Also, check out isdxsl, which is an XSL worker using Xalan-C and optionally, the IBM's ICU libraries. These are necessary if you want to use the full features of number formatting.

Checkout the CHANGES document. Multiple isdexecds can now run on the same machine. Though this wouldn't ordinarily make sense, it makes a lot of sense if the same machine will be running both normal programs and Smalltalk processes. The normal programs may be started by isdexecd on the default port, and Smalltalk processes can be started by the Smalltalk IsdExecd running on another port.

The distribution (1.0.3.5) now includes test RPMs for installing the Python interface code.

One other thing. I'm maintaining change information in too many places. Heck, I have it here, in the CHANGES file *and* in changes.html. This time, I'm skipping changes.html and will just update CHANGES (and this file).

NOTICE: The last time I uploaded 1.0.3 I created a typo that caused the 1.0.3 tarball to be overwritten with the 1.0.2 version. I apologize for the confusion. Thanks to M.C. Lim for bringing that to my attention.

I've also created a Java interface using IBM's VisualAge Java for Linux. The jar file has not been integrated into a distribution yet since I haven't been able to use Java/isectd in production anywhere. If you're interested in looking at it send me email.

The next release will include a Python interface that I am using in production. If you're interested in it before then (I don't know when that is) you can also request an advance copy via email.

The Smalltalk prototype I released last fall had some problems. Namely, Visual Works/Wave would hang when the clients were stopped. I was having trouble getting the bytearrays to move easily between Smalltalk and C. I don't know what I was doing wrong, and received a lot of ideas on how to fix it, but none worked.

What I decided to do about a week ago was collapse on my principles. What do I mean by that? Basically it meant writing the IO routines using Smalltalk's SocketAccessor class instead of calling isdSend() and isdRecv() in the shared library. I don't know why I waited so long. It only took a few days to get it working and I'm *very* please with the result.

The Smalltalk code also includes a WebResponder class called IsdClientResponder. It can be configured into the VisualWave server so that HTTP requests can more directly access information on isectd workers.

There's been a few other additions in the latest 1.0.3 version:

• isectd now accepts a -p port_num parameter which overrides isectd's default behavior of listening on the isect port listed in /etc/services. By allowing isectd to use another port, a single host can host more than one isectd--distributing client load across more processes.
• isectd clients, like isdclient, can now specify hostnames to isdLogin() and isdConnect() as "hostname:port", which allows them to communicate to isectds listening to non-standard ports. This was implemented in the isdConnectTo() routine.
• A new worker, called isdlink, is introduced in the 1.0.3 release. isdlink's job is to forward requests from one isectd to another. For instance, if you had 10000 clients talking to 10 isectds (distributing the connections so no one isectd was overwhelmed) they could forward actual transaction requests to another isectd which had the real workers.

  This is practical in the case of a database application where DBAs may have determined that 20 posting threads represented the peak performance of the system. But how do you winny 10000 clients across 10 isectds to 20 workers? Make the workers children of one isectd and put 10 other isectds in front of it!

The 1.0.2 version contained some minor bug fixes and was the first working example of the new Smalltalk code.

A prototype for a smalltalk interface is now included in the distribution. Click here for the appropriate README.

Also, this distribution contains development code for isectd to IBM's Net.Data ecommerce software included with DB2 and available for free (I think) from their website at http://www.software.ibm.com/data/db2. There more information about the Net.Data interface in the CHANGES document available from the homepage.

As some of you may know, isect used to be available for Windows, both 16 and 32 bit. I recently received a request for a Powerbuilder interface so I've posted the original Windows distribution on the ftp site as isdw32.zip.

Disclaimer: Though the .zip is dated May, 1997, it should still work. I can't test it at home, but the communications mechanisms, including the header packets, have not changed (how's that for consistency and backward compatability!). I don't remember, but I don't think I ported isectd there, only the libraries and a couple of workers. I also can't remember what in the Windows distribution--I know there's binaries, but I can't remember if the source is included.

As I determine more re: the Windows versions, I'll post the messages here.

We've started a listserver for isectd-related issues. Send a message to listserver@ddsi.com with the command "subscribe isectd" in the body of the message.

isect v1.0.1 (on the ftp server) now builds on MVS systems! As yet it doesn't interoperate with non-EBCDIC systems but that's coming.

Mindspring/Netcom experienced a mail administration glitch today that resulted in some emails being delayed and in some cases, we're beginning to expect, losing others.

If you had sent us a message during any part of the day today, please re-send it. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Also, last night we announced isectd on www.freshmeat.net. We're easily excited. If response is positive we'll announce is and tabworker as well.