The 1.8 release of the Inter-Language Unification (ILU) system is now
available via ftp://ftp.parc.xerox.com/pub/ilu/ilu.html. ILU is a
multi-language distributed object system that Xerox is making freely
available. It can also be used to build multi-lingual object-oriented
libraries ("class libraries") with well-specified language-independent
interfaces. It can also be used to implement RPC systems. It can
also be used to define and document interfaces in non-distributed
programs. It also provides support for use of the OMG CORBA IDL
interface description language, and can be thought of as a CORBA ORB
system (though with omissions from and extensions to the CORBA spec).
It includes a self-contained implementation of ONC RPC.
This release of ILU contains support for ANSI C, C++, Modula-3,
Python, and Common Lisp. It has been installed on many flavors of
UNIX, including SPARC machines running SunOS 4.1.3 and Solaris 2, SGI
machines running IRIX 5.2, Linux 1.78, DEC Alpha with OSF/1, RS/6000
w/AIX, and HP/UX. It supports both threaded and non-threaded
operation.
Changes from ILU 1.7:
1) A kernel memory leak caused by having many clients connect to,
then drop, a server was fixed.
2) File descriptors are now removed from the event loop registry
when a connection is closed, which fixes some errors in various
runtimes.
3) The kernel routines ilu_ConsiderSBH() and ilu_ReLookupObject() are
now provided to change the binding of a surrogate kernel server. This
allows a client to track changes caused when a server goes down and is
re-started with different contact info. This should also handle the
relocation requirement of CORBA's IIOP. They have not been fully tied
into the language runtimes yet. Some language runtime code may still
improperly keep a cache of an earlier SBH.
4) The Common Lisp garbage collector is now tied in to the ILU network
GC scheme, so that client interest in collectible true objects is
communicated and used properly between Lisp clients and servers.
Collectible true objects are now GC'ed.
5) A new appendix to the ILU manual documents the process of adding
ILU support for a different variety of Common Lisp.
6) Various fixes to the Python support have been made to fix various
bugs, and to allow unregistration of Tk event handlers when
connections are closed. Python true objects must still be manually
held onto by the server.
7) References into freed data structures have been fixed in the C
and C++ runtime, thanks to Purify.
8) An authentication framework has been added, but no protocols
currently pass any identity information except for the Sun RPC
protocol's default authentication of "AUTH_UNIX". This identity is
now available in C true method code, but the access method is not yet
documented, as it will surely change.
9) An obscure bug in the Lisp generic process code, responsible for
causing an occasional "Bad Process-Lock" message, has been fixed.
10) The XView X toolkit code in ILUSRC/etc/xview/ has been
successfully used.
11) Memory leaks in C true stubs have been fixed, and C true stubs
now report unexpected exceptions properly.
12) Fixes from ······@db.stanford.edu for the DEC Alpha system with
OSF/1 have been incorporated.
Bill
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Bill Janssen <·······@parc.xerox.com> (415) 812-4763 FAX: (415) 812-4777
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, 3333 Coyote Hill Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94304
URL: ftp://parcftp.parc.xerox.com/pub/ilu/misc/janssen.html
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