<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>distro/Changes</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<!-- INDEX BEGIN -->
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#CHanges_in_1_9">CHanges in 1.9</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Enhancements">Enhancements</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Changes_in_1_8">Changes in 1.8</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Bug_Fixes">Bug Fixes</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#vos_examine_did_not_pick_up_the_">vos examine did not pick up the LOCKED flag</A>
<LI><A HREF="#pts_membership_error_checking_wa">pts membership error checking was bogus</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Changes_in_1_7">Changes in 1.7</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Enhancements">Enhancements</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Boolean_flags_can_be_turned_off_">Boolean flags can be turned off, as well as on</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Bugs">Bugs</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#vos_examine_by_numeric_ID_did_no">vos examine by numeric ID did not parse Volume Headers</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Changes_in_1_6">Changes in 1.6</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Enhancements">Enhancements</A>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Object_VolumeHeader_new_a">AFS::Object::VolumeHeader: new attribute 'attached'</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Bugs">Bugs</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Changes_in_1_5">Changes in 1.5</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Enhancements">Enhancements</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Principal_names_as_user_supplie">Principal names, as user supplied arguments, are lowercased</A>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_VOS_restore_argum">AFS::Command::VOS->restore arguments added</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Bugs">Bugs</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Object_VolumeHeader_acces">AFS::Object::VolumeHeader 'accesses' attribute was incorrect</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Changes_in_1_4">Changes in 1.4</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Enhancements">Enhancements</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Test_suite_is_disabled_by_defaul">Test suite is disabled by default.</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Bugs">Bugs</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Volume_status_value_inconsistenc">Volume status value inconsistency</A>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_VOS_examine_parse">AFS::Command::VOS->examine parses busy and offline messages</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Changes_in_1_3">Changes in 1.3</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Enhancements">Enhancements</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_VOS_release_suppo">AFS::Command::VOS->release support both -f and -force</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Bugs">Bugs</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_BOS_listhosts">AFS::Command::BOS->listhosts</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Changes_in_1_2">Changes in 1.2</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Enhancements">Enhancements</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_VOS_offline_and">AFS::Command::VOS->offline() and ->online()</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Bugs">Bugs</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Changes_in_1_1">Changes in 1.1</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Enhancements">Enhancements</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_VOS_status_">AFS::Command::VOS->status()</A>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Object_VLDB_data_is_now_ke">AFS::Object::VLDB data is now keyed on volume ID, as well as name</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Bugs">Bugs</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_BOS_status">AFS::Command::BOS->status</A>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_FS_several_metho">AFS::Command::FS->(several methods)</A>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_FS_lsmount">AFS::Command::FS->lsmount</A>
<LI><A HREF="#AFS_Command_FS_sysname">AFS::Command::FS->sysname</A>
</UL>
</UL>
<!-- INDEX END -->
<HR>
<P>
<H1><A NAME="CHanges_in_1_9">CHanges in 1.9
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Enhancements">Enhancements
</A></H1>
A new argument is supported by AFS::Command::Base->new():
<P>
<PRE> my $vos = AFS::Command::VOS->new( timestamps => 1 );
</PRE>
<P>
This will result in ISO timestamps being prepended to each line of output
when it is collected into the $vos->errors(). This is useful for
profiling the performance of operations such as vos release:
<P>
<PRE> my $result = $vos->release
(
id => 'somevol',
cell => 'somecell',
) || die $vos->errors();
</PRE>
<P>
When this works, the $vos->errors() will have the verbose output, which
can be logged even in the successful case, for diagnostics. Here's an
example for a failure:
<P>
<PRE> [2004-11-18 17:20:36] Could not lock the VLDB entry for the volume 536998569.
[2004-11-18 17:20:36] VLDB: no permission access for call
[2004-11-18 17:20:36] Error in vos release command.
[2004-11-18 17:20:36] VLDB: no permission access for call
</PRE>
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Changes_in_1_8">Changes in 1.8
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Bug_Fixes">Bug Fixes
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="vos_examine_did_not_pick_up_the_">vos examine did not pick up the LOCKED flag
</A></H2>
The code to parse the VLDB header was missing the LOCKED flag, if it was
present, so this attribute was not being set properly. It is now.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="pts_membership_error_checking_wa">pts membership error checking was bogus
</A></H2>
Well, it still is bogus, actually, since the code has to deal with the fact
that pts has never produced meaningful return codes, so a failed pts
membership command can still exit 0, and we have to figure out if it failed
by other means. This is done by looking for the known error messages that
pts prints out, which is a good example of why parsing the ASCII test
output of commands like this is a weak architecture.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Changes_in_1_7">Changes in 1.7
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Enhancements">Enhancements
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Boolean_flags_can_be_turned_off_">Boolean flags can be turned off, as well as on
</A></H2>
If an argument to a method (and its corresponding command line argument)
doesn't take a value, it is treated like a Boolean flag. However, the code
used to assume that the existence of a Boolean key in the argument list
implied the Boolean argument was always true.
<P>
Now, the truth of the arguments <EM>value</EM> is tested to determine if the flag should be set on or off. This makes it
easy to have subroutines that just blindly pass certain arguments along,
without haing to test them, and allows for much cleaner code.
<P>
For example:
<P>
<PRE> my $result = $vos->release
(
name => $name,
force => $force,
);
</PRE>
<P>
Will work as you probably expected it to, namely if <CODE>$force</CODE> is
zero, it will NOT be passed to the ``vos release'' command. In previous
releases, regardless of the value of $force, the mere existence of the
force key in the argument hash would have caused the -force option to be
used.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Bugs">Bugs
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="vos_examine_by_numeric_ID_did_no">vos examine by numeric ID did not parse Volume Headers
</A></H2>
The code to parse the volume headers in the output from ``vos examine'' was
looking for a pattern match based on the ``id'' argument. However, the
headers always print the name first, and we were assuming that the id
argument was the volume name, when it can also be the volume ID.
<P>
The parsing is less strict now, and works for both a volume name od a
numeric ID.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Changes_in_1_6">Changes in 1.6
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Enhancements">Enhancements
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="AFS_Object_VolumeHeader_new_a">AFS::Object::VolumeHeader: new attribute 'attached'
</A></H1>
When a volume's status is ``offline'', there is really more than one status
the volume can be in. A volume might be unattached, and offline, or it
might be attached, but adminitratively offline. For example, ``vos
offline'' put a vlume in the latter state, and if for some reason there are
two volumes with the same ID on the same fileserver, they will both be
attached (if possible), but only the first one encountered will be brought
online.
<P>
Changing the value of status would been a non-backwards compatible change,
and caused some subtle problems for some applications. Rather than
introduce such a change, I have chosen to represent this state with an
additional attribute ``attached'', which is just a Boolean, indicating
whether or not the volume is attached.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Bugs">Bugs
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Changes_in_1_5">Changes in 1.5
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Enhancements">Enhancements
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Principal_names_as_user_supplie">Principal names, as user supplied arguments, are lowercased
</A></H2>
As a convenience, when PTS names are passed to methods like
<CODE>getUserByName(),</CODE> they will be lower-cased before looking up
the user, or group. Since PTS is a case-insensitive database, this will
avoid the need for applications to <CODE>lc()</CODE> some strings, although
not in all cases.
<P>
For example, you can pass a mixed case string to pts->creategroup(), and
then use the same string to query the resulting AFS::Object::Group object
using <CODE>getGroupByName().</CODE>
<P>
The object's ``group'' attribute, however, will be in lower case, since
that will be the value returned by the pts command itself.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_VOS_restore_argum">AFS::Command::VOS->restore arguments added
</A></H2>
Documentation for two important new vos restore arguments was added to the
documentation (-creation and -lastupdate). These options are only available
in a patch to vos, which should be in one the next two major OpenAFS 1.2.X
releases.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Bugs">Bugs
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Object_VolumeHeader_acces">AFS::Object::VolumeHeader 'accesses' attribute was incorrect
</A></H2>
The actual attribute on the objects was named ``access''. Oops. The
attribute was changed to ``accesses'' to match the documentation, and the
string that is parsed in vos output.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Changes_in_1_4">Changes in 1.4
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Enhancements">Enhancements
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Test_suite_is_disabled_by_defaul">Test suite is disabled by default.
</A></H2>
There is a well intentioned effort to automatically test all new
submissions to CPAN (see <A
HREF="http://testers.cpan.org).">http://testers.cpan.org).</A>
Unfortunately, the AFS-Command package can't be tested automatically, since
it requires a fair amount of configuration. You have to specify a cell
name, some fileserver names and partitions, etc.
<P>
By default, the tests will all be skipped if the configured cell name in
the CONFIG file has not been modified, thus allowing the automated CPAN
testing to continue, automatically, without the author getting a bunch of
bogus emails.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Bugs">Bugs
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Volume_status_value_inconsistenc">Volume status value inconsistency
</A></H2>
!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!
<P>
This change is NOT backwards compatible with previous releases, so verify
that your code handles the new, consistent values correctly.
<P>
The ``status'' field returned from either vos->examine() or
vos->listvol(), in previous releases, had inconsistent values. When a
volume is online, the status would be one of:
<P>
<PRE> online
On-line
</PRE>
<P>
Likewise, when offline, one of:
<P>
<PRE> offline
Off-line
</PRE>
<P>
These values have all been normalized to: online, offline
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_VOS_examine_parse">AFS::Command::VOS->examine parses busy and offline messages
</A></H2>
When a volume is busy or can not be attached, ``vos examine'' will be
unable to display the volume headers. Instead, a one line message is
printed, such as one of the following:
<P>
<PRE> **** Volume 123456789 is busy ****
**** Could not attach volume 123456789 ****
</PRE>
<P>
The examine method now parses these, and the AFS::Object::VolumeHeader
object will have only the 'id' and 'status' attributes. Previously, those
lines were incorrectly parsed and the 'name' attribute set to '****', which
is pretty obviously wrong.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Changes_in_1_3">Changes in 1.3
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Enhancements">Enhancements
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_VOS_release_suppo">AFS::Command::VOS->release support both -f and -force
</A></H2>
Someone at some point changed vos release's force argument from -f to
-force. API calls written with one of those will not work with a vos binary
that doesn't agree on the choice of force option. This would have require
developers to write code like this:
<P>
<PRE> $vos->release
(
id => $id,
cell => $cell,
( $vos->supportsArgument('release','force') ?
( force => 1 ) :
( f => 1 )
),
);
</PRE>
<P>
OK, that's the authors twisted way of doing it, and it seems like needless
complexity. Both f and force are now supported as options, using a simply
alias mechanism to translate from one to the other, based on what is
supported by the vos binary.
<P>
The documentation hasn't been changed, since you can use 'force' in all
cases, and since that is the newer of the two, the docs will stay as they
are. The fact that your vos binary really wants 'f' is hidden from you, and
will stay that way.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Bugs">Bugs
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_BOS_listhosts">AFS::Command::BOS->listhosts
</A></H2>
The returned object has a cell attribute, as well as the hosts attribute,
but the docs forgot to mention this.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Changes_in_1_2">Changes in 1.2
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Enhancements">Enhancements
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_VOS_offline_and">AFS::Command::VOS->offline() and ->online()
</A></H2>
Both of these ``hidden'' vos commands are now supported by the API. These
commands are part of the vos command suite, but they do not show up in the
output of ``vos help''.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Bugs">Bugs
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Changes_in_1_1">Changes in 1.1
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Enhancements">Enhancements
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_VOS_status_">AFS::Command::VOS->status()
</A></H2>
This method now parses the individual transaction stanzas, and the API
provides access to objects that encapsulate each of them. So, instead of
just finding out how many transactions are active, you can analyze each of
them in detail.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Object_VLDB_data_is_now_ke">AFS::Object::VLDB data is now keyed on volume ID, as well as name
</A></H2>
This changes the way the AFS::Object::VLDB data can be extracted. In 1.0,
the API allowed AFS::Object::VLDBEntry object to be queried only by name,
but 3 new methods calls allow this data to be queried by numeric ID as well
as name:
<P>
<PRE> getVLDBEntryById($id)
getVLDBEntryByName($name)
getVolumeIds()
</PRE>
<P>
The API for getVLDBEntry has changed, and the single argument usage:
<P>
<PRE> getVLDBEntry($name) # DEPRECATED!!!!
</PRE>
<P>
has been deprecated. If warnings are enabled (perl -w), then the API will
carp at you. In the next release (1.2), that usage will no longer be
supported. Upgrade your code, or pay the price.
<P>
The new usage of getVLDBEntry is one of:
<P>
<PRE> getVLDBEntry( name => $name )
getVLDBEntry( id => $id )
</PRE>
<P>
The internal method <CODE>_addEntry()</CODE> now manages the data by id as
well as name, but you're not supposed to know that anyway...
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="Bugs">Bugs
</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_BOS_status">AFS::Command::BOS->status
</A></H2>
When querying a specific instance, if it wasn't there, the API would try to
add an undefined instance object to the result, and croak. Now, you just
get a result object with no instances.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_FS_several_metho">AFS::Command::FS->(several methods)
</A></H2>
If you pass a list of paths to methods such as <CODE>whichcell(),</CODE>
then the error handling was a bit intrusive. The way it used to work, in
1.0, was to return an error if we didn't see output for one or more of the
paths. Now, the code is more forgiving, and if have no idea what happened
for one of the given paths, we'll return a Path object for that path which
has a generic error.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_FS_lsmount">AFS::Command::FS->lsmount
</A></H2>
The ``File 'foo' doesn't exist'' error message wasn't trapped as a
recognized error. It is now.
<P>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="AFS_Command_FS_sysname">AFS::Command::FS->sysname
</A></H2>
The pattern matching was a bit greedy and the trailing single quote was
showing up in the returned sysname value.
<P>
</DL>
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