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Archive-name: auto/comp.sys.isis/new-version-of-Meta-available


A new version of Meta is now available for anonymous ftp from
ftp.cs.cornell.edu.  The compressed tar file is in the pub directory
and is named metav22.tar.Z.

The new version (V2.2) uses ISISV3.0.6.  It can be made to compile
with older versions of ISIS, including the ISISV2.1 public
distribution version, by changing "isis_generic.h" to "generic.h" in
include/meta_entries.h.

Changes to installation:
------------------------
The Meta installation procedure has been modified to more closely
resemble the ISIS installation procedure.  The necessary steps are
outlined below:

1.  In the top-most Meta directory, add a symbolic link called
"isis" which points to where the ISIS software resides on your system.

2.  To build Meta for your machine architecture, run "make <arch>",
where <arch> may be AIXRS, DEC2100, DEC3100, DEC5000, HPSPECT, HPUX,
MIPS, SUN3, or SUN4.

Please note that the name of the Meta library produced has been
changed from metalib.a to libmeta.a, so that the software can now be
linked using the -lmeta option.



Changes to the Meta software:
-----------------------------
The new version of Meta contains not only bug fixes, but also a number
of changes:

1.  The manner in which meta_stub_init is called has been changed.
There are two forms of this routine, meta_stub_init and
meta_stub_init_l.  Originally, meta_stub_init was called with three
arguments:

	meta_stub_init(context_class, instance, isis_port)

If a 0 was passed as the third argument, Meta used the value of the
ISISPORT environment variable.  Now, the third argument has been
dropped, and the value of ISISPORT will be used by default.  If you
wish to specify a value other than that, you can use meta_stub_init_l,
which will still take the following arguments:

	meta_stub_init_l(context_class, instance, isis_port, is_replicated)

You can still pass in a value of 0 for isis_port on the
meta_stub_init_l call to indicate that the value of ISISPORT should be used.

2.  Before, the machine, query, and server utility programs were each
contained in a directory of their own.  They have been combined in a
subdirectory called util.  The query program is now called "metacmd",
to better reflect what it really does.


3.  A new routine, meta_get_context, has been added which may be used
to determine the name of the context being implemented by an ISIS
process.  The syntax is:

	meta_get_context(
	   address * gaddr,
	   char ** context_name);

where
	gaddr        - The address of an ISIS process.
	context_name - Set to the name of the Meta context the ISIS
                       process is implementing.

4.  A new routine, meta_get_aggregates, has been added which may be
used to determine the aggregates with which a context has been
endowed.  The syntax is:

	meta_get_aggregates(
	   char * context_name,
	   char ** agg_list,
	   int agg_ctr);

where
	context_name - The context about which aggregate information
                       has been requested.
	agg_list     - An array of strings.  Each element of agg_list
		       is set to the name of an aggregate the context
		       has been endowed with.
	agg_ctr      - Set to equal the total number of aggregates with which
	               the context is endowed.



Known problems with Meta V2.2
-----------------------------
There are known problems with using aggregates in Meta which have not
been fixed in V2.2.  They are currently being worked on, and an update to
Meta will be made as soon as they have been resolved. 

As you use the system, please notify me of any problems you may
encounter, or if you have any questions/comments about the system.


Sue 
---------------------------------------------------------------------	
Sue Utter Honig                   E-mail: honig@cs.cornell.edu
Computer Science Department       Phone:  (607) 255-6046
4105C Upson Hall                  Fax:    (607) 255-4428
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853