REPOST: Announcing PARADISE version 3.2

REPOST: Announcing PARADISE version 3.2

[Nicolas Courtel]

[Sorry if you have already seen this message, but as our news server wasn't
working well when I posted it, I believe it got lost somewhere]

Here are the changes made from version 3.1; if you don't know what Paradise is,
there is a short description further down:

- Added a bunch of pointer constants in C_TYPES, to be used rather than
  the predefined constant NULL, that may be different from C null pointer.
  (For some Ada compilers NULL = -1)
- Added a semaphore task in NETWORK so that functions like GETHOSTENT
  are re-entrant.
- Fixed function C_ACCEPT so that the new socket is non-blocking (having
  misunderstood the man, I thought it was done automatically :-* )
- Added functions to package PROCESS to get command line arguments
- Added C code to get errno and sys_errlist, for a better portability
- Modifications in Makefiles, that now works with GNU make
- Ada library is now built automatically when needed
- Added function C_ACCESS in DIR
- Added package DIR, for directory entries functions
- Moved procedure UNLINK from FILE to DIR; it's still in FILE via a rename.

The source code is available on ftp.cenatls.cena.dgac.fr, in directory
pub/export, in both compressed and gzipped formats:
-rw-r--r--  1 50       32         246403 Feb 18 10:38 paradise-3.2.tar.Z
-rw-r--r--  1 50       32         159112 Feb 18 10:38 paradise-3.2.tar.z

It is also available by mail server: send mail to
'mserver@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr', with the message 'send-me paradise-3.2'

No patch is provided, as it would be too big (> 100 Ko)

Send all comments, bug reports, patches to "paradise@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr".

** What is Paradise? **

Paradise is a set of Ada packages intended to provide an interface to the Unix
operating system, and more specifically to the communication routines, that
are accessed via file descriptors. It lets the Ada programmer use files, pipes,
and sockets, as well as signals, error codes, environment variables, etc...,
using an interface that looks as much as possible like the C interface.

Paradise supports multi-tasking: any input or output is blocking for the
calling task only, and not for the entire process.

Paradise is intended to be system-independant and compiler-independant; so far,
it works on two environments:
- SunOS (Sparc) and SunAda (Verdix) compiler
- HP-UX (HP9000/700) and HP-Ada (Alsys) compiler

It is known not to work well on SunOS/Alsys, because of problems with signal
handlers; it does not work well either using the Verdix 6.2d (beta version) on
HP9000/700 machines.

This version of Paradise is fully compatible with 3.1 and 3.0, but very differe
nt
from the previous versions 1.0 and 2.0:
- it is not compatible
- it has not been ported on the same environments
- it does not work the same way
However, it does offer about the same functionalities, and a porting manual
is provided in the documentation.

For people who would like to port it to other environments, informations on
portability are displayed inside the code. A programmer's guide should appear
in future versions.

--
Nicolas Courtel - courtel@dgac.fr

>>>                    Inside every large program                     <<<
>>>             is a small program struggling to get out              <<<