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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>STDLIB Release Notes (Old)</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>This document describes the release notes for older versions
of the <CODE>stdlib</CODE> application.


<H2>Stdlib 1.9.4</H2>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
Dets file repair failed with {error, eaccess} on the Windows
platforms in stdlib-1.9.3 (patched R7B). This is now corrected
and dets files can be repaired.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3909<br>
Aux Id: Seq 5146


<LI>
Ets:info/2 and dets:info/2 no longer returns values other than
'undefined' for non existing ets/dets tables. The behaviour is
now as described in the documentation.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3877<br>
Aux Id: Seq 5112


<LI>
The (betatest) ets:select/2 call in R7B may no longer
crash the emulator. This only affects customers beta testing
this functionality.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3882


</UL>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
The <CODE>ets</CODE> module now contains iterator functions
<CODE>foldl/3</CODE> and <CODE>foldr/3</CODE> analogous to the ones
in the <CODE>lists</CODE> module.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3746

<LI>
Somewhat faster repair of dets files.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3782<br>
Aux Id: OTP-3746


</UL>

<H2>Stdlib 1.9.1 (R7B)</H2>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
A new better and more portable hash BIF, <code>erlang:phash/2</code>, has been
introduced. The <code>dets</code> module will use the <code>erlang:phash/2</code>
for newly created tables. To rebuild an old table and start to use the
new hash BIF, give the <code>{repair,force}</code> option to <code>dets:open_file/2</code>.
See the documentation.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3397

<LI>
Function c:memory/[0,1] added. It can be used to
retrieve current memory allocation status,
see the documentation of the c module.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3698


<LI>
A new predefined macro has been introduced:
<CODE>?MODULE_STRING</CODE>, which expands to the name of the
current module, as a string.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3705<br>
Aux Id: OTP-3706


</UL>
<H2>Stdlib 1.9 (R7A)</H2>
<H3>Known problems</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
If Erlang is started with longnames
(e.g., <code>erl -name foo</code>),
then <code>slave:start/1</code> on a nonexistent host exits
instead of returning an error tuple.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2635


<LI>
Excessively large variable numbers in the matching functions
in the <CODE>ets</CODE> module can crash Erlang or block it for
a long time, e.g., <CODE>ets:match(Table, '$123456789')</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3064


<LI>
The shell allows patterns which do not have pattern syntax
(for example function calls); they become patterns which
always fail to match.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3284


<LI>
When using the <CODE>warn_unused_vars</CODE> option to the compiler,
warnings may be incorrectly
given for variables used within list comprehensions.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3412


</UL>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
Exporting variables from a <CODE>catch</CODE>, which is not legal
Erlang, was not caught by the linter in OTP R6, but caused the
compiler to crash instead.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3440


<LI>
Using functions in the <CODE>io</CODE> module to do I/O on a
remote node could hang if the file process had terminated.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3497<br>
Aux Id: OTP-2400


<LI>
In OTP R6, if there were many <CODE>case</CODE>, <CODE>if</CODE>
or <CODE>receive</CODE> constructions
in one function and variables were exported from them,
<CODE>erl_lint</CODE> (and thus compilation)
could consume too much memory, even making compilation
impossible.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3504


<LI>
The (previously undocumented) function
<CODE>gen_server:multi_call/4</CODE> reported good nodes as bad,
if one of the nodes was on an unreachable host.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3587<br>
Aux Id: Seq 4568, OTP-3588


</UL>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
The <CODE>win32reg</CODE> module has now been documented.
At the same time, a few problems were fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1704


<LI>
The construction <CODE>??Arg</CODE> for an argument to a macro
expands to a string containing the tokens of the argument,
similar to the <CODE>#arg</CODE> stringifying construction in C.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3425


<LI>
Calls using <CODE>gen_server</CODE>, <CODE>gen_fsm</CODE> and
<CODE>gen_event</CODE> to a process on another node no longer
hang indefinitely if the timeout is <CODE>infinity</CODE> and
the process doesn't exist. The exit reason in that case
is <CODE>noproc</CODE> (for local
processes, this change was made already in OTP R5).
<br>Own Id: OTP-3470<br>
Aux Id: OTP-3074


<LI>
Warnings for variables exported from a <CODE>case</CODE>,
<CODE>if</CODE> or <CODE>receive</CODE> are now
only given if the variables are later used within a
pattern.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3475


<LI>
The sets and dict modules have been updated. There are now
the following modules: <CODE>dict</CODE> (unorded dictionary),
<CODE>orddict</CODE> (ordered dictionary), <CODE>sets</CODE> (unordered set),
and <CODE>ordsets</CODE> (ordered set). The API functions have
been extended to allow more efficient updates of sets and
dictionaries. Some API functions are now considered deprecated.
See the documentation for each module.
<br>
<p>Note that <CODE>dict</CODE> module uses a new internal representation.
Applications that bypassed the documented API functions and
assumed that dictionaries were lists will no longer work.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-3519


<LI>
Bug-fix in <CODE>digraph</CODE>: one can no longer create loops 
in acyclic graphs. New functions in <CODE>digraph</CODE>: 
<CODE>info/1</CODE>, <CODE>no_vertices/1</CODE>, <CODE>no_edges/1</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3522


<LI>
The new module <CODE>digraph_utils</CODE> implements some
algorithms based on depth-first traversal of directed graphs.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3523


<LI>
The function <CODE>gen_server:multi_call/4</CODE>, which was
previously undocumented, is now documented.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3588<br>
Aux Id: OTP-3587


<LI>
Bug-fix in <CODE>digraph</CODE>: <CODE>get_path/3</CODE> and 
<CODE>get_cycle/2</CODE> no longer occasionally duplicate the 
first vertex in the presence of a loop.
New functions in <CODE>digraph</CODE>: <CODE>get_short_path/3</CODE> and 
<CODE>get_short_cycle/2</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3630


<LI>
The new module <CODE>beam_lib</CODE> reads data from BEAM files.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3637


<LI>
The system event {out, ...} that gen_server
generates now includes State. See the documentation
for gen_server, System Events.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3651


<LI>
The gen_ family (mostly gen_server and gen_fsm)
and rpc has been rewritten to use the new BIF
erlang:monitor/2 as much as possible. This should
improve performance and remove some possibilities 
of hanging gen_server calls. In particular, 
gen_server:multi_call/2..4 and 
rpc:multi_server_call/2,3 should now never hang,
at least not when all nodes are of this
release. See also the documentation for 
gen_server and rpc.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3660


</UL>


<H2>Stdlib 1.8.1</H2>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
<CODE>lists:sort/2</CODE> is stable again.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3344


<LI>
The command-completion feature of the shell has been
improved. Pressing the tab key now also lists possible completions
(but only if no new character was added to the completion).
<br>Own Id: OTP-3354


</UL>
<H2>Stdlib 1.8</H2>
<H3>Known problems</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
If Erlang is started with longnames
(e.g., <code>erl -name foo</code>),
then <code>slave:start/1</code> on a nonexistent host exits
instead of returning an error tuple.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2635


<LI>
Excessively large variable numbers in the matching functions
in the <CODE>ets</CODE> module can crash Erlang or block it for
a long time, e.g., <CODE>ets:match(Table, '$123456789')</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3064


<LI>
The shell allows patterns which do not have pattern syntax
(for example function calls); they become patterns which
always fail to match.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3284


</UL>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
When <CODE>c:c(File, Options)</CODE> was used with options such
that an intermediate file was produced instead of an
object file (e.g., 'S'), it still tried to load an object
file (which would be the old one, if one existed).
<br>
This has been changed. A warning message will be printed
(<CODE>Warning: No object file created - nothing loaded</CODE>)
and no object file will be loaded even if an (older) object
file exists.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3056<br>
Aux Id: OTP-3054


<LI>
Erlang shell line editing (e.g., M-B to back up over a word)
didn't handle all Latin-1 characters correctly.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3158


<LI>
<CODE>ets:tab2list/1</CODE> returned the list in the wrong order
for a table of type <CODE>ordered_set</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3319


</UL>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
The new lint option <CODE>{warn_format, Verbosity}</CODE> causes
warnings to be given for malformed calls to <CODE>io:format</CODE>
and some similar functions. <CODE>Verbosity</CODE> is an integer
which determines the amount of warnings to give (0 = no
warnings).
<br>Own Id: OTP-1387


<LI>
Dets now has a write through caching mechanism as well as
an auto save feature. Dets more seldom needs to repair files.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1831<br>
Aux Id: OTP-1526


<LI>
Many functions in stdlib do not enforce the types which the
functions are documented to accept, thus resulting in
undefined behaviour when given arguments of invalid type.
Stricter error checking has been added to some functions in
stdlib, namely
<CODE>io:get_chars</CODE>,
<CODE>lists:keymember/3</CODE>,
<CODE>lists:keysearch/3</CODE>,
<CODE>lists:keydelete/3</CODE> and
<CODE>lists:keyreplace/4</CODE>,
resulting in an exit if an invalid argument is given.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-2689<br>
Aux Id: OTP-2441


<LI>
New functions <CODE>lists:sort(Fun, List)</CODE> and
<CODE>lists:merge(Fun, List1, List2)</CODE> can be used for
sorting/merging with respect to any criterion;
<CODE>Fun(A,B)</CODE> should
return whether <CODE>A</CODE> comes before <CODE>B</CODE> in the
ordering.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2948


<LI>
A new function <CODE>c:bt(Pid)</CODE>, available in the shell
without module prefix, shows a stack backtrace for a
process (i.e., calls <CODE>erlang:process_display(Pid,
backtrace)</CODE>).
<br>Own Id: OTP-3122


<LI>
The new function <CODE>c:q()</CODE> (also defined in the module
<CODE>shell_default</CODE> so that the module prefix need not be
given in the shell) calls <CODE>init:stop</CODE>, and thus provides
a short command to stop Erlang in a controlled way.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3123


<LI>
The functions <CODE>behaviour_info/[0,1]</CODE> have been
removed from the module <CODE>systools</CODE>.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-3159<br>
Aux Id: OTP-1965


<LI>
The function <CODE>c:i()</CODE> now gives two lines of information
for each process, including: heap size, stack size,
registered name.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3160


<LI>
The output functions in the <CODE>io</CODE> module
no longer return an error term in case of
errors; they exit instead.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-3178


<LI>
The new lint option <CODE>warn_unused_vars</CODE> causes warnings to
be given for variables which are not used (unless they begin
with an underscore, in which case no warning is given).
<br>Own Id: OTP-3181


<LI>
Parenthesis-matching in the shell has been improved.
A new command key ^] performs
visible parenthesis blink, like the closing characters
(i.e., ')', '}' or ']'),
but it also inserts the proper matching character.
The closing characters now beep if the matching opening
character isn't of the right kind.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3250


<LI>
Enable the supervisor to handle other replies than {ok, Pid} when starting children.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3251


<LI>
The erl_internal:builtins/0 function has been removed.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-3300


<LI>
Due to an oversight, the following improvement was
left out of the documentation in previous releases:
The operator <CODE>--</CODE> performs list subtraction.
It is also available as the function <CODE>lists:subtract/2</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3318


<LI>
The following functions in the <CODE>lists</CODE> module now have
a faster implementation compared to previous releases:
<CODE>map/2</CODE>, <CODE>last/1</CODE>, <CODE>keysearch/3</CODE>,
<CODE>keymember/3</CODE> and all sorting functions.
The functions <CODE>member/2</CODE>, <CODE>reverse/2</CODE>,
<CODE>keysearch/3</CODE> and <CODE>keymember/3</CODE> are now
entirely implemented as BIFs.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3334


<LI>
Ets tables on remote nodes can no longer be accessed directly.
Also, the format of the table identifiers returned by
<CODE>ets:open/2</CODE> have changed. Incorrectly written applications
that assume that the table identifier is a tuple will no
longer work.
<br>
Most functions in the <CODE>ets</CODE> module are now BIFs. The internal
and undocumented BIFs that the <CODE>ets</CODE> module used to call
have been removed. Applications that incorrectly used the those
BIFs directly will no longer work.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-3337


</UL>




<H2>Stdlib 1.7</H2>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
Erlang shell line editing (e.g., M-B to back up over a word)
didn't handle all Latin-1 characters correctly.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3158

</UL>

<H2>Stdlib 1.6.1</H2>

<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
When a module with behaviour <CODE>gen_server</CODE>,
<CODE>gen_event</CODE> or <CODE>gen_fsm</CODE> was compiled, warnings
were given for
absent call-back functions, except for <CODE>code_change</CODE>.
Now, a warning is given for absent <CODE>code_change</CODE> as
well.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3148<br>
Aux Id: OTP-3072, OTP-3026


</UL>
<H2>Stdlib 1.6</H2>

<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
The previously undocumented function <CODE>queue:to_list/1</CODE>
didn't work properly. Now, it returns the elements of
the queue, the oldest first in the list.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2701<br>
Aux Id: Seq 1069


<LI>
A tab in the Erlang shell (modulename completion) could
block a big system (&gt;1000 modules) for several seconds and
consumed a huge amount of memory. The reason for this was that 
<CODE>append</CODE> was used to create the list of all modules and
this is very inefficient. This has now been corrected: 
1) <CODE>code:all_loaded</CODE> no longer uses append. 2)  <CODE>append</CODE>
and
all other BIFs can no longer consume unlimited amounts of
memory before a garbage collection occurs.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2708


<LI>
<CODE>erl_parse:abstract/1</CODE> crashed when given terms such
as <CODE>[4|5]</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2836


<LI>
The module <CODE>erl_id_trans</CODE> didn't handle unary operators
before numeric literals, or the Mnemosyne <CODE>query</CODE>
expression.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2838


<LI>
C-nodes previously could get an rpc:call trying to execute
process_info on the C-node. C-nodes are so called "hidden" 
nodes and should not get any rpc calls by accident. This is
now corrected.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2953


<LI>
<CODE>erl_scan:string/[1,2]</CODE> handled comments incorrectly.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2986


<LI>
<CODE>ets:match_object/2</CODE> is made faster by removing a
<CODE>receive after 1</CODE> and letting the internal BIF 
db_match_object decide
if the current process should be rescheduled.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2987<br>
Aux Id: Seq 1500


<LI>
ets:match_delete now works correctly for the duplicate_bag
ets table type.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3005<br>
Aux Id: Seq 1512


<LI>
The handling of the freelist in <CODE>dets</CODE> is 
made more efficient. In the previous version of dets
the <CODE>dets:close/1</CODE> could take several hours in the worst
case because of computation which tried to combine the
freelist. This is now corrected and the new version has
significantly better performance in dets:open_file and
dets:close  while having the same or marginally 
worse performance on dets:delete. The time it takes 
to open or close a dets file is now always short (at the seconds
level at worst , in the most cases much faster).
<br>Own Id: OTP-3025


<LI>
<CODE>erl_pp:form/[1,2]</CODE> now format upper-case record
names correctly; previously the necessary quoting was left
out. This affected for example the tools <CODE>cover</CODE>
and <CODE>coast</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3058, OTP-2952<br>
Aux Id: OTP-2952


<LI>
If the argument to the attribute <CODE>-include_lib</CODE> didn't
contain a '/', the compilation/preprocessing crashed,
instead of giving a proper error message.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3073


<LI>
<CODE>erl_lint:is_guard_test/1</CODE> did not accept
floating-point literals. This caused execution using
<CODE>erl_eval</CODE> (for example in the shell) to behave
incorrectly when floating-point literals occurred in guards.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3091


</UL>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
The erl_tar:table/2 function now returns more information
about each member in the tar file if given the <CODE>verbose</CODE>
option.  Tww new functions, erl_tar:t/1 and erl_tar:tt/2,
prints the members of the tar file instead of returning them.
The <CODE>tt/1</CODE> function simply prints the name of each member
(like 'tar t'), while <CODE>tt/2</CODE> prints more information
similar to 'tar tv'.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2520


<LI>
For consistency, <CODE>lists:seq(N,N,0)</CODE> now returns
<CODE>[N]</CODE> instead of giving an error.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-2613


<LI>
The syntax of Erlang tokens has been extended to
allow the use of the full ISO-8859-1 (Latin-1)
character set. This is noticeable in the following
ways: all the Latin-1 printable characters can be used
and are shown without the escape backslash convention;
atoms and variables can use all Latin-1 letters.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2985


<LI>
The result of <CODE>c:m(Module)</CODE> contains a tuple
<CODE>{time, Time}</CODE> which represents the date and time of
compilation
of the module. Previously, the time was in the local timezone
of the compilation. Since there is no record of what that
timezone was, the time information was unreliable, and
has been changed to always be in GMT (if the underlying
system supports it - in other words, what
<CODE>erlang:universaltime/0</CODE> returns).
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-3012


<LI>
The <CODE>export_all</CODE> compilation option no longer produces one
warning for each function defined in a module; it produces
one single warning (since <CODE>export_all</CODE> shouldn't be used
in production code).
<br>Own Id: OTP-3020


<LI>
When compiling, warnings for functions which are not used
are now given also for functions which call only themselves.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3021<br>
Aux Id: OTP-1007


<LI>
Due to an oversight, the following improvement was
left out of the documentation in previous releases:
<p>
The variables used in the matching functions in the
<CODE>ets</CODE> module are not
restricted to '$0' to '$9' anymore.
<br>Own Id: OTP-3063


<LI>
The <CODE>gen_server:call</CODE> now uses the new BIF <CODE>monitor/2</CODE> which
makes it possible to monitor the death of processes. This 
makes the  call safer and the feedback to the
caller will be immediate if the serving process has died
or dies when it services the call. Previously the only 
way to prevent a hanging here was to use the <CODE>Timeout</CODE> argument
to the call function. A potential incompability is that the
<CODE>gen_server:call</CODE> and comparable functions in the 
<CODE>gen_event</CODE> and <CODE>gen_fsm</CODE> modules now can exit
with another reason than <CODE>timeout</CODE> when the server has
terminated its execution. The new reason is <CODE>noproc</CODE>.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-3074


<LI>
A note on forward compatibility. Users are urged to refrain
from using the following constructions: 1) numeric ASCII
codes for characters; 2) strings spanning several lines;
3) the character constant "<CODE>$ </CODE>" to produce a space.
These constructions are still legal, but will produce
warnings in future releases, and at some point may be
removed from the language.
Instead, use: 1) character constant syntax; 2) the
escape code "<CODE>\n</CODE>"; 3) the character constant
"<CODE>$\s</CODE>".
<br>Own Id: OTP-3083

</UL>


<H2>Stdlib 1.5.2</H2>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
<CODE>ets:file2tab</CODE> which uses <CODE>disk_log</CODE> now uses the <CODE>read_only</CODE> option to <CODE>disk_log:open</CODE>
when it opens the file.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1716<br>
Aux Id: OTP-1765


<LI>
On Unix, if the name of the current directory contained a blank,
<CODE>os:cmd/1</CODE> would fail.  This has been corrected.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2026


<LI>
It was possible for ets:all/1 to include malformed table
identifiers in the result. This has been fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2214


<LI>
The compiler previously silently accepted that a module
defined a function with the same name and arity as an
imported function. This now causes an error.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2338<br>
Aux Id: seq 793


<LI>
erl_scan:string/1 used to exit in many situations where it
should return an error tuple. This has been fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2347


<LI>
When given a bad first argument, io:format/3, io:fwrite/3 and
io:fread/3 could hang instead of returning an error.
This has been fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2400


<LI>
lists:seq/3 hanged instead of exiting for some invalid
arguments; e.g., lists:seq(1, 5, -1). This has been fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2404


<LI>
Guard expressions could cause exit when used in shell
and erl_eval, instead of causing the guard to fail.
This has been fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2405


<LI>
missing parameter, Id, in 
application_controller:do_change_appl/3 fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2681<br>
Aux Id: seq 1029


<LI>
The low level process interface 'proc_lib' used by
itself and also by generic servers has a syncronisation
bug. The scenario is
<br>
1. Process A calls proc_lib:spawn() returning
the process id B of the child. The function
will wait for an answer from the child.
<br>
2. The function times out waiting for an answer
from the child using proc_lib:init_ack().
<br>
3. Process A tries again calling proc_lib:spawn()
returning process id C. But now the child B
has answered and because the wait function
doesn't check where the answer comes from
it believes that it was process C that
was succeeding.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2702<br>
Aux Id: seq1051


</UL>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
erl_lint now gives warnings for some useless
constructions which are usually the result of misspellings,
e.g., "7(X)", or "s#state{nr=1}".
<br>Own Id: OTP-1927<br>
Aux Id: OTP-1961


</UL>
<H2>Stdlib 1.5.1</H2>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
keysort/2 is now stable (i.e., it preserves the order
of elements which have the same key).
Bad arguments now cause an exit, instead of just silently
returning the input list.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-2300


<LI>
A call to dets:open_file/1 resulting in an error could
cause both the caller and the dets server to hang.
This has been fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2399


<LI>
The documentation for erl_parse:parse_term/1 incorrectly
stated that it returns the abstract form of a term, so that
parse_term/1 and tokens/1 are the inverses of each other.
Actually, erl_parse:parse_term/1 returns the term itself.
The documentation has been changed to reflect this.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2401


</UL>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
Many functions in stdlib do not enforce the types which the
functions are documented to accept, thus resulting in
undefined behaviour when given arguments of invalid type.
Stricter error checking has been added to some functions in
stdlib, namely lists:sublist/[2,3] and lists:keysort/2,
resulting in an exit if an invalid argument is given.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-2441<br>
Aux Id: OTP-2300, OTP-2689


<LI>
ets:i/0 used to truncate entries which didn't fit in the
designated field. Now, nothing is truncated - the remaining
entries are pushed to the right instead.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2524


</UL>
<H2>R3B02 (Stdlib 1.4.2)</H2>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
<CODE>dets</CODE> can now repair files even if parts of the segment 
array is truncated. The problem occured when <CODE>mnesia</CODE> 
was used.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2056<br>
Aux Id: seq 559, OTP-2042


<LI>
The compiler (on jam systems) did report "error head-mismatch"
on the wrong line (the last instead of the first head-mismatch).
This is corrected.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2125<br>
Aux Id: seq 616


<LI>
A <CODE>dets</CODE> internal problem with <CODE>split_to_binary</CODE> 
which caused mnesia user problems is fixed.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2156<br>
Aux Id: seq 636


<LI>
If the system was halted when <CODE>dets</CODE> is in the middle of
repairing a small file (i.e a file that is repaired in RAM), this could result in a corrupt <CODE>dets</CODE> file. This is now corrected. The version of
the <CODE>dets</CODE> file format is stepped to 8 and version 6 and 7
files are automatically upgraded when they are opened.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2221<br>
Aux Id: seq 672


<LI>
In previous R3 releases, <CODE>slave:start/X</CODE> didn't 
work if <CODE>erl</CODE>
was started with long names (<CODE>-name Name</CODE>).
<br>Own Id: OTP-2288<br>
Aux Id: seq 746


<LI>
<CODE>dets</CODE> is now put under control of a supervisor when it is started.
This corrects the earlier problem that caused <CODE>dets</CODE> to be terminated when mnesia was terminated even though there could be other users of <CODE>dets</CODE>.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2296<br>
Aux Id: seq 754


<LI>
<CODE>ets:new/2</CODE> could case the whole emulator to crash if
called with a not well formed list as second argument.
Example: <CODE>ets:new(a,[set|protected])</CODE> which should
result in <CODE>{'EXIT',{badarg,Reason}}</CODE> and not make the emulator 
to crash. This is corrected.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2314<br>
Aux Id: seq 769


<LI>
A <CODE>dets</CODE> file must be closed by the owner (i.e the
process that opened it). <CODE>{error, not_owner}</CODE> will be
returned if another process tries to close the file.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2393


</UL>
<H2>R3B (Stdlib 1.4.1)</H2>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
If the evaluator exits while the shell is reading a new prompt,
the exit message will be printed immediately.
<br>Own Id: OTP-2085<br>
Aux Id: seq 592


</UL>
<H2>R3A (Stdlib 1.4)</H2>
<H3>Fixed errors and malfunctions</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
In dets tables of type bag an object could sometimes be 
duplicated by mistake. This is corrected.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1642


<LI>
The ets:info/2 BIF used to fail with badarg if the table
didn't exist, contrary to the documentation which
states that undefined should be returned.
The implementation has been corrected.
This might break existing code that evaluated ets:info/2
within a catch and assumed that an nonexisting table was
indicated by an 'EXIT' tuple.
<br>(*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***)
<br>Own Id: OTP-1868<br>
Aux Id: seq 418


<LI>
The function sys:log_to_file didn't close old files, 
this is corrected.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1977


</UL>
<H3>Improvements and new features</H3>

<UL>

<LI>
The function nativename/1 has been added to the filename
module.  It converts a filename to a form acceptable for
command shell and native applications on the currently
running platform.  Specifically, on Windows it replaces
slashes with backslashes.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1632


<LI>
Enhancements in dets: Support for etimated_no_objects.
Dets now uses ram_files pread and pwrite which results in
significantly improved performance for certain operations.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1641


<LI>
The documentation regarding terminate and trap_exits is
improved for the gen_* modules.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1755


<LI>
The following functions are added to the module calendar:
now_to_local_time/1, 
now_to_universal_time/1  (== now_to_datetime/1), 
local_time_to_universal_time/1, 
universal_time_to_local_time/1.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1801


<LI>
New table option 'duplicate_bags' added to both ets and dets.
A 'duplicate_bag' table can have several identical objects.
<br>Own Id: OTP-1810


</UL>

<A NAME="1"><!-- Empty --></A><H2>1 Stdlib 1.3.2</H2><A NAME="1.1"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>1.1 Incompatibilities with Stdlib 1.3.1</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     Because of the major updates to the <CODE>slave</CODE> module a
         version of OTP with this new slave module as described
         here *cannot* start slave nodes on computers using an
         older version of OTP, and vice versa.

         <BR>
The return values from <CODE>slave</CODE> on error are
         changed (atoms are used instead of strings).

         <BR>
Own Id:OTP-1463
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="1.2"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>1.2 Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     <CODE>filename:basename(&#34;/foo/bar/&#34;)</CODE> returned wrong
         result: <CODE>[]</CODE>. The last <CODE>/</CODE> should be ignored and
         the result should be <CODE>&#34;bar&#34;</CODE>.

         <BR>
Own Id:OTP-1451
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="1.3"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>1.3 Improvements and new features</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     <CODE>slave:start</CODE> is enhanced to work on other platforms
         (e.g WIN32). Previously it was UNIX specific.

         <BR>
Own Id:OTP-1463
        <BR>
<LI>     The <CODE>timer</CODE> module is modified to be a gen_server
         and is now supervised by the safe kernel supervisor.

         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1469
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="2"><!-- Empty --></A><H2>2 Stdlib 1.3.1</H2><A NAME="2.1"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>2.1 Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     <CODE>ets</CODE> tables created before the system was converted to a
         distributed system could not be accessed then the system
         became distributed. The representation of the <CODE>ets</CODE> table
         identifier is thus changed.
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1393
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="3"><!-- Empty --></A><H2>3 Stdlib 1.3</H2><A NAME="3.1"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>3.1 Improvements and new features</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     <CODE>erl_eval</CODE> did crash on valid input like:
         <BR>
<PRE>1&#62; lists:sort(A=[1,2]).
            </PRE>
         A correction conserning variable bindings is done.
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1295
         <BR>
<LI>     <CODE>dets:next</CODE> did sometimes erreounously return <CODE>'$end_of_table'</CODE>.
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1293
         <BR>
<LI>     Corrected spelling errors in <CODE>help()</CODE> printout from shell.
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1038
         <BR>
<LI>Added a new function <CODE>sync_notify</CODE> in <CODE>gen_event</CODE>.
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1310

        <BR>
<LI>     The functions <CODE>add_sup_handler/3</CODE> and
         <CODE>swap_sup_handler/3</CODE> are added to the
         <CODE>gen_event</CODE> module. They are used to supervise
         <CODE>gen_event</CODE> handlers.

         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1122
        <BR>
<LI>     It is possible to add several handlers using the same call-back
         module to a <CODE>gen_event</CODE> event manager. Use the new
         <CODE>{Module, Id}</CODE> syntax for such event handlers.
        <BR>
<LI>     <CODE>gen_event</CODE> generates an error report when a handler
         crashes.
        <BR>
<LI>Two new supervisor types <CODE>rest_for_one</CODE> and
         <CODE>simple_one_for_one</CODE> are added.
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1177
        <BR>
<LI><CODE>os:type/1</CODE> and its documentation is corrected. 
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1185
        <BR>
<LI>     The function <CODE>init_ack/1</CODE> is added to the <CODE>proc_lib</CODE>
         module.
        <BR>
<LI>     <CODE>erl_lint</CODE> produces warnings related to the <CODE>behaviour</CODE>
         module attribute. For example, missing call-back functions are
         reported. This feature is used by the compiler.
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1200
        <BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="3.2"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>3.2 Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</H3><P><UL>
<LI><CODE>gen_server:cast</CODE> and <CODE>gen_server:abcast</CODE> did 
         sometimes crash if the server did not exist.
         <BR>
Own Id:OTP-1343
        <BR>
<LI>The <CODE>ets</CODE> reference manual is corrected to describe
         what happens when trying to access a non existant table.
         <BR>
Own Id:OTP-1244
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="3.3"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>3.3 Incompatibilities with Stdlib 1.2</H3><P>-
<A NAME="4"><!-- Empty --></A><H2>4 Stdlib 1.2</H2><A NAME="4.1"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>4.1 Improvements and new features</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     The <CODE>dets</CODE> module has been greatly enhanced. Previously
         the <CODE>dets</CODE> module had no real space management on the file.
         Now, space is managed on a per file basis by a builtin buddy system.
         This means that allocation is much faster. The format of a dets file
         is consequently also changed, the dets module will however 
         recognize files with the old format and automatically upgrade
         the file to the new format the first time it is opened.
         <BR>
This has consequences for the Mnesia system, or rather it does not,
         since the version upgrade is done automatically.
        <BR>
<LI>    A new module <CODE>filename</CODE> which has a number of useful functions 
                for manipulation of filenames. These functions are recommended
                to use
                when writing applications which shall be runnable on a number
        of different platforms.
        <BR>
<LI>    A new module <CODE>os</CODE> which provides functions which enables
        various information from the host operating system to the Erlang 
        programmer. The function <CODE>cmd/1</CODE> is equivalent with the 
        <CODE>unix:cmd/1</CODE> on a unix platform and will also be available
        on other platforms if applicable, e.g on Windows NT. This function
        is the recommended way of issuing operating system commands from
        Erlang programs (rather than <CODE>unix:cmd/1</CODE>). Other functions
        in the module are <CODE>version</CODE> and <CODE>type&#62;</CODE> which give
        information about the host operating system version and type.
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="4.2"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>4.2 Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     The <CODE>ets</CODE> man page updated (Name instead of Id).
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1001.
        <BR>
<LI>     The <CODE>ets</CODE> module now handles arbitrarily many variables.
         Previously there was an upper limit of 10.
         <BR>
Own Id: OTP-1124.
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="5"><!-- Empty --></A><H2>5 Stdlib 1.1</H2><A NAME="5.1"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>5.1 Improvements and new features</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     Added <CODE>disk_log</CODE>, a disc based term logging facility.

        <BR>
<LI>     Added <CODE>dets</CODE>, a disc based term storage.

        <BR>
<LI>     Added <CODE>proc_lib:start/3,4</CODE>,
         <CODE>proc_lib:start_link/3,4</CODE> and
         <CODE>proc_lib:init_ack/2</CODE> for synchronous start of
         <CODE>proc_lib</CODE> processes.

        <BR>
<LI>     Added <CODE>regexp</CODE>, regular expression functions for strings.

        <BR>
<LI>     It is possible to have anonymous supervisors.
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="5.2"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>5.2 Fixed Bugs and malfunctions</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     Fixed bug in <CODE>timer</CODE> there timeouts would cause an internal
         error under heavy load.
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="5.3"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>5.3 Incompatibilities with OTP P1G</H3><P><UL>
<LI>     It is possible to change the internal state of the event manager
         using the <CODE>gen_event:call</CODE> function. The <CODE>handle_call/2</CODE>
         call-back function should return in a similar way as the
         <CODE>handle_event/2</CODE> function.

        <BR>
<LI>     A <CODE>gen_event</CODE> worker should specify <CODE>dynamic</CODE> for
         modules in the supervisor child specification.
<BR>
</UL>
<A NAME="5.4"><!-- Empty --></A><H3>5.4 Known bugs and problems</H3><P>-
</BLOCKQUOTE>
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