Ganymede dev4b released

[Jonathan Abbey <jonabbey@arlut.utexas.edu>]

Ganymede developer pre-release 4b, dev4b.tar.gz, is now available from

 ftp://ftp.arlut.utexas.edu/pub/ganymede/

 or

 ftp://129.116.212.1/pub/ganymede/

if your client has trouble resolving a proper address for
ftp.arlut.utexas.edu.

In this release there have been significant enhancements made to the
Ganymede permissions system and to the object linking logic, and we
have included a detailed document discussing DBEditObject subclassing
for customizing the server in the doc directory.

We have fixed the usual assortment of bugs and what-not.  We've been
running the server for this release on the 1.2b4 JVM, and the client
on the 1.1.6 JVM with the 1.1 beta 2 release of Swing.

Our intended release schedule remains as it was before, to produce
dev4 releases as needed until we get Ganymede managing our laboratory
in place of GASH, to put out a dev5 at that point, and work towards
1.0 with documentation, licensing, and what-not.

We are going to be presenting Ganymede at the 1998 LISA conference
this December 6-11 in Boston, and we fully expect to have 1.0 out
before then.

-------------------- Changes from dev4a to dev4b -------------------

Ganymede Developer Release 4b
August 27, 1998
CHANGES

RELEASE DATE: August 27, 1998

1. [CLIENT] View-only StringSelectors are double width

The StringSelector GUI components are now twice as wide as before 
when they are not being edited.  That is, the single StringSelector
panel will expand to take up the space that would have been given
to the list of choices in an editing context.

2. [SERVER] Owner Groups Now Own Themselves, Implicitly

This change allows owner groups to be self-administering, so that
group administrators (possibly with a special role) can edit the mail
delivery options for object event notification for a group.  This
change also prepares the way for group administrators with a special
role to be able to create sub-groups, and to put their administrators
in these subgroups.

The permissions logic in GanymedeSession can now handle recursive
ownership hierarchies.

3. [SERVER] Roles can be created by non-supergash admins

But the roles created cannot exceed the privileges granted to the
admin that creates the role.

4. [SERVER] Permission Bits Cleaning Implemented

The permission bits system (used by PermissionMatrixDBField) is only
loosely bound to the object/field definitions held in the schema.
Previously, the permission matrix fields would not properly drop
permission entries recorded for object or field definitions that had
been removed by the schema editor.  Now, the database-writing code for
the PermissionMatrixDBField will check all entries for validity, and
omit those entries that no longer have any application to the revised
schema. Permission entries that are redundant or pointless are
filtered out as well.

5. [SERVER] CategoryTransport fixed

The CategoryTransport object passed from the server to the client was
supposed to carry only entries for object bases that were editable by
the end user, and the categories containing such objects.  In dev4a
and prior, the CategoryTransport code that was supposed to make this
determination did a Visibility test when choosing to include Category
definitions and an Editability test when choosing to include Base
definitions.  This made for a confusing set of results in the tree for
non-supergash users/admins.

6. [CUSTOM] Miscellaneous GASH Schema Fixes

Fixed network selection error in interface custom class.  This was
preventing users from being able to create more than one interface
in a system.

7. [CLIENT] Miscellaneous Client Fixes

Fixes in some of the GUI components, and their interaction with the
server to present choices, etc.

8. [INSTALL] Changed the install script to support new schema development.

It has always been possible to install the Ganymede server without
specifying one of the schemas that we provide with the Ganymede
distribution.  Now, if the installer does not choose one of bsd,
nisonly, or gash, the installServer.perl script will go ahead and
install the scaffolding upon which custom code for a custom schema can
be built.

9. [DOCUMENTATION] Documentation on DBEditObject subclassing added.

We've added a lengthy guide to the operation of the DBEditObject
class, and how you can subclass it to implement custom logic
on the server.  A book should probably be written on this topic,
but this guide should prove a useful start on things.

10. [SERVER] Important Fixes In Invid Binding Code

The object linking code now handles 'untargeted' object reference
fields properly, both in binding and in unbinding.  The InvidDBField
code will also properly catch ambiguous link operations resulting from
improperly specified link fields in the schema.

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Jonathan Abbey				              jonabbey@arlut.utexas.edu
Applied Research Laboratories                 The University of Texas at Austin
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Download ganymede from ftp.arlut.utexas.edu/pub/ganymede/.

To see the latest design specs for Ganymede, visit the Ganymede web page
at http://www.arlut.utexas.edu/gash2/
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