could return an erroneous result. + </p></item> <item><p> A thread blocking other threads + during code loading, or setup of tracing could + potentially read invalid data. </p></item> <item><p> + Fixation of ETS tables could potentially get into an + internally inconsistent state. </p></item> </list> + </item> </list> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9281</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix halfword bug for ETS ordered_set when doing + <c>select/match</c> with partly bound key.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9292</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix bug in <c>code:is_module_native</c> that caused crash + for deleted modules.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9298</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Calling <c>driver_async_cancel()</c> could cause a + scheduler thread to enter an eternal loop doing no useful + work. (Thanks to Anders Ramsell)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9302</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + New <c>enif_is_exception function</c> to allow NIFs to + determine whether an <c>ERL_NIF_TERM</c> represents an + exception. (Thanks to Steve Vinoski)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9150</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A process being garbage collected by another process + could be scheduled on another scheduler. This prevented + this scheduler from doing any useful work until the + garbage collection was done. This either occurred due to + a explicit call to the <c>garbage_collect/1</c> BIF, or + due to a garbage collection part of code loading. A + process being garbage collected like this will now not be + scheduled until the garbage collection has completed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9211</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Remove unnecessary validation copy in + prim_file:drv_command/3 (Thanks to Tony Rogvall)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9276</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Symbolic link handling on windows have been slightly + updated to map error conditions more consequently and + correctly read directory links created outside of the + Erlang environment.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9279</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Due to standard library DLL mismatches between versions + of OpenSSL and Erlang/OTP, OpenSSL is now linked + statically to the crypto driver on Windows. This fixes + problems starting crypto when running Erlang as a service + on all Windows versions.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9280</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Halfword emulator memory handling improvements:</p> + <list> <item><p>Much more of internal memory structures + have been made able to use "high" memory and are no + longer restricted to the 4Gb limit that still applies for + all process heap data.</p> </item> <item><p>Fixed faulty + values from <c>erlang:memory()</c> caused by 32-bit + counter overflow.</p> </item> <item><p>New counter + <c>low</c> in <c>erlang:memory()</c> that sums up all + memory restricted by 4Gb limit.</p> </item> </list> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9291 Aux Id: seq11841 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The value set in the undocumented and unsupported + ERL_version_FLAGS (e.g. ERL_R14B03_FLAGS) environment + variable can now be overridden by the command line + (similar to ERL_AFLAGS).</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9297</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.3.2</title> + + <section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + Fix halfword emulator bug in <c>ets:select_delete</c> for + <c>ordered_set</c> that caused emulator to crash.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9258 Aux Id: seq11836 </p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.3.1</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + Ets table type ordered_set could order large integer keys + wrongly on pure 64bit platforms. This is now corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9181</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The status of a process was unnecessarily set to waiting + before a process was enqueued in a run queue. This bug + was harmless up until OTP-R14B01. In OTP-R14B02 + <c>erlang:hibernate/3</c> was fixed (OTP-9125). After the + introduction of OTP-9125, the previously harmless process + status bug sometimes caused erroneous badarg exceptions + from <c>process_info()</c>.</p> + <p> + OTP-9125 also introduced a thread unsafe access to the + status field of a process which now also have been fixed.</p> + <p> + *** INCOMPATIBILITY with noxs ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9197</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.3</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + The scroll wheel now scrolls the werl window on Windows.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8985</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Some malformed distribution messages could cause VM to + crash, this is now corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8993</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The OS function getifaddrs() can return NULL in some + address fields for e.g PPP and tunnel devices which + caused the emulator to segfault. This bug has now been + corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8996</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The expression <<A:0>> would always produce + an empty binary, even if <c>A</c> was not an integer. + Corrected to cause a <c>badarg</c> exception if the type + of <c>A</c> is invalid. (Thanks to Zvi.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8997</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A bug that potentially could cause an emulator crash when + deleting an ETS-table has been fixed. A resource leak + when hitting the maximum amount of ETS-tables allowed has + also been fixed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8999</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A bug in the <c>exit/2</c> BIF could potentially cause an + emulator crash.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9005</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Due to a bug in glibc the runtime system could abort + while trying to destroy a mutex. The runtime system will + now issue a warning instead of aborting.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9009</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A bug in epmd could create strange behaviour when + listen() calls failed. This is now corrected thanks to + Steve Vinoski.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9024</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>When setting file_info the win32_driver will now + correctly set access and modified time. Previously these + entities were swapped.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9046</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Setting scheduler bind type to <c>unbound</c> failed if + binding of schedulers wasn't supported, or if CPU + topology wasn't present. This even though the + documentation stated that it is possible to set the bind + type to <c>unbound</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9056 Aux Id: Seq11779 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Two problems were fixed in crash dump: The time left + for timers are now shown as unsigned integers and the + contents of ordered_set ETS tables is no longer + included.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9057</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The VM could fail to set IP_TOS and SO_PRIORITY in + certain situations, either because sockets were supplied + as open file descriptors, or because SO_PRIORITY by + default was set higher than the user can explicitly set + it to. Those situations are now handled.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9069</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Wx on MacOS X generated complains on stderr about certain + cocoa functions not beeing called from the "Main thread". + This is now corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9081</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix a couple typos in driver_entry(3) (thanks to Tuncer + Ayaz).</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9085</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Mention that "-detached" implies "-noinput"</p> + <p> + Clarify that specifying "-noinput" is unnecessary if the + "-detached" flag is given. (thanks to Holger Wei�)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9086</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A potential problem (found by code inspection) when + calling a fun whose code was not loaded has been fixed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9095</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The emulator could get into a state where it didn't check + for I/O.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9105 Aux Id: Seq11798 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Attempting to create binaries exceeding 2Gb (using for + example <c>term_to_binary/1</c>) would crash the emulator + with an attempt to allocate huge amounts of memory. + (Thanks to Jon Meredith.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9117</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix erlang:hibernate/3 on HiPE enabled emulator (Thanks + to Paul Guyot)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9125</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p>From this release, the previously experimental + halfword emulator is now official. It can be enabled by + giving the <c>--enable-halfword-emulator</c> option to + the <c>configure</c> script.</p> + <p>The halfword emulator is a 64-bit application, but + uses halfwords (32-bit words) for all data in Erlang + processes, therefore using less memory and being faster + than the standard 64-bit emulator. The total size of all + BEAM code and all process data for all processes is + limited to 4Gb, but ETS tables and off-heap binaries are + only limited by the amount of available memory.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8941</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + 32-bit atomic memory operations have been introduced + internally in the run time system, and are now used where + appropriate. There were previously only atomic memory + operations of word size available. The 32-bit atomic + memory operations slightly reduce memory consumption, and + slightly improve performance on 64-bit runtime systems.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8974</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Performance enhancements for looking up timer-entries and + removing timers from the wheel.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8990</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Write accesses to ETS tables have been optimized by + reducing the amount of atomic memory operations needed + during a write access.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9000</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Strange C coding in the VM made the -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE + option to gcc-4.5 react badly. The code is now cleaned up + so that it's accepted by gcc-4.5.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9025</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The memory footprint for loaded code has been somewhat + reduced (especially in the 64-bit BEAM machine).</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9030</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The maximum number of allowed arguments for an Erlang + function has been lowered from 256 to 255, so that the + number of arguments can now fit in a byte.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9049</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Dependency generation for Makefiles has been added to the + compiler and erlc. See the manual pages for + <c>compile</c> and <c>erlc</c>. (Thanks to Jean-Sebastien + Pedron.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-9065</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.2</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> Fix format_man_pages so it handles all man sections + and remove warnings/errors in various man pages. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8600</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The <c>configure</c> command line argument <seealso + marker="doc/installation_guide:INSTALL#How-to-Build-and-Install-ErlangOTP_A-Closer-Look-at-the-individual-Steps_Configuring">--enable-ethread-pre-pentium4-compatibility</seealso> + had no effect. This option is now also automatically + enabled if required on the build machine.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8847</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Windows 2003 and Windows XP pre SP3 would sometimes not + start the Erlang R14B VM at all due to a bug in the cpu + topology detection. The bug affects Windows only, no + other platform is even remotely affected. The bug is now + corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8876</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The HiPE run-time in the 64-bit emulator could do a + 64-bit write to a 32-bit struct field. It happened to be + harmless on Intel/AMD processors. Corrected. (Thanks to + Mikael Pettersson.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8877</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A bug in <seealso + marker="erl_driver#erl_drv_tsd_get">erl_drv_tsd_get()</seealso> + and <seealso + marker="erl_nif#enif_tsd_get">enif_tsd_get()</seealso> + could cause an emulator crash. These functions are + currently not used in OTP. That is, the crash only occur + on systems with user implemented NIF libraries, or + drivers that use one of these functions.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8889</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Calling <c>erlang:system_info({cpu_topology, + CpuTopologyType})</c> with another <c>CpuTopologyType</c> + element than one of the documented atoms <c>defined</c>, + <c>detected</c>, or <c>used</c> caused an emulator crash. + (Thanks to Paul Guyot)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8914</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The ERTS internal rwlock implementation could get into an + inconsistent state. This bug was very seldom triggered, + but could be during heavy contention. The bug was + introduced in R14B (erts-5.8.1).</p> + <p> + The bug was most likely to be triggered when using the + <c>read_concurrency</c> option on an ETS table that was + frequently accessed from multiple processes doing lots of + writes and reads. That is, in a situation where you + typically don't want to use the <c>read_concurrency</c> + option in the first place.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8925 Aux Id: OTP-8544 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Tracing to port could cause an emulator crash when + unloading the trace driver.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8932</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Removed use of CancelIoEx on Windows that had been shown + to cause problems with some drivers.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8937</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The fallback implementation used when no native atomic + implementation was found did not compile. (Thanks to + Patrick Baggett, and Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8944</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Some integer values used during load balancing could + under rare circumstances wrap causing a load unbalance + between schedulers.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8950</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The windows VM now correctly handles appending to large + files (> 4GB).</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8958</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Name resolving of IPv6 addresses has been implemented for + Windows versions that support it. The use of ancient + resolver flags (AI_V4MAPPED | AI_ADDRCONFIG) to the + getaddrinfo() function has been removed since e.g FreeBSD + regard mapped IPv4 addresses to be a security problem and + the semantics of the address configured flag is + uncertain.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8969</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + The help texts produced by the <c>configure</c> scripts + in the top directory and in the erts directory have been + aligned and cleaned up.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8859</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + When the runtime system had fewer schedulers than logical + processors, the system could get an unnecessarily large + amount reader groups.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8861</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + <c>run_rel</c> has been updated to support Solaris's + /dev/ptmx device and to load the necessary STREAMS + modules so that <c>to_erl</c> can provide terminal echo + of keyboard input. (Thanks to Ryan Tilder.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8878</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The Erlang VM now supports Unicode filenames. The feature + is turned on by default on systems where Unicode + filenames are mandatory (Windows and MacOSX), but can be + enabled on other systems with the '+fnu' emulator option. + Enabling the Unicode filename feature on systems where it + is not default is however considered experimental and not + to be used for production. Together with the Unicode file + name support, the concept of "raw filenames" is + introduced, which means filenames provided without + implicit unicode encoding translation. Raw filenames are + provided as binaries, not lists. For further information, + see stdlib users guide and the chapter about using + Unicode in Erlang. Also see the file module manual page.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8887</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Buffer overflows have been prevented in <c>erlc</c>, + <c>dialyzer</c>, <c>typer</c>, <c>run_test</c>, + <c>heart</c>, <c>escript</c>, and <c>erlexec</c>.</p> + (Thanks to Michael Santos.) + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8892</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The runtime system is now less eager to suspend processes + sending messages over the distribution. The default value + of the distribution buffer busy limit has also been + increased from 128 KB to 1 MB. This in order to improve + throughput.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8901</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The distribution buffer busy limit can now be configured + at system startup. For more information see the + documentation of the <c>erl</c> <seealso + marker="erl#+zdbbl">+zdbbl</seealso> command line flag. + (Thanks to Scott Lystig Fritchie)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8912</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The inet driver internal buffer stack implementation has + been rewritten in order to reduce lock contention.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8916</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + New ETS option <c>compressed</c>, to enable a more + compact storage format at the expence of heavier table + operations. For test and evaluation, <c>erl +ec</c> can + be used to force compression on all ETS tables.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8922 Aux Id: seq11658 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + There is now a new function inet:getifaddrs/0 modeled + after C library function getifaddrs() on BSD and LInux + that reports existing interfaces and their addresses on + the host. This replaces the undocumented and unsupported + inet:getiflist/0 and inet:ifget/2.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8926</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Support for detection of CPU topology and binding of + schedulers on FreeBSD 8 have been added. (Thanks to Paul + Guyot)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8939</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Several bugs related to hibernate/3 and HiPE have been + corrected. (Thanks to Paul Guyot.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8952</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Support for soft and hard links on Windows versions and + filesystems that support them is added.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8955</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The win32 virtual machine is now linked large address + aware. his allows the Erlang VM to use up to 3 gigs of + address space on Windows instead of the default of 2 + gigs.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8956</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.1.2</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> Fix that the documentation top index generator can + handle an Ericsson internal application group. </p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8875</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>In embedded mode, on_load handlers that called + <c>code:priv_dir/1</c> or other functions in <c>code</c> + would hang the system. Since the <c>crypto</c> + application now contains an on_loader handler that calls + <c>code:priv_dir/1</c>, including the <c>crypto</c> + application in the boot file would prevent the system + from starting.</p> + <p>Also extended the <c>-init_debug</c> option to print + information about on_load handlers being run to + facilitate debugging.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8902 Aux Id: seq11703 </p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.1.1</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + Windows 2003 and Windows XP pre SP3 would sometimes not + start the Erlang R14B VM at all due to a bug in the cpu + topology detection. The bug affects Windows only, no + other platform is even remotely affected. The bug is now + corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8876</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8.1</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + Very small floating point numbers generated errors when + converting from list to float in some versions of the VM, + this is now corrected so that i.e. + list_to_float("1.0e-324"). returns 0.0 in all versions of + Erlang.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-7178</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Windows Vista and Windows 7 file system virtualization, + which makes "old style" windows programs execute in a + file system sandbox, was previously unintentionally + turned on for the Erlang VM. This is now corrected so + that i.e. writes to C:\Program Files\. without + administrator privileges will fail.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-7405</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix faulty 64-bit integer term output from drivers. Large + 64-bits integers did not generate correct bignums and + could even cause emulator crash. Only affects drivers + using ERL_DRV_INT64 or ERL_DRV_UINT64, introduced in + R13B03.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8716</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fixed: inet:setopts(S, [{linger,{true,2}}]) returned + {error,einval} for SCTP sockets. The inet_drv had a bug + when checking the option size.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8726 Aux Id: seq11617 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Fix libm linking with --as-needed flag + <p> + When building with "--as-needed" linker flags on Linux + the build will fail. This has now been fixed.</p> + <p> + (Thanks to Christian Faulhammer)</p></p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8728</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + gen_udp:connect/3 was broken for SCTP enabled builds. It + did not detect remote end errors as it should.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8729</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Reduce the risk of integer wrapping in bin vheap size + counting.</p> <p>The vheap size series will now use the + golden ratio instead of doubling and fibonacci + sequences.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8730</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + ETS ordered_set containing <c>[]</c> as key could cause + strange thing to happen, like an infinite hanging + <c>ets:select</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8732</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>reference() has been substituted for ref() in the + documentation.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8733</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + When a native compiled module called a not loaded + non-native compiled module that had an on_load function, + the export entries were trashed after code loading so on + the next call from the native compiled module to the + non-native compiled the emulator crashed. This bug has + now been fixed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8736</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + HiPE-enabled Erlang VMs running on BSD systems sometimes + generated messages like "Yikes! erts_alloc() returned + misaligned address 0x8016a512c". Fixed. (Thanks to Mikael + Pettersson.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8769</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A race condition in <c>erts_poll()</c> could cause delay + of poll for I/O.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8773</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Removed some potential vulnerabilities from the Erlang + Port Mapper Daemon (epmd) and straightened up access + control. Also removed hazardous interfaces allowing + anyone on a machine to forcefully unregister other nodes. + This means that the ei_unregister/erl_unregister + interfaces in erl_interface is rendered not only error + prone and mystifying as before, but totally ineffective. + The old behaviour of unchecked node unregistering can be + restored if needed, see epmd documentation for details.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8780</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> Building in a source tree without prebuilt platform + independent build results failed on the SSL examples + when: </p> <list><item> cross building. This has been + solved by not building the SSL examples during a cross + build. </item><item> building on Windows. </item></list> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8791</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + inet:getsockopt for SCTP sctp_default_send_param had a + bug to not initialize required feilds causing random + answers. It is now corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8795 Aux Id: seq11655 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The hipe_bifs:get_hrvtime/0 BIF now always returns a real + value even if the "perfctr" Linux kernel extension is not + available. It used to return a dummy value. (Thanks to + Mikael Pettersson.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8798</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Calling a native-code compiled module with an + <c>on_load</c> function could cause a crash. (Thanks to + Mikael Pettersson.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8799</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>The emulator could crash while writing a crash dump if + native-compiled modules had been loaded. (Thanks to Paul + Guyot.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8801</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The garbage collector could crash if invoked from + native-compiled code after a call to a BIF. (Thanks to + Paul Guyot.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8821</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A rare memory leak in binary:matches is removed</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8823</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>For a socket in the HTTP packet mode, the return value + from <c>gen_tcp:recv/2,3</c> if there is an error in the + header will be <c>{ok,{http_error,String}}</c> instead of + <c>{error,{http_error,String}}</c> to be consistent with + <c>ssl:recv/2,3</c>.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8831</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + ets:select_reverse/{1,2,3} are now documented.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-7863</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + External format of integers changed to make full use of + all 32 bits of INTEGER_EXT. This is a compatible change + as old code can read full 32-bit integers but only + produce 28-bit integers as INTEGER_EXT.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8540 Aux Id: seq11534 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Large parts of the <c>ethread</c> library have been + rewritten. The <c>ethread</c> library is an Erlang + runtime system internal, portable thread library used by + the runtime system itself.</p> + <p> + Most notable improvement is a reader optimized rwlock + implementation which dramatically improve the performance + of read-lock/read-unlock operations on multi processor + systems by avoiding ping-ponging of the rwlock cache + lines. The reader optimized rwlock implementation is used + by miscellaneous rwlocks in the runtime system that are + known to be read-locked frequently, and can be enabled on + ETS tables by passing the <seealso + marker="stdlib:ets#new_2_read_concurrency">{read_concurrency, + true}</seealso> option upon table creation. See the + documentation of <seealso + marker="stdlib:ets#new/2">ets:new/2</seealso> for more + information. The reader optimized rwlock implementation + can be fine tuned when starting the runtime system. For + more information, see the documentation of the <seealso + marker="erts:erl#+rg">+rg</seealso> command line argument + of <c>erl</c>.</p> + <p> + There is also a new implementation of rwlocks that is not + optimized for readers. Both implementations interleaves + readers and writers during contention as opposed to, + e.g., the NPTL (Linux) pthread rwlock implementation + which use either a reader or writer preferred strategy. + The reader/writer preferred strategy is problematic since + it starves threads doing the non-preferred operation.</p> + <p> + The new rwlock implementations in general performs better + in ERTS than common pthread implementations. However, in + some extremely heavily contended cases this is not the + case. Such heavy contention can more or less only appear + on ETS tables. This when multiple processes do very large + amounts of write locked operations simultaneously on the + same table. Such use of ETS is bad regardless of rwlock + implementation, will never scale, and is something we + strongly advise against.</p> + <p> + The new rwlock implementations depend on atomic + operations. If no native atomic implementation is found, + a fallback solution will be used. Using the fallback + implies a performance degradation. That is, it is more + important now than before to build OTP with a native + atomic implementation.</p> + <p> + The <c>ethread</c> library contains native atomic + implementations for, x86 (32 and 64 bit), powerpc (32 + bit), sparc V9 (32 and 64 bit), and tilera (32 bit). On + other hardware gcc's builtin support for atomic memory + access will be used if such exists. If no such support is + found, <c>configure</c> will warn about no atomic + implementation available.</p> + <p> + The <c>ethread</c> library can now also use the + <c>libatomic_ops</c> library for atomic memory accesses. + This makes it possible for the Erlang runtime system to + utilize optimized native atomic operations on more + platforms than before. If <c>configure</c> warns about no + atomic implementation available, try using the + <c>libatomic_ops</c> library. Use the <seealso + marker="doc/installation_guide:INSTALL#How-to-Build-and-Install-ErlangOTP_A-Closer-Look-at-the-individual-Steps_Configuring">--with-libatomic_ops=PATH</seealso> + <c>configure</c> command line argument when specifying + where the <c>libatomic_ops</c> installation is located. + The <c>libatomic_ops</c> library can be downloaded from: + <url + href="http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/linux/atomic_ops/">http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/linux/atomic_ops/</url></p> + <p> + The changed API of the <c>ethread</c> library has also + caused modifications in the Erlang runtime system. + Preparations for the to come "delayed deallocation" + feature has also been done since it depends on the + <c>ethread</c> library.</p> + <p> + <em>Note</em>: When building for x86, the <c>ethread</c> + library will now use instructions that first appeared on + the pentium 4 processor. If you want the runtime system + to be compatible with older processors (back to 486) you + need to pass the <seealso + marker="doc/installation_guide:INSTALL#How-to-Build-and-Install-ErlangOTP_A-Closer-Look-at-the-individual-Steps_Configuring">--enable-ethread-pre-pentium4-compatibility</seealso> + <c>configure</c> command line argument when configuring + the system.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8544</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + erlang:localtime_to_universaltime({{2008, 8, 1}, {0, 0, + 0}},true) when TZ=UTC now behaves consistently on all + Unix platforms.</p> + <p> + The problem fixed was originally reported by Paul Guyot + on erlang-bugs mailing list:</p> + <p> + http://www.erlang.org/pipermail/erlang-bugs/2008-November/001077.html</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8580</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Optimization reducing memory consumption by two words per + ETS object.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8737</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fixes for unsupported halfword-emulator</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8745</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + NIF 64-bit integer support; <c>enif_get_int64</c>, + <c>enif_get_uint64</c>, <c>enif_make_int64</c>, + <c>enif_make_uint64</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8746</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Alignment of trailing data in messages has been adjusted. + This in order to be able to pass data of any type as + trailing data in the future.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8754</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The obsolete/driver.h header file has been removed. It + has been obsolete and deprecated since R8B. Drivers that + still include obsolete/driver.h must be updated to + include erl_driver.h.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8758</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Added erlang:system_info(build_type) which makes it + easier to chose drivers, NIF libraries, etc based on + build type of the runtime system.</p> + <p> + The NIF library for crypto can now be built for valgrind + and/or debug as separate NIF libraries that will be + automatically loaded if the runtime system has been built + with a matching build type.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8760</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Further lessened the memory requirements of ETS objects.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8762</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>The broken elib_malloc alternate memory allocator has + been removed. <c>erlang:system_info(elib_malloc)</c> will + always return <c>false</c>, and in R15, + <c>erlang:system_info(elib_malloc)</c> will fail with a + <c>badarg</c> exception.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8764</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Calling <c>erlang:system_info/1</c> with the new argument + <c>update_cpu_info</c> will make the runtime system + reread and update the internally stored CPU information. + For more information see the documentation of <seealso + marker="erlang#update_cpu_info">erlang:system_info(update_cpu_info)</seealso>.</p> + <p> + The CPU topology is now automatically detected on Windows + systems with less than 33 logical processors. The runtime + system will now, also on Windows, by default bind + schedulers to logical processors using the + <c>default_bind</c> bind type if the amount of schedulers + is at least equal to the amount of logical processors + configured, binding of schedulers is supported, and a CPU + topology is available at startup.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8765</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The SMP ERTS internal child waiter thread used on Linux + system with NPTL was unintentionally disabled during + cross compilation rewrites (OTP-8323 in R13B03). It has + now been re-enabled. Enabling it again gives a slight + performance improvement.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8774</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + <c>epmd</c> used to generate a message to the syslog when + it started up, which could be annoying. This has been + changed to only generate the message if the debug swith + is given. (Thanks to Michael Santos.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8775</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The scheduler wakeup threshold is now possible to adjust + at system boot. For more information see the <seealso + marker="erl#+swt">+swt</seealso> command line argument of + <c>erl</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8811</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The undocumented function inet:ifget/2 has been improved + to return interface hardware address (MAC) on platforms + supporting getaddrinfo() (such as BSD unixes). Note it + still does not work on all platforms for example not + Windows nor Solaris, so the function is still + undocumented.</p> + <p> + Buffer overflow and field init bugs for inet:ifget/2 and + inet:getservbyname/2 has also been fixed.</p> + <p> + Thanks to Michael Santos.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8816</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Optimizations for MIPS when using gcc atomics. (Thanks to + Steve Vinoski)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8834</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Lock optimization in timer functionality.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8835</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title> + <list> + <item> + <p>Fix epmd and build environment to build on VxWorks</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8838</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + +<section><title>Erts 5.8</title> + + <section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + Driver threads, such as async threads, using <seealso + marker="erl_driver#ErlDrvPDL">port data locks</seealso> + peeked at the port status field without proper locking + when looking up the driver queue.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8475</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The use of <c>mmap()</c> was unnecessarily disabled when + cross compiling.</p> + <p> + The <c>configure</c> arguments <c>--with-ssl</c>, and + <c>--with-odbc</c> refused to accept libraries outside of + <c>$erl_xcomp_sysroot</c> when cross compiling for no + good reason.</p> + <p> + The <c>configure</c> argument <c>--with-odbc</c> didn't + handle the value <c>yes</c> correct.</p> + <p> + The <c>configure</c> arguments <c>--with-odbc</c>, and + <c>--without-odbc</c> have also been added to the + configure help.</p> + <p> + (Thanks to Steve Vinoski for reporting these issues)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8484</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A call to the BIF <c>unregister(RegName)</c> when a port + had the name <c>RegName</c> registered in the runtime + system without SMP support caused a runtime system crash. + (Thanks to Per Hedeland for the bugfix and test case.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8487</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The runtime system crashed if fewer logical processors + were found than reported by <c>sysconf( + SC_NPROCESSORS_CONF)</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8549</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix memory management bug causing crash of non-SMP + emulator with async threads enabled. The bug did first + appear in R13B03.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8591 Aux Id: seq11554 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Port locks could be prematurely destroyed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8612</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>The <c>empd</c> program could loop and consume 100% + CPU time if an unexpected error ocurred in + <c>listen()</c> or <c>accept()</c>. Now <c>epmd</c> will + terminate if a non-recoverable error occurs. (Thanks to + Michael Santos.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8618</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + When kernel poll has been enabled, a livelock could in + rare circumstances occur. Problem reported by Chetan + Ahuja, fix by Mikael Pettersson.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8632</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Windows: Closing port of program that stalled without + reading all data could deadlock scheduler thread.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8641</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + On some combination of Montavista Linux on Cavium Octeon + processors, some socket-related system calls returned + other numbers than -1 for errors. This caused a core dump + in inet_drv.c. Now the code works around this problem.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8654</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Missing memory barriers in <c>erts_poll()</c> could cause + the runtime system to hang indefinitely.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8658</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + <c>ethr_rwmutex_tryrlock()</c> acquired and refused to + acquire a lock with inverted logic. The lock was however + never acquired in a thread unsafe manner. (Thanks to JR + Zhang for noting this issue)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8662</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Extreme combinations of register/unregister in a highly + parallell SMP application could crash the VM. The error + is corrected.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8663</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + On Windows, files are now opened with FILE_SHARE_DELETE + to get closer to Unix semantics.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8667</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + <c>erlang:system_info(multi_scheduling)</c> sometimes + erroneously returned <c>enabled</c> when it should have + returned <c>blocked</c>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8675</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Fix bug causing <c>erlang:decode_packet</c> and + <c>enif_make_string</c> to generate faulty strings with + negative character values for ascii values larger than + 127. (Thanks to Paul Guyot)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8685</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + <c>open_port/2</c> with the <c>spawn</c> and + <c>spawn_executable</c> options can include an + <c>{env,Env}</c> option. In some cases unsetting + variables would not work on Unix (typically if more + variables were unset than were actually present in the + environment).</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8701</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A user defined CPU topology set via a call to <seealso + marker="erlang#system_flag_cpu_topology">erlang:system_flag(cpu_topology, + CPUTopology)</seealso> was not properly verified, and + could in worst case cause an emulator crash. The emulator + crash could only occur when a user defined CPU topology + already existed and was redefined.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8710</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + + + <section><title>Improvements and New Features</title> + <list> + <item> + <p> + The grammar for match specifications in ERTS users guide + only described the tracing dialect of match + specifications. An informal grammar for the ETS dialect + is added.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8086 Aux Id: seq11333 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The module binary from EEP31 (and EEP9) is implemented.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8217</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + New NIF API function <c>enif_make_new_binary</c></p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8474</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The guard BIF <c>is_boolean/1</c> (introduced in R10B) + has now been included in the lists of BIFs allowed in + guards in the Reference Manual.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8477</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Added function <c>zip:foldl/3</c> to iterate over zip + archives.</p> + <p> + Added functions to create and extract escripts. See + <c>escript:create/2</c> and <c>escript:extract/2</c>.</p> + <p> + The undocumented function <c>escript:foldl/3</c> has been + removed. The same functionality can be achieved with the + more flexible functions <c>escript:extract/2</c> and + <c>zip:foldl/3</c>.</p> + <p> + Record fields has been annotated with type info. Source + files as been adapted to fit within 80 chars and trailing + whitespace has been removed.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8521</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>A regular expression with many levels of parenthesis + could cause a buffer overflow. That has been corrected. + (Thanks to Michael Santos.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8539</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + <c>erlang:decode_packet(httph_bin,..)</c> could return + corrupt header strings or even crash the VM. This has + been fixed. It only happened on 32-bit VM if the header + name was unknown and between 16 and 20 characters long. + Sockets with simular <c>packet</c> option did not suffer + from this bug.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8548</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>New NIF features:</p> <list><item> Send messages from + a NIF, or from thread created by NIF, to any local + process (<c>enif_send</c>) </item><item> Store terms + between NIF calls (<c>enif_alloc_env</c>, + <c>enif_make_copy</c>) </item><item> Create binary terms + with user defined memory management + (<c>enif_make_resource_binary</c>) </item></list> <p>And + some incompatible changes made to the API. For more + information see the warning text in <seealso + marker="erl_nif">erl_nif(3)</seealso>.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8555</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>If the '<c>fop</c>' program (needed for building PDF + files) cannot not be found, it is now possible to build + the HTML and man pages anyway (there will also be dummy + PDF files with no real content created). (Thanks to + Tuncer Ayaz.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8559</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>When defining macros the closing right parenthesis + before the dot is now mandatory.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8562</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Local and imported functions now override the + auto-imported BIFs when the names clash. The pre R14 + behaviour was that auto-imported BIFs would override + local functions. To avoid that old programs change + behaviour, the following will generate an error:</p> + <list><item><p>Doing a call without explicit module name + to a local function having a name clashing with the name + of an auto-imported BIF that was present (and + auto-imported) before OTP R14A</p></item> + <item><p>Explicitly importing a function having a name + clashing with the name of an autoimported BIF that was + present (and autoimported) before OTP R14A</p></item> + <item><p>Using any form of the old compiler directive + <c>nowarn_bif_clash</c></p></item> </list> <p>If the BIF + was added or auto-imported in OTP R14A or later, + overriding it with an import or a local function will + only result in a warning,</p> <p>To resolve clashes, you + can either use the explicit module name <c>erlang</c> to + call the BIF, or you can remove the auto-import of that + specific BIF by using the new compiler directive + <c>-compile({no_auto_import,[F/A]}).</c>, which makes all + calls to the local or imported function without explicit + module name pass without warnings or errors.</p> <p>The + change makes it possible to add auto-imported BIFs + without breaking or silently changing old code in the + future. However some current code ingeniously utilizing + the old behaviour or the <c>nowarn_bif_clash</c> compiler + directive, might need changing to be accepted by the + compiler.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8579</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + A bug in re that could cause certain regular expression + matches never to terminate is corrected. (Thanks to + Michael Santos and Gordon Guthrie.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8589</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>The erlang:open_port spawn and spawn_executable + directives can include an <c>{env,Env}</c> directive to + set up environment variables for the spawned process. A + bug prevented applications from using <c>{env,Env}</c> to + set an environment variable whose value ended with a + '<c>=</c>' (equal sign) character; the trailing equal + sign was mistaken as an indication that an environment + variable was to be cleared from the environment of the + spawned process. (Thanks to Steve Vinoski.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8614</p> + </item> + <item> + <p><c>receive</c> statements that can only read out a + newly created reference are now specially optimized so + that it will execute in constant time regardless of the + number of messages in the receive queue for the process. + That optimization will benefit calls to + <c>gen_server:call()</c>. (See <c>gen:do_call/4</c> for + an example of a receive statement that will be + optimized.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8623</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The functions file:advise/4 and file:datasync/1 have been + added. (Thanks to Filipe David Manana.)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8637</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + New NIF API functions: <c>enif_make_atom_len</c>, + <c>enif_make_existing_atom_len</c>, + <c>enif_make_string_len</c>, <c>enif_get_atom_length</c>, + <c>enif_get_list_length</c>, <c>enif_is_list</c>, + <c>enif_is_tuple</c> (by Tuncer Ayaz)</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8640</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Support for using gcc's built-in functions for atomic + memory access has been added. This functionallity will be + used if available and no other native atomic + implementation in ERTS is available.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8659</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The number of spinlocks used when implementing atomic + fall-backs when no native atomic implementation is + available has been increased from 16 to 1024.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8660</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Writer preferred pthread read/write locks has been + enabled on Linux.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8661</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The runtime system will by default bind schedulers to + logical processors using the <c>default_bind</c> bind + type if the amount of schedulers are at least equal to + the amount of logical processors configured, binding of + schedulers is supported, and a CPU topology is available + at startup. </p> + <p> + <em>NOTE:</em> If the Erlang runtime system is the only + operating system process that binds threads to logical + processors, this improves the performance of the runtime + system. However, if other operating system processes (as + for example another Erlang runtime system) also bind + threads to logical processors, there might be a + performance penalty instead. If this is the case you, are + are advised to unbind the schedulers using the <seealso + marker="erl#+sbt">+sbtu</seealso> command line argument, + or by invoking <seealso + marker="erlang#system_flag_scheduler_bind_type">erlang:system_flag(scheduler_bind_type, + unbound)</seealso>.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8666</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + The recently added BIFs erlang:min/2, erlang:max/2 and + erlang:port_command/3 are now auto-imported (as they were + originally intended to be). Due to the recent compiler + change (OTP-8579), the only impact on old code defining + it's own min/2, max/2 or port_command/3 functions will be + a warning, the local functions will still be used. The + warning can be removed by using + -compile({no_auto_import,[min/2,max/2,port_command/3]}). + in the source file.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8669 Aux Id: OTP-8579 </p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + There is a new option 'exclusive' to file:open/2 that + uses the OS O_EXCL flag where supported to open the file + in exclusive mode.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8670</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Now, binary_to_term/2 is auto-imported. This will cause a + compile warning if and only if a module has got a local + function with that name.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8671</p> + </item> + <item> + <p> + Alignment of scheduler data and run queues were adjusted.</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8673</p> + </item> + <item> + <p>Call time breakpoint tracing</p> <list><item>Introduce + a <c>call_time</c> option to + <c>erlang:trace_pattern/3</c>.This option enables call + time breakpoint tracing on code that is executed by + processes with call tracing enabled. Call time tracing + stores the number of calls and the time spent of each + function with this trace pattern enabled. The information + can be retrieved with <c>erlang:trace_info/2</c></item> + <item>Add a scheduler array for BpData. To solve the + issue of multiple schedulers constantly updating the head + pointer to the bp data wheel, each scheduler now has its + own entrypoint to the wheel. This head pointer can be + updated without a locking being taken.</item></list> + <p>Teach call count tracing to use atomics</p> + <list><item>Call count previously used a global lock for + accessing and writing its counter in the breakpoint. This + is now changed to atomics instead.</item> <item>The + change will let call count tracing and cprof to scale + better when increasing the number of + schedulers.</item></list> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8677</p> + </item> + <item> + <p><c>eprof</c> has been reimplemented with support in + the Erlang virtual machine and is now both faster (i.e. + slows down the code being measured less) and scales much + better. In measurements we saw speed-ups compared to the + old eprof ranging from 6 times (for sequential code that + only uses one scheduler/core) up to 84 times (for + parallel code that uses 8 cores).</p> + <p>Note: The API for the <c>eprof</c> has been cleaned up + and extended. See the documentation.</p> + <p> + *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p> + <p> + Own Id: OTP-8706</p> + </item> + </list> + </section> + +</section> + <section><title>Erts 5.7.5.2</title> <section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title> @@ -162,7 +3176,7 @@ <item> <p>A number of bugs concerning re and unicode are corrected:</p> - <p>re:compile no longer looses unicode option, which also + <p>re:compile no longer loses unicode option, which also fixes bug in re:split.</p> <p>re:replace now handles unicode charlist replacement argument</p> @@ -2633,7 +5647,7 @@ The race occurred when a process removed a table during termination simultaneously as another process removed the same table via <c>ets:delete/1</c> and a third process - created a table that accidentaly got the same internal + created a table that accidentally got the same internal table index as the table being removed.</p> <p> Own Id: OTP-7349</p> @@ -4734,7 +7748,7 @@ </item> <item> <p>The runtime system with SMP support did not slowly adjust - it's view of time when the system time suddenly changed.</p> + its view of time when the system time suddenly changed.</p> <p>Timeouts could sometimes timeout too early on the runtime system with SMP support.</p> <p>Own Id: OTP-6202</p> |