Provided by: afnix_2.5.1-1_amd64 
NAME
vol-0 - afnix installation guide
INSTALLATION GUIDE
This chapter describes the installation procedures for the AFNIX writing system distribution. This
chapter explains how to set and compile this distribution.
Software distribution
The complete distribution can be downloaded from the AFNIX home page. The result is a complete source
tree that is ready for compilation. The distribution contains also the documentation as well as examples.
The distribution is supported on a variety of platforms as indicated below that can be either 32 bits or
64 bits machines. The distribution is also available at the FreeBSD port collection.
Platform Processor Operating system
Linux X86-32, X86-64, IA64, SPARC-32, SPARC-64 Linux 2.4 and 2.6
FreeBSD X86-32, X86-64, IA-64, SPARC-32, SPARC-64 FreeBSD 6.x, 7.x, 8.x
Darwin PPC-32, PPC-64, X86-32, X86-64 MacOS X 10.4 Tiger, 10.5 Leopard, 10.6 S
Gnu X86-32, X86-64 GNU KBSD, GNU Hurd
Specific processors like the Alpha, M68K, ARM, MIPS and SUPERH are also supported on certain
distributions. The PowerPC (PPC) processor is primarily supported with the Darwin platform (MACOS) and is
also working with the Linux platform. The Solaris SPARC platform has been discontinued. Do not hesitate
to contact the development team for specific processor or platform support.
Installation procedure
The core software is written in C++. It has been successfully built with the GNU GCC 3 and GCC 4. No
other compiler have been tested. You will also need the GNU Make package. With some distributions the
command is called gmake. Note that the Makefile hierarchy is designed to operate safely with the -jGNU
Make option.
Unpacking the distribution
The distribution is available as a compressed tar file. Note that the documentation is distributed in a
separate file. The following command unpacks the distribution.
zsh> gzip -d afnix-src-[version].tar.gz
zsh> tar xf afnix-src-[version].tar
Quick command reference
The list of commands to execute is given in the example below. A detailed description for each command is
given hereafter. The make world command is the default command that builds the whole tree with the
default compiler.
zsh> ./cnf/bin/afnix-setup -o --prefix=/usr/local/afnix
zsh> make status
zsh> make [-j]
zsh> make test
zsh> make install
zsh> make clean
With some platforms, the make command should be replaced by the gmake command. The make status command is
optional and can be used to report the internal value contents. In particular, the version and the
installation parameters are reported.
Configuration
The afnix-setup command can be invoked to setup a particular configuration. You should have your compiler
on your search path. Normally, the command given below is enough.
zsh> ./cnf/bin/afnix-setup -o --prefix=/usr/local/afnix
This command checks that the target platform can be detected and configured. The -o option configures the
compilation in optimized mode. Use the -g option can be used to configure the build process in debug
mode. The --prefix option sets the installation directory. Note that the compilation process is done in
the distribution tree and that the --prefix option affects only the installation operations. The -v
option is the verbose option. Other options are available for fine tuning.
Option Description Default
-h Print a help message n/a
-v Set the verbose mode n/a
-g Set the debug mode yes
-o Set the optimized mode no
--help Same as -h n/a
--prefix Set the target install directory /usr/local
--shrdir Set the shared install directory /usr/local/share
--altdir Set the alternate install directory /usr/local
--sdkdir Set the system kit directory platform dependent
--compiler Set the default compiler platform dependent
--proctype Set the processor type generic
--dynamic Compile and link dynamically yes
--static Compile and link statically no
--openmp Enable the optional openmp compilation no
The prefix option set the root installation directory. The binary and library installation directories
are derived from it. The shrdir set the shared installation directory which is normally used for the
installation of the manual pages on most popular systems. the altdir sets the alternate installation
directory. Normally this path should be empty as it affects the path for the etc directory. This flag
should be used when using a prefix to unusual destination. the sdkdir option sets the path of the
platform system development kit. This option is only used with the Darwin platform. The compiler option
can be used to force a particular compiler with the help of a compiler configuration file. The proctype
option can be used to force a particular processor architecture. The -s or --static option can be used to
build a static executable. Normally, this option should not be used since it restrict the use of
extension modules. The dynamic controls whether or not the dynamic libraries should be built. This option
is detected automatically for a particular platform and should be used only by package maintainer. There
exists also specific options which are mostly for package maintainers. At this time, the build process
integrates the Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora specific packaging mechanism.
Option Description Default
--package Set the type of package to support none
--pkgbin Set the optional package bin directory none
--pkglib Set the optional package lib directory none
--pkgprj Set the optional package project directory none
--pkghdr Set the optional package header directory none
--pkgetc Set the optional package etc directory none
--pkgman Set the optional package manual directory none
--pkgdoc Set the optional package documentation directory none
--pkgwww Set the optional package www directory none
Compiling the distribution
The compilation process is straightforward. With some platforms, the make accepts the -j that enables
concurrent operations.
zsh> make [-j]
This will build the complete distribution locally. If an error occurs, it is best to report it at the
(bugs@afnix.org) AFNIX bug report mail address.
Testing the distribution
The distribution contains all test suites. The test suites are compiled and executed with the following
command.
zsh> make test
This command run the test suites for each library as well as the test suites for each application client.
Most of the base library test suites are written in C++ with the application test suites written in the
core writing system.
Installing the distribution
Once the system has been built and tested, it can be installed. By default, the distribution tree is
installed into the /usr/local directory. This can be overwritten with the --prefix option during the
configuration process.
zsh> make install
There are several variables that controls the behavior of the install rule. Each variable has its default
value sets during the setup configuration. However, this variable can also be altered during the
installation process
Variable Description Default
PREFIX The root install directory /usr/local
SHRDIR The shared install directory /usr/local/share
ALTDIR The shared alternate directory /usr/local/etc
SDKDIR The system kit directory platform dependent
BINDIR The binary install directory prefix/bin
LIBDIR The library install directory prefix/lib
HDRDIR The header files install directory prefix/include/afnix
ETCDIR The extra files install directory altdir/etc/afnix
Installing the documentation
The documentation is installed independently of the software. The doc rule builds the documentation and
the publish rule installs the documentation. Several variables also control the documentation
installation path.
Variable Description Default
DOCDIR The documentation install directory shrdir/doc/afnix
MANDIR The manual pages install directory shrdir/man
Cleaning the distribution
The distribution is cleaned with the clean rule.
zsh> make clean
This rule does not clean the configuration. For a complete cleaning the reset rule is more appropriate.
zsh> make reset
Running AFNIX
The axi command invokes the interpreter. In order to operate properly, the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment
variable must be configured with the directory containing the shared libraries. If the libraries have
been installed in a standard location like /usr/local/lib, there is nothing to do.
Running some example
The directory exp contains various examples which can be run. Each example is labeled according to their
use in the volume 1 of the documentation set. Example 0101.als prints the message hello world. Example
0501.als prints various information about the system configuration.
zsh> axi 0501
major version number : 2
minor version number : 2
patch version number : 0
interpreter version : 2.2.0
operating system name : linux
operating system type : unix
afnix official uri : http://www.afnix.org
Special features
The build process provides several features that permits to customize the compilation process as well as
the nature of the final executable. Most of the time, these options are reserved for the package
maintainer and are given below for illustration purpose.
Target customization
The distribution can be configured to operate on a specific machine target. For example, a typical Linux
box will be compiled with the default compiler target, which is the 386 processor. You can force the
compilation to be optimized for a particular processor. This is done with the --proctype option of the
afnix-setup command. Currently the distribution supports the 586 and 686 architectures for the Intel
platform. The ultra architecture is valid for the SPARC platform.
zsh> cnf/bin/afnix-setup -o --prefix=/usr/local
--proctype=586
This command will configure the distribution to be compiled specifically for the Pentium architecture.
Special target extensions
Extensions are specific libraries or executables which are not build automatically during the build
process. The user is responsible to decide which extension is needed for the system All extensions are
located under the src/ext directory. Simply going into the appropriate directory and running the make
command will build the extension. The asi extension creates a static interpreter with all libraries
automatically included in the final executable. The extension is simply build with the following command.
Note that this extension overwrite the previous executable in the bld/bin directory.
zsh> make -C src/ext/asi
Extra files
The distribution comes with some extra files. The most important is the Emacs mode afnix-mode. The
original source file is written in Emacs Lisp and is available in the etc directory of the distribution.
This file should be installed according to the current Emacs installation.
MAINTAINER NOTES
This chapter contains additional notes for the package maintainer. They are also useful for anybody who
is in charge of integrating the distribution in a build process. The chapter describes the distribution
tree with more details.
The distribution tree
The distribution tree is composed of various directories. Each of them has a Makefile which can be called
locally or from the top level.
cnf
This directory contains the configuration distribution and various utilities. Normally you should
not touch it, unless you are using a compiler different than gcc.
src
This directory contains the complete source tree. The source code is written in C++. Normally this
directory is left untouched. If there are good reasons to modify it, please contact the
development team.
tst
This directory contains the complete test suites. The test suites are used by various programs
including the main interpreter, the compiler and the debugger. It shall be noted that the library
distribution also includes specific test suites.
doc
This directory contains the complete documentation written in in XML with a special DTD. It should
be left untouched.
etc
This directory contains various files associated with the distribution. Some files are useful to
be copied.
exp
This directory contains various examples. They are included for illustration purpose.
The process of building a package solely depends on the distribution type. Most likely, the standard
distribution should contain the binary executables as well as some configuration file and the manual
pages. The documentation and the development header files can put in separate packages.
Configuration and setup
The configuration process involves the use of the afnix-setup command located in the cnf/bin directory.
This command is used to configure the distribution. Package maintainers are encouraged to use it with
specific options.
Platform detection
The afnix-guess command is used during the configuration process to detect a supported platform. This
command can be run in stand-alone mode. Various options can be used to tune the type of information
requested.
Option Description
-h Print a help message
-n Print the platform name
-v Print the platform version
-M Print the platform major number
-m Print the platform minor number
-p Print the platform patch number
-t Print the processor type
Without option, the utility prints a platform and processor description string.
zsh> ./cnf/bin/afnix-guess
linux-2.6-ia32-generic
Platform defaults
The directory cnf/def contains a platform specific default file. The file determines what is the default
compiler and linking mode. This file is used by the afnix-setup command. For example, the afnix-
darwin.def file contains:
compiler: gcc
lktype : dynamic
lkmode : dylib
Such options instructs the configuration utility, that the default compiler is gcc and the linking mode
should operates in dynamic mode by using the dylib rule. These default values can be overwritten with the
equivalent option of the afnix-setup command. Note that the compiler version is automatically detected by
the system. The afnix-vcomp command will return the appropriate compiler version running on the target
system.
C++ source file conventions
THe source tree has two types of C++ files. The first type has the extension .cxx and the second type has
the extension .cpp. The .cxx -- and the associated .hxx -- files are only used to indicate a system
dependency. These files are found only in the src/lib/plt directory. The .cxx extension indicates that
the file might use system specific include files. The .cpp -- and the associated .hpp -- files are the
normal C++ source files. The .cpp extension is used to indicate that these files will not use a system
specific file. By default this rule is enforced in the compiler configuration file by specifying some
compiler flags which do not authorize such access.
Configuration files
The configurations files are located in the cnf/mak directory. Normally they should be left untouched.
The most important one is the afnix-rule.mak file that defines most of the compilation and linking rules.
Additionally, during the setup operation, the afnix-setup command creates several files in the bld/cnf
directory. The bld is the build directory. The afnix-plat.mak file is the platform configuration file and
the afnix-comp.mak is a link to the appropriate compiler configuration file.
Compilation
Normally, the compilation process is immediate. Just invoking the make command will do the job. However,
some package maintainer have the desire to overwrite some flags. Some options are provided to facilitate
this task.
EXTCPPFLAGS
This flag can be used to add some compilation flags for all .cpp files.
EXTCXXFLAGS
This flag can be used to add some compilation flags for all .cxx files.
EXTCCDEFINE
This flag can be used to add some compilation definitions for all source files.
EXTINCLUDES
This flag can be used to add some compilation paths for the .cxx files.
For example, it is common to have some maintainer to compile with both the debug and optimize flags. This
can be done with the following command (assuming an optimized configuration):
make EXTCPPFLAGS=-g EXTCXXFLAGS=-g
All include files, compiled libraries and executables are placed in the bld directory. This directory
contains the bld/bin for binaries, bld/lib for libraries and bld/hdr for the header files.
Building the package
The package can be built by accessing the bld directory or by invoking the install rule. The second
method is not recommended for package construction, since it might trigger some file installation without
any control. The etc directory contains some special files that might be used for the package
construction. A sample list of them is given hereafter.
afnix-mode.el
This file is the Emacs mode.
afnix-gud.el
This file is the debugger Emacs gud mode.
Specific makefile rules
The top level Makefile contains several rules that might be useful for the package maintainer.
status
This rule show the configuration status for each parameters with the version.
debug
This rule invokes the default configuration in debug mode.
optimized
This rule invokes the default configuration in optimized mode.
build
This rule invokes the default configuration in debug mode and compile the whole distribution. The
default install directory is /usr/local.
world
This rule invokes the default configuration in optimized mode and compile the whole distribution.
The default install directory is /usr/local.
test
This rule runs all test suites.
doc
This rule builds the documentation.
distri
This rule builds the distribution.
install
This rule installs the distribution.
publish
This rule installs the documentation.
clean
This rule cleans the distribution but keep the configuration.
reset
This rule resets the distribution including the configuration.
RELEASE NOTES
This chapter contains the release notes for the differents releases. Release notes are given in
descending order for a particular version. The standard notation is major.minor.patch which represents
respectively, the major, minor and patch number. A major version number changes indicates a substantial
change in the distribution, including new tools, application interface and license. A minor version
number change indicates noticeable change, with or without new tools but without application interface
change nor license change. Finally, a patch number change indicates a simple change to fix problem. There
is no additional features in a patch nor an application interface change.
Release 2.5
Release features
Core engine: clang compiler with C++11 support
The system infrastructure has been cleaned to support the clang compiler. The code has also been
cleaned to support the C++11 standard which is now the compilation default.
Core engine: standard library
A Style object to support ina generic way the formating operation for the literal objects.
Consequently, most of the literal objects have been cleaned and now support a format method that
operates with a Style argument. The PrintTable object has been enhanced to support column
extension and column style.
Math module: natural logarithm and mgs solver
The ln method is now the standard prefered name for the natural logarithm. Several bugs have been
fixed in the real matrix implementation with respect to the openmp implementation. A new solver
based on the Modified Gram-Schmidt algorithm. has been added. Note also that the direct solver
interface has been updated.
Working module: partial uri name
The Uri class has been enhanced to support partial uri path extraction.
Spreadsheet module: global enhancements
The spreadsheet module has been considerably overhauled. A new object Lstack has been added as a
literal stack which can be bound to the cell as a literal array. The sheet formating has been also
revisited to make profit of the new Style object has well as the printable transformation.
System module: performance meter
The Meter object has been added as a mean to help for the performance measurements.
Physics service: nuclear constants
A preliminary set of nuclear physics constants have been added.
Cloud service: workspace stream
The Workspace object has been enhanced to support output stream.
Web service: json mime
A JsonMime object has been added. It is designed to translate various object into a Javascript
object notation format. At this time, only the real data samples Rsamples object is supported.
Xml module: unicode conversion
The unicode conversion with reference has been updated to adapt itself to the stream or buffer
encoding during a write process.
Release 2.4
Release features
Core engine: unicode 6.3.0
The Unicode 6.3.0 database is now supported in this release.
Core engine: containers
The standard object incorporates an alias table which enables the mapping of property name in a
plist. The Trie object has been enhanced to support a reference index. The trie name mapping is
now obtained with the to-names method.
Core modules: sio module
The Intercom object has been enhanced to support a buffered serialization which was somehow
mandatory when operating in udp mode.
Core modules: net module
Numerous deadlocks in the socket class have been fixed as well as udp inconsistencies.
Core modules: mth module
The Qmr Krylov solver has been added as part as the iterative solver family. The krylov
convergence test has also been improved. The Qr solver has been added as part as the direct solver
family. The sparse matrix has been enhanced to support a generic iterator. The whole solver
architecture has been revisited and is now a class based architecture with a type driven factory.
Numerous bugs have been fixed. Vector and matrix now support row permutations.
Core engine: parallel support
This release incorporates an experimental support for OpenMP. The OpenMP threads are compatible
with the afnix threads and support is initially available in the math module. This option must be
enabled explicitelly in the build setup to be effective.
Core engine: cloud service
The session user registration id has been enhanced. The concept of cloud service is available
throuh the generic Xaas object, and more specifically with the Saas object. The Workspace object
has been enhanced with a public zone.
Release 2.3
Release features
Core engine: release 2.3.2
This is the relase 2.3.2. The release fixes the real samples array serialization.
Core engine: release 2.3.1
This is the release 2.3.1. Release 2.3.0 was an internal work which has not been distributed.
Core engine: interpreter line read
The interpreter object can read a line or a passphrase from the attached terminal.
Core engine: interpreter daemon and librarian
The interpreter can be put in daemon mode. This mean that a new detached processed is spawned with
the interpreter attached to it. The librarian has been simplified and the loader integrated inside
the interpreter.
Core engine: input stream
The input steam nom implements a stream consumption method designed to accumulate a stream content
into the stream buffer. Subsequently, the buffer can be converted into a string. The serialization
of eos has been fixed.
Core engine: string resolver
The resolver has been enhanced to map a file into a string. This methodology also applies to file
present in a librarian.
Core engine: property list
The Plist object has been enhanced to better support the merging operation.
Core engine: unicode 6.2.0
The Unicode 6.2.0 database is now supported in this release.
Core modules: mth module
The real matrix and vector implementation has been redesigned to support a unique sparse
representation. The serialization has also been added to these objects.
Core modules: csm module
The cloud object set has enhanced with an intercom cloud object which simplify the transmission of
registered cloud object. A cart and a cart set object have been added as a mean to store cloud
object. The session object and sessions set objects have been added. The session object has been
enhanced to produce the associated session cookie, with an augmented session closing mechanism.
Core modules: nwg module
The UriPath object has been added as a uri path manipulator for http server.
Core services: phy service
The silicon energy gap has been fixed to the standard value. The periodic table structure has been
revisited.
Core services: wax service
The xhtml form elements have been added to the service. A base element class has been also added
to almost all elements. The base class provides support for setting the common element attributes.
Release 2.2
Release features
Core engine: hurd platform
The Hurd platform is now supported in this release. Thanks to our contributor for delivering this
new platform.
Core engine: unicode 6.0.0
The Unicode 6.0.0 database is now supported in this release.
Core engine: object updates
The lexical analyzer is now an object in its own. It can be used to construct other object from a
string description.
Core modules: mth module
An automatic linear system verification has been added to the linear solver. Jacobi
preconditionner have been added to the Krylov solvers and Newton solvers have been improved.
Core services: phy service
The periodic table of the elements is under construction and should be completed soon. The table
will provides the information for each elements, including name, symbol and other physical
constants. The suport for intrinsic carrier concentration is now available. This is a cryptic
feature for people working on semiconductors.
Release 2.1
Release features
Core engine: superh processor
The SuperH processor is now supported in this release. The SuperH is a 32 bits processor.
Core engine: nan real number
The implementation now supports the concepts of Not a Number or NAN as a whole. A real object can
set and tested for NAN.
Core engine: indirect librarian resolver
The resolver has been enhanced to support indirect librarian reference.
Core modules: csm module
The personnal information management module has been renamed into the cloud session management or
afnix-csm module.
Core modules: mth module
The math module has been dramatically enhanced. The Rsamples object has been added for storing
data samples. Function and polynomial objects have added to support generic function computation.
The non-linear Newton system solver has been added as an object.
Core services: svg service
The Scalable Vector Graphic service has been added. The service provides the support for the SVG
1.1 standard and allows the automatic generation of SVG compliant code.
Core services: phy service
The Physics service has been added. The service provides the support for standard physics
operations. In particular, the most common physical constants are defined in this service.
Release history
08/24/2011: release 2.1.1
AFNIX 2.1.1 has been released. This is an emergency release that corrects a small problem in the
clean rule with the static directory.
Release 2.0
Release features
Core engine: standard objects
The BlockBuffer object has been added to the standard object library. Furthermore, the Buffer has
been adapted to operate as a base class for the block buffer and the shl method has been added to
the buffer object as a mean to shift the buffer. As consequence, the default operating mode for a
buffer is the BYTE mode. When operating with strings, the UTF8 mode might be more suitable. The
BitSet object has been renamed to Bitset and the interface has been cleaned. The Vector has been
cleaned. The object-p predicate has been fixed.
Core engine: thread engine
The thread engine has been completly redesigned and extensivelly tested on 32 and 64 bits
platforms. It is no longer a problem to operate with more than 32K threads simultanesouly.
Furthermore, the concept of thread pool has been added to the engine. The end-p predicate has been
added to the thread object to indicate a succesful thread completion.
Core engine: form reader
The Reader object has been added as a form reader. The reader parses an input stream and produces
a form until the end-of-stream. The Reader provides the support for string based execution.
Core engine: default librarian module
The Librarian object has been enhanced to support the concept of default exeution module. When
such module and when the interpreter is requested to do so, the module is automatically loaded
during the execution.
Core modules: nwg module
The HttpProto default version has been move to 1.1 for both the request and response objects.
Core modules: sio module
The InputMapped class has been enhanced to provide the facility for mapping buffer as well as
acting as a null character generator. The OuputBuffer object has been added as a buffer output
stream. With the addition of a form reader, the interpreter communication class Intercom has been
added to the standard i/o module.
Core modules: xml module
The XneCond object has been enhanced to support various xml object. The XmlPi has been enhanced to
support attributes derivation from the string value.
Core modules: itu module
The itu module is a new module. It has been added with a complete support for the ASN.1 standard.
ASN.1 is essential for the support of certificates.
Core clients: axs client
The axs client has been removed from the core distribution. All of the client functionalities are
now available in the spreadsheet module.
Release 1.9
Release features
Core engine: object unreference
The long awaited unref reserved keyword has been added as a mechanism to unreference a symbol.
Core engine: object predicate
The object-p predicate has been added as a standard predicate. The predicate is the negation of
the nil-p standard predicate. The method-p predicate has also been added as a standard predicate.
Core engine: stop/resume parsing
The file stream parsing has been enhanced with the help of the stop « and resume » characters.
When the stop characters is found, all parsing operations are suspended until a resume character
is found.
Core engine: extended exception attribute
The about symbol has been added to the exception object as extended exception reason. For a given
reason, the file name and line number is added to the exception reason.
Core engine: string objects
The Strvec string vector class has been added to the core library. The class is similar to the
Vector class except that it operates with strings and provides additional strings related methods.
Core engine: counter object
The Counter object has been added as a reserved object. The counter is designed to be used
directly in loop.
Core engine: library cleaning
The core library has been extensively cleaned in preparation for the next major release. In
particular, numerous memory leaks have been removed and some classes derivations have been fixed.
A major bug in the closure argument counting has also been discovered and fixed during this
process.
Core module: sio module
The Pathname object has been enhanced to detect the type of path associated with the object.
Additionally, a normalize method has been added.
Core module: sio module
The FileInfo object has been added to the module. The class provides an immediate access to the
principal file parameters such like it size or its modification time.
Core module: sio module
The NamedFifo object has been added to the module. The class provides the support for a large
string based fifo with file saving capabilities.
Core modules: nwg module
Several predicates and functions related to media type conversion have been added to the module.
In particular, a media type extension conversion has been implemented. The HttpResponse class has
been enhanced with several methods for status code checking.
Core modules: sec module
Support for the Digital Standard Algorithm, (aka DSA) as specified by FIPS-PUB 186-3 has been
added to the library. The implementation incorporates several new objects to manipulate
signatures.
Core modules: sec module
The RC2 block cipher algorithm has been added to the module.
Distribution: documentation
The documentation distribution rules have been rewritten and the "publish" rule has been added.
Release 1.8
Release features
Build process: reset rule
The distclean top level makefile rule has been renamed as reset.
Core engine: stream object
The stream engine has been cleaned with a new architecture. Two new objects InputStream and
OutputStream acts as the foundation of this new design.
Core modules: nwg module
The HttpProto, HttpRequest and HttpResponse objects have been completely rewritten. In the new
model, both objects can operate on the server and client side. The HttpReply object has been
removed.
Core modules: sec module
The Sha224 hash function has been added. This class concludes the implementation of all SHA family
hash functions. The Des class that supports the DES stream cipher has been added to the library.
Core modules: xml module
The XmlRoot class has been enhanced in order to ease the declaration node existence verification
as well as the encoding mode extraction.
Release 1.7
Release features
Core clients: random engine seeding
A new option controls the seeding of the random engine. By default, in debug mode, the random
engine is not seeded unless requested by the user. In optimized mode, which is the normal mode,
the random engine is seeded at initialization.
Core engine: base number object
The long awaited base number object has been added. The Number object serves the Integer, Real,
and Relatif objects. The base number object is designed to ease the task of formatting numbers.
Core engine: relatif number enhancements
The relatif number object has been enhanced to support extra methods that are used for large
number computation. This include the power and gcd computation which are used by the cryptographic
engine. In addition, the base arithmetic relatif methods have been optimized and certain corner
bugs in the division fixed.
Core engine: unicode database
The core engine has been updated with the new Unicode 5.1.0 database.
Core engine: serious bugs
A serious bug in the form synchronize engine that would cause an engine crash when a form is nil
has been fixed.
Core modules: sio module
A new object called Pathlist has been added to support the manipulation of path list. The object
is designed to ease the file name resolution in the presence of search path. The module has also
been extensively cleaned.
Core modules: mth module
A new module called afnix-mth has been added to the standard distribution. The module is designed
to integrate the base mathematical functions and objects available in the engine. With such
introduction, the random number generation has been moved into this module. Additionally, the
functions needed to generate prime numbers have been added to this module.
Core modules: sec module
A new module called afnix-sec has been added to the standard distribution. The module is designed
to integrate the security functions and cryptographic objects. Two new hasher objects have been
added to the security module. The Md2 object implements the MD2 message digest algorithm as
described in RFC 1319. The Md4 object implements the MD4 message digest algorithm as described in
RFC 1320. The standard key derivation functions KDF1 and KDF2 have been added to the security
module. The asymmetric cipher RSA has also been added to the security module and the Key object
has been updated to reflect this.
Release history
09/01/2008: release 1.7.1
AFNIX 1.7.1, the « An Armor release » has been released. This is an emergency release that
corrects a major problem within the evaluation process. Although, the problem has been fixed, it
involves a large piece of code, with a major redesign of the evaluation engine. It is therefore
recommended to upgrade the engine immediately.
08/08/2008: release 1.7.0
AFNIX 1.7.0, the « An Armor release » has been released. This is a major release that incorporates
numerous new features in the field of cryptography. The release also incorporates the latest 5.1.0
Unicode database.
Release 1.6
Release features
Core engine: object collection redesign
The core engine has been seriously modified to accommodate for a new object collection system (aka
garbage collection). The new system is more robust and provides new mechanism that will permit to
reclaim cyclic structure as well as destroying global object on demand.
Core engine: macos x support
The core engine has been adapted to support the new MACOS X Leopard operating system.
Release history
01/01/2008: release 1.6.0
AFNIX 1.6.0 has been released. This release provides is an intermediate candidate toward another
major release. The most important thing is that the object collection engine has been redesigned
and that MACOS X Leopard is now supported.
Release 1.5
Release features
Core engine: unicode 5.0 support
The core engine continues to be updated in order to better support the Unicode 5.0 standard. With
this release, the string normalization scheme is now in place and used by default internally. This
implies among other things, a better support for multiple diacritics as well as the beginning of
the standard collation algorithm.
Core engine: log file support
The Logger base class has been enhanced to support the generation of a log file. An output stream
can now be bound to the object.
Core engine: class defer support
The concept of class defer object has been added to the Class object. The defer mode is the
opposite of the infer mode and provides a mechanism for base class creation.
Core engine: print table header
The PrintTable object has been enhanced to support the concept of table header.
Core engine: exception re-throwing
The exception object what can be thrown with the reserved keyword throw. This provides a mechanism
to re-throw an exception.
Core engine: critical bug with return form
A critical bug in the core engine affecting the behavior of the return reserved keyword in a try
block has been fixed. A return form inside a try block was incorrectly generating an exception
which was subsequently caught by the try block.
Core modules: net module
The base network module has been enhanced to better operate with IPV6. In particular, when both
IPV4 and IPV6 stacks are present and a host name (typically localhost) have an address entry, the
socket constructor make sure it can build an object. The IPV6 address display has been rewritten.
Core modules: sio module
A new object called Pathname has been added to support the manipulation of system path. In
addition, two new functions mkdir and mhdir have been also added to support the directory
creation, both normally and hierarchically.
Core modules: nwg module
The Uri has been dramatically enhanced to conform to the RFC 3986. In particular, the path
representation for urn is now working properly. The cookie object has been massaged to support the
cookie version 1, although it does not seem to be supported (yet!) by the browsers.
Core modules: xml module
The xml module has been enhanced with a new parsing system called the simple model. In the simple
model, nodes are parsed in a linear fashion. The node content is available in the form of a string
and its interpretation is at the user discretion.
Core service: wax service
The afnix-wam service has been renamed as afnix-wax. The service has also been updated with two
new objects, namely the XmlMime and XhtmlMime which permits to build a mime representation of an
xml tree. Several xhtml objects have also been added to complete the collection. This include the
XhtmlScript for example.
Core service: xpe service
The afnix-xpe service has been added as a new service. The xml processing environment (xpe)
provides a xml processor that permits manipulate the whole xml tree with the help of various xml
processor features. In particular, the service provides the support for the xml include extension.
Core projects: apx project
This release incorporates for the first time, the concept of core project, which represents a
librarian or an application. The first project is the AFNIX protocol extension or apx which is a
message based protocol designed to transport request/reply messages within a client/server
environment. The message is built with the xml library and the librarian provides the
encapsulation layer.
Core projects: amd project
The AFNIX media dumper or amd project is a complete application designed to illustrate the design
of an application. The application permits to dump an uri content into a file.
Release history
06/08/2007: release 1.5.2
AFNIX 1.5.2 has been released. This is a minor release that fixes the build process with GCC 4.2.
04/21/2007: release 1.5.1
AFNIX 1.5.1 has been released. This is a minor release that fixes the documentation targets during
the build process.
04/18/2007: release 1.5.0
AFNIX 1.5.0 has been released. This release provides a xml processor in the form of a new service
module called 'xml processing environment' or xpe. The whole documentation generation is now fully
automated, thanks to the new xml processor. This release also provides a better support for the
'web application extension' or wax service. The support for the GNU/FreeBSD platform has also been
added in this release. As usual, this release comes with its wagon of bug fixes, notably this time
in the network field especially with IPV6 on the FreeBSD platform.
Release 1.4
Release features
Core engine: unicode 5.0 support
The core engine has been substantially changed to support the new Unicode 5.0 standard. As of now,
the engine is in place internally, but not fully activated. In particular, the string
normalization is implemented but not activated. The next release should incorporate the full
system with a change that should be transparent to the user.
Core language: instance inference
An instance inference mechanism -- which is equivalent to the concept of virtual constructor --
has been added to the core engine. Such system permits to derive top instance from a base instance
construction.
Core language: print table object
The PrintTable object has been enhanced with a dump method similar to the format method.
Core language: property list object
The Property and the Plist objects have been added to the standard library. a property is
name/value pair. The property list object is an iterable object that stores property objects.
Core modules: xml module
A new module called afnix-xml has been added. The module provides the foundation for a full xml
1.0/1.1 support. The module also includes a parser that permits to build xml tree. A xml tree
writer is also part of the module functionality. A xml processor is not yet available and is
expected in the next release.
Core modules: nwg module
A new module called afnix-nwg has been added. The module provides the support for the network
working group objects such like Uri object. The module also provides the foundation for the mime
support.
Core modules: web module
The afnix-web module has been removed and replaced by the afnix-wam service.
Core service: wam service
The afnix-wam service has been added as the first service into the core distribution. A service
differs from a module in the sense that it is a combination of different modules. The web
application management service depends on the xml and nwg modules. The service provides all the
functionality to support a http session, including xhtml page generation and cgi request reply.
Release history
01/28/2007: release 1.4.3
This release is a minor release that fixes the "install" rule in the etc directory.
01/01/2007: release 1.4.2
This release is a minor release that fixes the tcp socket read method that incorrectly handles a
connection reset by the peer. The Time class also incorporates a small fix for the to-rfc method.
11/09/2006: release 1.4.1
This release is a minor release that fixes the lexer for not parsing correctly some floating point
numbers. The standard i/o documentation is also fixed. A print media support is now available in
the documentation.
11/06/2006: release 1.4.0
This release incorporates the Unicode 5.0 standard as well as a brand new xml module. This release
also introduces the concept of service module, which provides additional functionalities on top of
regular modules. A new service module called web application management or wam is also introduced
with this release. This service module is based on the newly created xml module and replaces the
old web module which has been obsoleted immediately.
Release 1.3
Release features
Core language: ISO-8859 transcoding support
The core engine has been modified to integrate a character transcoder that permits the support all
ISO-8859 codesets which are mostly used for the encoding of european and arabic characters.
Depending on the locale settings, the transcoder automatically remaps the 8 bits characters into
their respective unicode character. All clients have been updated to detect their associated
locale and to set automatically the appropriate transcoder. A new option -e has been added to
force a particular encoding.
Core language: Logger base class
A logging base class has been added. The logging facility provides the interface to store messages
by time and level. This class is further extended in the modules.
Core language: Heap class
A heap class has been added. The heap can operate in ascending or descending mode. This class can
be used to support priority queue.
Core language: Option class
An option class has been added in order to ease the option capture when designing an application.
The class permits to define the valid options and offer a powerful retrieval mechanism.
Core language: Date class
The Time class has been completely changed and a new Date class has been added. The new mechanism
provides a better separation between the time and the date, increase the date range and authorizes
the support for multiple calendar.
Client: cross spreadsheet client
The axs client has been modified to support the axs:insert-marker, axs:insert-header and insert-
footer control commands.
Core modules: speadsheet module
The Folio and Sheet classes have been substantially updated to support additional information. The
Sheet also supports the concept of markers that marks the sheet columns by literals. The concept
of column tagging has been added with the associated search methods. All classes also contain an
information field. The importation mechanism now supports a cons cell that defines both the cell
name and the cell value.
Core modules: web module
The Table class has been modified to support the concept of table data header. The associated
methods have been added to the class and a new HtmlTh has been added. The concept of tag
propagation has also been added. If a tag element already exists, this one is not added. This is
particularly true for the class tag that is now part of the class constructor. The HtmlPage class
has been put in strict conformance with xhtml 1.1 and the XHtmlpage class has been removed.
Core modules: pim module
A new module called the afnix-pim module has been added to the base distribution. The personal
information management or pim module is designed to ease the management of personal information
and agenda.
Core modules: gfx module
A new module called the afnix-gfx module has been added to the base distribution. The module
contains the base class that supports the graph data structure which was previously part of the
standard library.
Release 1.2
Release features
Core language: Unicode support
The core engine has been substantially modified to integrate the support for Unicode characters.
Depending on the system settings the reader automatically adjust itself to operate in byte mode or
in UTF-8 mode. The String and Character classes are now operating with a Unicode representation.
The design of an Unicode based engine also impacts several classes like the Regex, Buffer and
stream classes. A new class called Byte is also designed to handle byte character. A new stream
model with a base Stream class has also been added. The full support with Unicode character is not
yet completed. In particular, certain codesets are not supported at all. This is particularly true
with case-conversion functions.
Core language: orphan instance and reparenting
The object model now supports the creation of orphan instance which is an instance without a class
attached to it. The instance can be later bound to a class and such class can even be changed
during the course of the program execution.
Core modules: network module
The Address class has been updated to reflect the access to address aliases.
Core modules: text processing module
The Literate class has been updated to reflect the support of Unicode characters. The class can
operate both in byte mode or in Unicode character mode.
Release 1.1
Release features
Core language: Large file support
Support for the large file system has been added in the base distribution. All input/output
operations as long as they are supported by the operating system are now done in 64 bits mode.
Core libraries: Secure hash algorithm
The cryptographic library incorporates the support for the SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512
hash algorithms.
Core libraries: Standard symmetric cipher
The cryptographic library incorporates the support for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as a
symmetric cipher.
Core libraries: ODC library renamed
The ODC library has been renamed to SPS which stands for spreadsheet library. This new name is
considered more appropriate for the function the library achieves.
Core libraries: xhtml 1.1 support
The XhtmlPara class is now configured to support XHTML 1.1 with utf-8 encoding.
Documentation: XML based documentation
The documentation has been rewritten completely in XML. A DTD as well as the necessary XSLT style
sheets have also been designed to produce a professional documentation which can be used for
printing or for online browsing.
Release history
10/04/2005: release 1.1.2
This release incorporates a fix for a terminal capability error.
08/25/2005: release 1.1.1
This release incorporates fixes for several build problems with the FreeBSD platform.
08/19/2005: release 1.1.0
The 1.1 release is yet another milestone that incorporates a full redesign of the documentation
tree as well as the inclusion of the cryptographic library that features some original
implementations. The full documentation is now available in XML format and can be accessed online.
Release 1.0
The 1.0 release is the initial release. This release replaces the old ALEPH programming language which
has been discontinued.
Release history
04/19/2005: release 1.0.3
This release incorporates the necessary files that support GCC 4. It also provides some minor
fixes that were preventing the compilation on some 64 bits platforms.
03/02/2005: release 1.0.2
This release incorporates a minor fix that could cause the build process to fail.
02/16/2005: release 1.0.1
This release incorporates a minor fix that could cause the build process to fail.
01/16/2005: release 1.0.0
This is the primary release 1.0.0 which originated from the ALEPH programming language and which
has been discontinued. A complete history of the language is provided in the description page.