diff --git a/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.html b/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.html deleted file mode 100644 index 6f2019379..000000000 --- a/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1846 +0,0 @@ - - - - - EPICS Base R3.15.6 Release Notes - - - -

EPICS Base Release 3.15.7

- -

This version of EPICS Base has not been released yet.

- - -

Changes made on the 3.15 branch since 3.15.6

- - - -

Add option to avoid CALLBACK conflict

- -

If a macro EPICS_NO_CALLBACK is defined, then callback.h will no longer (re)define CALLBACK. -The name 'CALLBACK' is used by the WIN32 API, and redefinition in callback.h cause errors -if some windows headers are later included. -

- -

Code which defines EPICS_NO_CALLBACK, but still wishes to use callbacks, should use -the alternate name 'epicsCallback' introduced in 3.15.6, 3.16.2, and 7.0.2. -It is also possible, though not encouraged, to use 'struct callbackPvt' -which has been present since the callback API was introduced.

- -

Cleaning up with Multiple CA contexts in a Process

- -

Bruno Martins reported a problem with the CA client library at shutdown in a -process that uses multiple CA client contexts. The first context that triggers -the CA client exit handler prevents any others from being able to clean up -because it resets the ID of an internal epicsThreadPrivate variable which is -shared by all clients. This action has been removed from the client library, -which makes cleanup of clients like this possible.

- -

Perl CA bindings fixed for macOS Mojave

- -

Apple removed some Perl header files from macOS Mojave that were available -in their SDK, requiring a change to the include paths used when compiling the -CA bindings. The new version should build on new and older macOS versions, and -these changes may also help other targets that have an incomplete installation -of Perl (the build will continue after printing a warning that the Perl CA -bindings could not be built).

- -

Routine epicsTempName() removed from libCom

- -

This routine was a simple wrapper around the C89 function tmpnam() -which is now seen as unsafe and causes warning messages to be generated by -most modern compilers. The two internal uses of this function have been -modified to call epicsTempFile() instead. We were unable to find any -published code that used this function, so it was removed immediately instead -of being deprecated.

- -

DBD Parsing of Record Types

- -

The Perl DBD file parser has been made slightly more liberal; the order in -which DBD files must be parsed is now more flexible, so that a record type -definition can now be parsed after a device support that referred to that -record type. A warning message will be displayed when the device support is -seen, but the subsequent loading of the record type will be accepted without -triggering an error. See -Launchpad bug -#1801145.

- -

menuScan and several record types documented with POD

- -

The EPICS Wiki pages describing a number of standard record types has been -converted into the Perl POD documentation format and added to the DBD files, -so at build-time an HTML version of these documents is generated and installed -into the htmls directory. Thanks to Tony Pietryla.

- -

CA client tools learned -V option

- -

This displays the version numbers of EPICS Base and the CA protocol.

- - -

Changes made between 3.15.5 and 3.15.6

- -

Unsetting environment variables

- -

The new command epicsEnvUnset varname can be used to -unset an environment variable.

- -

Warning indicators in msi (and macLib) output

- -

The libCom macro expansion library has been modified so that when the -SUPPRESS_WARNINGS flag is set it will no longer include any ,undefined -or ,recursive indicators in its output when undefined or recursive -macros are encountered. These indicators were harmless when the output was fed -into an IOC along with a definition for the macro, but when the msi -tool was used to generate other kinds of files they caused problems. If the -msi -V flag is used the markers will still be present in the output -whenever the appropriate condition is seen.

- -

Improvements to msi

- -

In addition to fixing its response to discovering parsing errors in its -substitution input file (reported as Launchpad -bug #1503661) -so it now deletes the incomplete output file, the msi program has been cleaned -up a little bit internally.

- -

All array records now post monitors on their array-length fields

- -

The waveform record has been posting monitors on its NORD field since Base -3.15.0.1; we finally got around to doing the equivalent in all the other -built-in record types, which even required modifying device support in some -cases. This fixes -Launchpad bug #1730727.

- -

HOWTO: Converting Wiki Record Reference to POD

- -

Some documentation has been added to the dbdToHtml.pl script -explaining how Perl POD (Plain Old Documentation) markup can be added to -.dbd files to generate HTML documentation for the record types. To see -these instructions, run perl bin/<host>/dbdToHtml.pl -H -or perldoc bin/<host>/dbdToHtml.pl.

- -

Fix problem with numeric soft events

- -

Changing from numeric to named soft events introduced an incompatibility -when a numeric event 1-255 is converted from a DOUBLE, e.g. from a calc record. -The post_event() API is not marked deprecated any more. - -

Also scanpel has been modified to accept a glob pattern for -event name filtering and to show events with no connected records as well.

- -

Add osiSockOptMcastLoop_t and osiSockTest

- -

Added a new OS-independent typedef for multicast socket options, and a test -file to check their correct operation.

- -

Support for CONFIG_SITE.local in Base

- -

This feature is mostly meant for use by developers; configuration -settings that would normally appear in Base/configure/CONFIG_SITE can now -be put in a locally created base/configure/CONFIG_SITE.local file instead -of having go modify or replace the original. A new .gitignore pattern -tells git to ignore all configure/*.local files.

- - - -

Fix broken EPICS_IOC_LOG_FILE_LIMIT=0 setting

- -

The Application Developers' Guide says this is allowed and disables the -limit on the log-file, but it hasn't actually worked for some time (if ever). -Note that the iocLogServer will be removed from newer Base release sometime -soon as its functionality can be implemented by other dedicated log servers -such as logstash or syslog-ng.

- -

Fixes lp:1786858 -and part of lp:1786966. -

- -

Cleanup of startup directory

- -

The files in the startup directory have not been maintained in recent years -and have grown crufty (technical term). This release includes the following -updates to these files:

- - - -

Recent Apple XCode Build Issues

- -

The latest version of XCode will not compile calls to system() or -clock_settime() for iOS targets. There were several places in Base -where these were being compiled, although there were probably never called. The -code has now been modified to permit iOS builds to complete again.

- -

Prevent illegal alarm severities

- -

A check has been added to recGblResetAlarms() that prevents records -from getting an alarm severity higher than INVALID_ALARM. It is still possible -for a field like HSV to get set to a value that is not a legal alarm severity, -but the core IOC code should never copy such a value into a record's SEVR or -ACKS fields. With this fix the record's alarm severity will be limited to -INVALID_ALARM.

- -

Fixes for Launchpad bugs

- -

The following launchpad bugs have fixes included:

- - - -

Updated VxWorks Timezone settings

- -

Removed the settings for 2017; fixed the hour of the change for MET.

- -

Fixed camonitor server side relative timestamps bug

- -

Initialize the first time-stamp from the first monitor, not the client-side -current time in this configuration.

- -

Build changes for MSVC

- -

Windows builds using Visual Studio 2015 and later now use the -FS -compiler option to allow parallel builds to work properly.

- -

We now give the -FC option to tell the compiler to print absolute -paths for source files in diagnostic messages.

- -

Extend maximum Posix epicsEventWaitWithTimeout() delay

- -

The Posix implementation of epicsEventWaitWithTimeout() was limiting the -timeout delay to at most 60 minutes (3600.0 seconds). This has been changed to -10 years; significantly longer maximum delays cause problems on systems where -time_t is still a signed 32-bit integer so cannot represent absolute -time-stamps after 2038-01-19. Our assumption is that such 32-bit systems will -have been retired before the year 2028, but some additional tests have been -added to the epicsTimeTest program to detect and fail if this assumption is -violated.

- -

New test-related make targets

- -

This release adds several new make targets intended for use by developers -and Continuous Integration systems which simplify the task of running the -built-in self-test programs and viewing the results. Since these targets are -intended for limited use they can have requirements for the build host which -go beyond the standard minimum set needed to build and run Base.

- -
- -

test-results — Summarize test results

- -

The new make target test-results will run the self-tests if -necessary to generate a TAP file for each test, then summarizes the TAP output -files in each test directory in turn, displaying the details of any failures. -This step uses the program prove which comes with Perl, but also needs -cat to be provided in the default search path so will not work on most -Windows systems.

- -

junitfiles — Convert test results to JUnit XML Format

- -

The new make target junitfiles will run the self-tests if necessary -and then convert the TAP output files into the more commonly-supported JUnit -XML format. The program that performs this conversion needs the Perl module -XML::Generator to have been installed.

- -

clean-tests — Delete test result files

- -

The new make target clean-tests removes any test result files from -previous test runs. It cleans both TAP and JUnit XML files.

- -
- -

Fix DNS related crash on exit

- -

The attempt to fix DNS related delays for short lived CLI programs (eg. caget) -in lp:1527636 introduced a bug which cased these short lived clients to crash on exit. -This bug should now be fixed.

- -

Server bind issue on Windows

- -

When a National Instruments network variables CA server is already running on -a Windows system and an IOC or PCAS server is started, the IOC's attempt to -bind a TCP socket to the CA server port number fails, but Windows returns a -different error status value than the IOC is expecting in that circumstance -(because the National Instruments code requests exclusive use of that port, -unlike the EPICS code) so the IOC fails to start properly. The relevent EPICS -bind() checks have now been updated so the IOC will request that a dynamic port -number be allocated for this TCP socket instead when this happens.

- -

Checking Periodic Scan Rates

- -

Code has been added to the IOC startup to better protect it against bad -periodic scan rates, including against locales where . is not -accepted as a decimal separator character. If the scan period in a menuScan -choice string cannot be parsed, the associated periodic scan thread will no -longer be started by the IOC and a warning message will be displayed at iocInit -time. The scanppl command will also flag the faulty menuScan value.

- - -

Changes made between 3.15.4 and 3.15.5

- -

dbStatic Library Speedup and Cleanup

- -

Loading of database files has been optimized to avoid overproportionally -long loading times for large databases. As a part of this, the alphabetical -ordering of records instances (within a record type) has been dropped. In the -unexpected case that applications were relying on the alphabetic order, setting -dbRecordsAbcSorted = 1 before loading the databases will retain the -old behavior.

- -

The routine dbRenameRecord() has been removed, as it was intended -to be used by database configuration tools linked against a host side version -of the dbStatic library that is not being built anymore.

- -

Launchpad Bug-fixes

- -

In addition to the more detailed change descriptions below, the following -Launchpad bugs have also been fixed in this release:

- - - -

Whole-Program Optimization for MS Visual Studio Targets

- -

When using the Microsoft compilers a new build system variable is provided -that controls whether whole program optimization is used or not. For static -builds using Visual Studio 2010 this optimization must be disabled. This is -controlled in the files configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.windows-x64-static and -configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.win32-x86-static by setting the variable -OPT_WHOLE_PROGRAM = NO to override the default value -YES that would otherwise be used.

- -

Note that enabling this optimization slows down the build process. It is not -possible to selectively disable this optimization, when building a particular -module say; Microsoft's linker will restart itself automatically with the --LTCG flag set and display a warning if it is asked to link any object -files that were compiled with the -GL flag.

- -

Add dynamic (variable length) array support to PCAS

- -

Dynamic array sizing support was added to the IOC server (RSRV) in the -Base-3.14.12 release, but has not until now been supported in the Portable -Channel Access Server (PCAS). Channel Access server applications using the -PCAS may not need to be modified at all; if they already push monitors with -different gdd array lengths, those variable sizes will be forwarded to any CA -clients who have requested variable length updates. The example CAS server -application has been modified to demonstrate this feature.

- -

In implementing the above, the gdd method gdd::put(const gdd *) now -copies the full-sized array from the source gdd if the destination gdd is of -type array, has no allocated memory and a boundary size of 0.

- -

Additional epicsTime conversion

- -

The EPICS timestamp library (epicsTime) inside libCom's OSI layer has -been extended by routines that convert from struct tm to the EPICS -internal epicsTime type, assuming UTC - i.e. without going through -the timezone mechanism. This solves issues with converting from the structured -type to the EPICS timestamp at driver level from multiple threads at a high -repetition rate, where the timezone mechanism was blocking on file access.

- -

MinGW Cross-builds from Linux

- -

The build configuration files that allow cross-building of the 32-bit -win32-x86-mingw cross-target have been adjusted to default to building shared -libraries (DLLs) as this is now supported by recent MinGW compilers. The 64-bit -windows-x64-mingw cross-target was already being built that way by default. The -configuration options to tell the minGW cross-compiler to link programs with -static versions of the compiler support libraries have now been moved into the -CONFIG_SITE.linux-x86.target files.

- -

General Time updates

- -

The iocInit code now performs a sanity check of the current time -returned by the generalTime subsystem and will print a warning if the wall-clock -time returned has not been initialized yet. This is just a warning message; when -a time provider does synchonize the IOC will subsequently pick up and use the -correct time. This check code also primes the registered event system provider -if there is one so the epicsTimeGetEventInt() routine will work on IOCs -that ask for event time within an interrupt service routine.

- -

The osiClockTime provider's synchronization thread (which is only used on -some embedded targets) will now poll the other time providers at 1Hz until the -first time it manages to get a successful timestamp, after which it will poll -for updates every 60 seconds as before.

- -

The routine generalTimeGetExceptPriority() was designed for use by -backup (lower priority) time providers like the osiClockTime provider which do -not have their own absolute time reference and rely on other providers for an -absolute time source. This routine no longer implements the ratchet mechanism -that prevented the time it returned from going backwards. If the backup clock's -tick-timer runs fast the synchronization of the backup time provider would never -allow it to be corrected backwards when the ratchet was in place. The regular -epicsTimeGetCurrent() API still uses the ratchet mechanism, so this -change will not cause the IOC to see time going backwards.

- -

Microsoft Visual Studio builds

- -

The build configuration files for builds using the Microsoft compilers have -been updated, although there should be no noticable difference at most sites. -One extra compiler warning is now being suppressed for C++ code, C4344: -behavior change: use of explicit template arguments results in ... which is -gratuitous and was appearing frequently in builds of the EPICS V4 modules.

- -

Cross-builds of the windows-x64 target from a win32-x86 host have been -removed as they don't actually work within the context of a single make -run. Significant changes to the build configuration files would be necessary for -these kinds of cross-builds to work properly, which could be done if someone -needs them (email Andrew Johnson before working on this, and see - -this stack-overflow answer for a starting point).

- -

Bazaar keywords such as 'Revision-Id' removed

- -

In preparation for moving to git in place of the Bazaar revision control -system we have removed all the keywords from the Base source code.

- -

Linux systemd service file for CA Repeater

- -

Building this version of Base on a Linux system creates a systemd service -file suitable for starting the Channel Access Repeater under systemd. The file -will be installed into the target bin directory, from where it can be copied -into the appropriate systemd location and modified as necessary. Installation -instructions are included as comments in the file.

- - -

Changes made between 3.15.3 and 3.15.4

- -

New string input device support "getenv"

- -

A new "getenv" device support for both the stringin and lsi (long string -input) record types can be used to read the value of an environment variable -from the IOC at runtime. See base/db/softIocExit.db for sample usage.

- -

Build rules and DELAY_INSTALL_LIBS

- -

A new order-only prerequisite build rule has been added to ensure that -library files (and DLL stubs on Windows) get installed before linking any -executables, which resolves parallel build problems on high-powered CPUs. There -are some (rare) cases though where a Makefile has to build an executable and run -it to be able to compile code for a library built by the same Makefile. With -this new build rule GNUmake will complain about a circular dependency and the -build will probably fail in those cases. To avoid this problem the failing -Makefile should set DELAY_INSTALL_LIBS = YES before including the -$(TOP)/configure/RULES file, disabling the new build rule.

- -

IOC environment variables and build parameters

- -

The IOC now sets a number of environment variables at startup that provide -the version of EPICS Base it was built against (EPICS_VERSION_...) and its build -architecture (ARCH). In some cases this allows a single iocBoot/ioc directory to -be used to run the same IOC on several different architectures without any -changes.

- -

There are also 3 new environment parameters (EPICS_BUILD_...) available that -C/C++ code can use to find out the target architecture, OS class and compiler -class it was built with. These may be useful when writing interfaces to other -languages.

- -

New implementation of promptgroup/gui_group field property

- -

The mechanism behind the "promptgroup()" field property inside a record type -definition has been changed. Instead of using a fixed set of choices, -the static database access library now collects the used gui group names -while parsing DBD information. Group names should start with a two-digit number -plus space-dash-space to allow proper sorting of groups.

- -

The include file guigroup.h that defined the fixed set of choices -has been deprecated. Instead, use the conversion functions between index number -and group string that have been added to dbStaticLib.

- -

When a DBD file containing record-type descriptions is expanded, any -old-style GUI_xxx group names will be replaced by a new-style -string for use by the IOC. This permits an older record type to be used with -the 3.15.4 release, although eventually record types should be converted by -hand with better group names used.

- -

CA server configuration changes

- -

RSRV now honors EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST and binds only to the provided list -of network interfaces. Name searches (UDP and TCP) on other network interfaces -are ignored. For example on a computer with interfaces 10.5.1.1/24, 10.5.2.1/24, -and 10.5.3.1/24, setting "EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST='10.5.1.1 10.5.2.1'" will -accept traffic on the .1.1 and .2.1, but ignore from .3.1

- -

RSRV now honors EPICS_CAS_IGNORE_ADDR_LIST and ignores UDP messages received -from addresses in this list.

- -

Previously, CA servers (RSRV and PCAS) would build the beacon address list -using EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST if EPICS_CAS_BEACON_ADDR_LIST was no set. This is no -longer done. Sites depending on this should set both envronment variables to the -same value.

- -

IPv4 multicast for name search and beacons

- -

libca, RSRV, and PCAS may now use IPv4 multicasting for UDP traffic (name -search and beacons). This is disabled by default. To enable multicast address(s) -must be listed in EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST for clients and EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST -for servers (IOCs should set both). For example: -"EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST='224.0.2.9' EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST=224.0.2.9".

- -

Please note that no IPv4 multicast address is officially assigned for Channel -Access by IANA. The example 224.0.2.9 is taken from the AD-HOC Block I range.

- -

Moved mlockall() into its own epicsThread routine

- -

Since EPICS Base 3.15.0.2 on Posix OSs the initialization of the epicsThread -subsystem has called mlockall() when the OS supports it and thread -priority scheduling is enabled. Doing so has caused problems in third-party -applications that call the CA client library, so the functionality has been -moved to a separate routine epicsThreadRealtimeLock() which will be -called by the IOC at iocInit (unless disabled by setting the global variable -dbThreadRealtimeLock to zero).

- -

Added dbQuietMacroWarnings control

- -

When loading database files, macros get expanded even on comment lines. If a -comment contains an undefined macro, the load still continues but an error -message gets printed. For this release the error message has been changed to a -warning, but even this warning can be made less verbose by setting this new -variable to a non-zero value before loading the file, like this:

- -
-var dbQuietMacroWarnings 1      iocsh
-dbQuietMacroWarnings=1          VxWorks
-
- -

This was Launchpad bug -541119.

- - -

Changes from the 3.14 branch between 3.15.3 and 3.15.4

- -

NTP Time Provider adjusts to OS tick rate changes

- -

Dirk Zimoch provided code that allows the NTP Time provider (used on VxWorks -and RTEMS only) to adapt to changes in the OS clock tick rate after the provider -has been initialized. Note that changing the tick rate after iocInit() is not -advisable, and that other software might still misbehave if initialized before -an OS tick rate change. This change was back-ported from the 3.15 branch.

- -

Making IOC ca_get operations atomic

- -

When a CA client gets data from an IOC record using a compound data type such -as DBR_TIME_DOUBLE the value field is fetched from the database in a -separate call than the other metadata, without keeping the record locked. This -allows some other thread such as a periodic scan thread a chance to interrupt -the get operation and process the record in between. CA monitors have always -been atomic as long as the value data isn't a string or an array, but this race -condition in the CA get path has now been fixed so the record will stay locked -between the two fetch operations.

- -

This fixes -Launchpad bug #1581212, thanks to Till Strauman and Dehong Zhang.

- -

New CONFIG_SITE variable for running self-tests

- -

The 'make runtests' and 'make tapfiles' build targets normally only run the -self-tests for the main EPICS_HOST_ARCH architecture. If the host is -able to execute self-test programs for other target architectures that are being -built by the host, such as when building a -debug version of the host -architecture for example, the names of those other architectures can be added to -the new CROSS_COMPILER_RUNTEST_ARCHS variable in either the -configure/CONFIG_SITE file or in an appropriate -configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.<host>.Common file to have the test -programs for those targets be run as well.

- -

Additional RELEASE file checks

- -

An additional check has been added at build-time for the contents of the -configure/RELEASE file(s), which will mostly only affect users of the Debian -EPICS packages published by NSLS-2. Support modules may share an install path, -but all such modules must be listed adjacent to each other in any RELEASE files -that point to them. For example the following will fail the new checks:

- -
-AUTOSAVE = /usr/lib/epics
-ASYN = /home/mdavidsaver/asyn
-EPICS_BASE = /usr/lib/epics
-
- -

giving the compile-time error

- -
-This application's RELEASE file(s) define
-	EPICS_BASE = /usr/lib/epics
-after but not adjacent to
-	AUTOSAVE = /usr/lib/epics
-Module definitions that share paths must be grouped together.
-Either remove a definition, or move it to a line immediately
-above or below the other(s).
-Any non-module definitions belong in configure/CONFIG_SITE.
-
- - -

In many cases such as the one above the order of the AUTOSAVE and -ASYN lines can be swapped to let the checks pass, but if the -AUTOSAVE module depended on ASYN and hence had to appear -before it in the list this error indicates that AUTOSAVE should also be -built in its own private area; a shared copy would likely be incompatible with -the version of ASYN built in the home directory.

- -

String field buffer overflows

- -

Two buffer overflow bugs that can crash the IOC have been fixed, caused by -initializing a string field with a value larger than the field size -(Launchpad bug -#1563191).

- -

Fixed stack corruption bug in epicsThread C++ API

- -

The C++ interface to the epicsThread API could corrupt the stack on thread -exit in some rare circumstances, usually at program exit. This bug has been -fixed (Launchpad bug -#1558206).

- -

RTEMS NTP Support Issue

- -

On RTEMS the NTP Time Provider could in some circumstances get out of sync -with the server because the osdNTPGet() code wasn't clearing its input socket -before sending out a new request. This -(Launchpad bug 1549908) -has now been fixed.

- -

CALC engine bitwise operator fixes

- -

The bitwise operators in the CALC engine have been modified to work properly -with values that have bit 31 (0x80000000) set. This modification involved -back-porting some earlier changes from the 3.15 branch, and fixes -Launchpad bug -#1514520.

- -

Fix ipAddrToAsciiAsync(): Don't try to join the daemon thread

- -

On process exit, don't try to stop the worker thread that makes DNS lookups -asynchronous. Previously this would wait for any lookups still in progress, -delaying the exit unnecessarily. This was most obvious with catools (eg. -cainfo). -lp:1527636

- -

Fix epicsTime_localtime() on Windows

- -

Simpler versions of the epicsTime_gmtime() and epicsTime_localtime() -routines have been included in the Windows implementations, and a new test -program added. The original versions do not report DST status properly. Fixes -Launchpad bug 1528284.

- - -

Changes made between 3.15.2 and 3.15.3

- -

Make the NTP Time provider optional on VxWorks

- -

Recent versions of VxWorks (sometime after VxWorks 6) provide facilities for -automatically synchronizing the OS clock time with an NTP server. The EPICS time -system used to assume that it had to provide time synchronization on VxWorks, -but now it tests for the existance of either of the two OS synchronization -threads before starting the NTP time provider. It is still possible to force the -NTP provider to be started even if the OS synchronization is running by defining -the environment variable EPICS_TS_FORCE_NTPTIME in the startup script -before loading the IOC's .munch file. Forcing may be necessary if the VxWorks -image is not correctly configured with the IP address of a local NTP server.

- -

Assembling files from numbered snippets

- -

A tool has been added that assembles file snippets specified on the -command line into a single output file, with sorting and replacing/adding of -snippets done based on their file names. The build system integration requires -the output file to be specified setting COMMON_ASSEMBLIES (arch independent) -or ASSEMBLIES (created by arch), then defining the snippets for each assembly -setting *_SNIPPETS (explicitly) or *_PATTERN (searched relative to all source -directories). -

- -

Clean up after GNU readline()

- -

If EPICS Base is built with readline support, any IOC that calls epicsExit() -from a thread other than the main thread is likely to leave the user's terminal -in a weird state, requiring the user to run something like 'stty sane' to clean -it up. This release patches the readline support code to clean up automatically -by registering an epicsAtExit() routine.

- -

Removed the last vestiges of RSET::get_value()

- -

The IOC has not called the get_value() routine in the RSET for a very long -time, but there was still one implementation left in the event record support -code, and a structure definition for one of the original arguments to that -routine was defined in recGbl.h. Both of these have now been removed.

- - -

Changes made between 3.15.1 and 3.15.2

- -

Raised limit on link field length in database files

- -

The length of INP/OUT link fields in database files was limited to 79 chars -by an internal buffer size in the db file parser. This limitation will go away -completely in 3.16, and has been statically raised to 255 chars for the 3.15 -series.

- -

aoRecord raw conversion overflows

- -

The ao record type now checks converted raw values and limits them to the -32-bit integer range before writing them to the RVAL field. Previously value -overflows relied on Undefined Behaviour which could give different results on -different platforms. The ROFF fields of the ao and ai record types are now -DBF_ULONG to allow an ROFF setting of 0x80000000 to work properly.

- -

Changes to <top>/cfg/* files

- -

The order in which cfg/CONFIG* and cfg/RULES* files are included from support -applications listed in the configure/RELEASE* files has been changed. Previously -these files were included in the order in which the top areas are listed in the -RELEASE file, but it makes more sense to load them in reverse order since later -entries override earlier ones in Makefiles but the release file order is -supposed to allow earlier entries to take precedence over later ones. The same -change has been made to the inclusion of the <top>/configure/RULES_BUILD -files.

- -

Two new file types can also be provided in a module's cfg directory. Files -named TOP_RULES* will be included by the top-level Makefile of other modules -that refer to this module; files name DIR_RULES* will be included by all -Makefiles that merely descend into lower-level directories. The cfg/RULES* files -are only included when make is building code inside the O.<arch> -directories.

- -

The new cfg/DIR_RULES* file inclusion was designed to permit new recursive -make actions to be implemented by appending the name of the new action to the -ACTIONS variable. There must be a matching rule in one of the cfg/RULES* files -when doing this. Similar rules may also be defined in the cfg/TOP_RULES* and/or -cfg/DIR_RULES* files, but these should only state prerequisites and not directly -provide commands to be executed.

- -

Build rules for RTEMS GESYS modules

- -

RTEMS target builds can now be configured to make GESYS modules by changing -the USE_GESYS=NO setting in the file -configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS to YES.

- -

Added Make variables for command-line use

- -

The following variables are now used during the build process, reserved for -setting on the command-line only (Makefiles should continue to use the -USR_ equivalents):

- - - -

For example:

- -
-make CMD_INCLUDES=/opt/local/include CMD_LDFLAGS=-L/opt/local/lib
-
- -

Enhanced API for asTrapWrite listeners

- -

External software such as the CA Put Logging module that registers a listener -with the asTrapWrite subsystem was not previously given access to the actual -data being sent by the CA client. In most cases this was not a problem as the -listener can look at the field being modified both before and after the -operation, but if the put processes the record which immediately overwrites the -new value, the client's value cannot be observed.

- -

This release adds three fields to the asTrapWriteMessage structure that is -passed to the listener routines. These new fields provide the CA data type, the -number of array elements, and a pointer to the source data buffer. This change -is completely backwards compatible with listener code written against the -original API. The new API can be detected at compile-time as follows:

- -
-#include "asLib.h"
-
-/* ... */
-
-#ifdef asTrapWriteWithData
-    /* Enhanced API */
-#endif
-
- -

Use of PATH_FILTER in Makefiles deprecated

- -

The PATH_FILTER variable was being called to convert forward shashes -/ in file paths into pairs of backward slashes -\\ on Windows architectures. This has never been strictly -necessary, and was added about 10 years ago to get around some short-comings in -Windows tools at the time. All uses of PATH_FILTER in Base have now been -removed; the definition is still present, but will result in a warning being -printed if it is ever used.

- -

Using msi for dependencies

- -

To reduce confusion the msi program has been modified to allow the generation -of dependency rules by adding support for a -D option, and changing the -commands in RULES.Db to use this option instead of the mkmf.pl script. The new -build rules will not work with old versions of the msi program, so the command -variable name used in the rules has been changed from MSI to MSI3_15. Sites that -use a modified version of msi must provide support for both the -D and --o outfile options, and should then point the MSI3_15 variable in -their applications' CONFIG_SITE files to that updated executable.

- - -

Changes made between 3.15.0.2 and 3.15.1

- -

epicsStrnEscapedFromRaw() and epicsStrnRawFromEscaped()

- -

These routines have been rewritten; the previous implementations did not -always behave exactly as specified.

- -

Shared Library Versions

- -

On architectures that can support it, the shared library version number for -libraries provided with Base has had the third component of the EPICS version -number added to it, thus libCom.so.3.15.1 instead of libCom.so.3.15. Windows -can only support two components to its internal product version number, and the -Darwin bug that external shared libraries were being built using the EPICS -version number has been fixed.

- -

Hooking into dbLoadRecords

- -

A function pointer hook has been added to the dbLoadRecords() routine, to -allow external modules such as autosave to be notified when new records have -been loaded during IOC initialization. The hook is called dbLoadRecordsHook and -follows the model of the recGblAlarmHook pointer in that modules that wish to -use it must save the current value of the pointer before installing their own -function pointer, and must call the original function from their own -routine.

- -

The hook is activiated from the dbLoadRecords() routine and gets called only -after a database instance file has been read in without error. Note that the -dbLoadTemplates() routine directly calls dbLoadRecords() so this hook also -provides information about instantiated database templates. It is still possible -to load record instances using dbLoadDatabase() though, and doing this will not -result in the hook routines being called.

- -

Code to use this hook should look something like this:

- -
-#include "dbAccessDefs.h"
-
-static DB_LOAD_RECORDS_HOOK_ROUTINE previousHook;
-
-static void myRoutine(const char* file, const char* subs) {
-    if (previousHook)
-        previousHook(file, subs);
-
-    /* Do whatever ... */
-}
-
-void myInit(void) {
-    static int done = 0;
-
-    if (!done) {
-        previousHook = dbLoadRecordsHook;
-        dbLoadRecordsHook = myRoutine;
-        done = 1;
-    }
-}
-
- -

As with many other parts of the static database access library there is no -mutex to protect the function pointer. Initialization is expected to take place -in the context of the IOC's main thread, from either a static C++ constructor or -an EPICS registrar routine.

- - -

Changes made between 3.15.0.1 and 3.15.0.2

- -

New iocshLoad command

- -

A new command iocshLoad has been added to iocsh which executes a -named iocsh script and can also set one or more shell macro variables at the -same time, the values of which will be forgotten immediately after the named -script finishes executing. The following example shows the syntax:

- -
-iocshLoad "serial.cmd", "DEV=/dev/ttyS0,PORT=com1,TYPE=RS485"
-iocshLoad "radmon.cmd", "PORT=com1,ADDR=0"
-
- -

Support routines for 64-bit integers

- -

The libCom library now provides support for 64-bit integer types on all -supported architectures. The epicsTypes.h header file defines epicsInt64 and -epicsUInt64 type definitions for both C and C++ code. The epicsStdlib.h header -also declares the following for parsing strings into the relevent sized integer -variables: Functions epicsParseLLong(), epicsParseULLong() with related macros -epicsScanLLong() and epicsScanULLong(), and the functions epicsParseInt64() -and epicsParseUInt64(). Use the first two functions and the macros for long long -and unsigned long long integer types, and the last two functions for the -epicsInt64 and epicsUInt64 types. Note that the latter can map to the types long -and unsigned long on some 64-bit architectures such as linux-x86_64, not to the -two long long types.

- -

This version does not provide the ability to define 64-bit record fields, the -use of the 64-bit types in the IOC database will come in a later release of -EPICS Base.

- -

Full support for loadable support modules

- -

Apparently later versions of Base 3.14 permitted support modules to be loaded -from a shared library at runtime without the IOC having been linked against that -shared library; the registerRecordDeviceDriver.pl program would accept a partial -DBD file containing just the entries needed for the library and generate the -appropriate registration code. In 3.15 however the registerRecordDeviceDriver.pl -program was replaced by one using the new DBD file parser, and in this a device -support entry would only be accepted after first loading the record type that it -depended on.

- -

The parser has been modified to accept device entries without having seen the -record type first, although a warning is given when that happens. To remove the -warning the DBD file can provide a record type declaration instead (no fields -can be defined, so the braces must be empty), before the device() entry. The -result will generate the correct registration code for the device entry without -including anything for any merely declared record types. The generated code can -be linked into a shared library and loaded by an IOC at runtime using dlload. -

- -

Parallel callback threads

- -

The general purpose callback facility can run multiple parallel callback -threads per priority level. This makes better use of SMP architectures (e.g. -processors with multiple cores), as callback work - which includes second -stage processing of records with asynchronuous device support and I/O -scanned processing - can be distributed over the available CPUs.

- -

Note that by using parallel callback threads the order of scan callback -requests in the queue is not retained. If a device support needs to be -informed when scanIoRequest processing has finished, it should use the new -scanIoSetComplete() feature to add a user function that will be called after -the scanIoRequest record processing has finished.

- -

Parallel callback threads have to be explicitly configured, by default -the IOC keeps the old behavior of running one callback thread per priority.

- -

Merge MMIO API from devLib2

- -

Added calls to handle 8, 16, and 32 bit Memory Mapped I/O reads and writes. -The calls added include X_iowriteY() and -X_ioreadY() -where X is nat (native), be or le, -and Y is 16 or 32. -Also added are ioread8() and iowrite8().

- -

Added optional dbServer API to database

- -

A server layer that sits on top of the IOC database may now register itself -as such by calling dbRegisterServer() and providing optional routines -that other components can use. The initial purpose of this API allows the Trace -Processing implementation in dbProcess() to identify a client that -causes a record to process when TPRO is set.

- -

To support the client idenfication, the server provides a routine that -returns that identity string when called by one of its own processing -threads.

- -

Concatenated database definition files

- -

A series of database definition (dbd) files can now be concatenated during -the build process into a newly-created dbd file with result being installed into -$(INSTALL_LOCATION)/dbd without expanding it.

- -

The following lines in an EPICS Makefile will create a file name.dbd in the -O.Common build directory containing the contents of file1.dbd followed by -file2.dbd then file3.dbd. The new file will then be installed into -$(INSTALL_LOCATION)/dbd without expanding any of its include statements.

- -
-DBDCAT += name.dbd
-name_DBD += file1.dbd file2.dbd file3.dbd
-
- -

The source files file1.dbd, file2.dbd and file3.dbd may be created by the -current Makefile, be located in the parent directory or any other directory in -the SRC_DIRS list, be specified by their full pathname, exist in the install dbd -directory, or be found in any dbd directory linked from the application's -RELEASE files.

- -

Posix: Drop SCHED_FIFO before exec() in child process

- -

If Base is compiled with USE_POSIX_THREAD_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING = YES -in configure/CONFIG_SITE or related files, the Posix implementation of the -libCom osiSpawnDetachedProcess() routine will switch the child process -to use the normal SCHED_OTHER (non real-time) scheduler before executing the -named executable program. If it needs to use the real-time scheduler the new -program can request that for itself.

- -

Posix: Lock all memory when running with FIFO scheduler

- -

On Posix systems, an IOC application's ability to meet timing deadlines is -often dependent on its ability to lock part or all of the process's virtual -address space into RAM, preventing that memory from being paged to the swap -area. This change will attempt to lock the process's virtual address space into -RAM if the process has the ability to run threads with different priorities. If -unsuccessful, it prints an message to stderr and continues.

- -

On Linux, one can grant a process the ability to run threads with different -priorities by using the command ulimit -r unlimited. To use the -FIFO scheduler for an IOC, use a command like this:

- -
chrt -f 1 softIoc -d test.db
- -

On Linux, one can grant a process the ability to lock itself into memory -using the command ulimit -l unlimited. These limits can also be -configured on a per user/per group basis by changing /etc/security/limits.conf -or its equivalent.

- -

A child process created via fork() normally inherits its parent's resource -limits, so a child of a real-time soft-IOC will get its parent's real-time -priority and memlock limits. The memory locks themselves however are not -inherited by child processes.

- -

Implement EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST in rsrv

- -

The IOC server can now bind to a single IP address (and optional port number) -read from the standard environment parameter EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST. -Additional addresses included in that parameter after the first will be ignored -and a warning message displayed at iocInit time.

- -

alarmString.h deprecated again

- -

The string arrays that provide string versions of the alarm status and -severity values have been moved into libCom and the header file that used to -instanciate them is no longer required, although a copy is still provided for -backwards compatibility reasons. Only the alarm.h header needs to be included -now to declare the epicsAlarmSeverityStrings and epicsAlarmConditionStrings -arrays.

- -

General purpose thread pool

- -

-A general purpose threaded work queue API epicsThreadPool is added. -Multiple pools can be created with controlable priority and number -of worker threads. Lazy worker startup is supported.

- -

Database field setting updates

- -

A database (.db) file loaded by an IOC does not have to repeat the record -type of a record that has already been loaded. It may replace the first -parameter of the record(type, name) statement with an asterisk -character inside double-quotes, "*" instead. Thus the following is a -legal database file:

- -
record(ao, "ao1") {}
-record("*", "ao1") {
-    field(VAL, 10)
-}
- -

Note that database configuration tools will not be expected to have to -understand this syntax, which is provided for scripted and hand-coded database -and template instantiation only. Setting the IOC's dbRecordsOnceOnly -flag also makes this syntax illegal, since its purpose is to prevent -multiply-defined records from being collapsed into a single instance.

- -

Added echo command to iocsh

- -

The single argument string may contain escaped characters, which will be -translated to their raw form before being printed (enclose the string in quotes -to avoid double-translation). A newline is always appended to the output, and -output stream redirection is supported.

- -

Added macro EPICS_UNUSED to compilerDependencies.h

- -

To prevent the compiler from warning about a known-unused variable, mark it -with the macro EPICS_UNUSED. On gcc and clang this will expand to -__attribute__((unused)) to prevent the warning.

- -

User specified db substitution file suffix

- -

Per Dirk Zimoch's suggestion, a user specified db substitution file suffix is -now allowed by setting the variable SUBST_SUFFIX in a configuration directory -CONFIG_SITE file or in a Makefile before the include $(TOP)/configure/RULES -line. The default for SUBST_SUFFIX is .substitutions

- -

NTP Time Provider adjusts to OS tick rate changes

- -

Dirk Zimoch provided code that allows the NTP Time provider (used on VxWorks -and RTEMS only) to adapt to changes in the OS clock tick rate after the provider -has been initialized. Note that changing the tick rate after iocInit() is not -advisable, and that other software might still misbehave if initialized before -an OS tick rate change.

- -

Added newEpicsMutex macro

- -

Internal C++ uses of new epicsMutex() have been replaced with a new -macro which calls a new constructor, passing it the file name and line number of -the mutex creation code. C code that creates mutexes has been using a similar -macro for a long time, but there was no equivalent constructor for the C++ -wrapper class, so identifying a specific mutex was much harder to do.

- -

Post DBE_PROPERTY events automatically

- -

A new record field attribute "prop(YES)" has been added to identify fields -holding meta-data. External changes to these fields will cause a CA monitor -event to be sent to all record subscribers who have asked for DBE_PROPERTY -updates. Meta-data fields have been marked for all Base record types.

- -

errlogRemoveListener() routine changed

- -

Code that calls errlogRemoveListener(myfunc) must be modified to use -the new, safer routine errlogRemoveListeners(myfunc, &pvt) instead. -The replacement routine takes a second argument which must be the same private -pointer that was passed to errlogAddListener() when adding that -listener. It also deletes all matching listeners (hence the new plural name) and -returns how many were actually deleted, whereas the previous routine only -removed the first listener that matched.

- -

Simplified generation of .dbd files

- -

The Perl script makeIncludeDbd.pl has been removed and the rules -that created an intermediate xxxInclude.dbd file from the -Makefile variable xxx_DBD have been modified to generate the target -xxx.dbd file directly. This should simplify applications that -might have had to provide dependency rules for the intermediate files in 3.15. -Applications which provide their own xxxInclude.dbd source file -will continue to have it expanded as before.

- -

New Undefined Severity field UDFS

- -

A new field has been added to dbCommon which configures the alarm severity -associated with the record being undefined (when UDF=TRUE). The default value is -INVALID so old databases will not be affected, but now individual records can be -configured to have a lower severity or even no alarm when undefined. Be careful -when changing this on applications where the IVOA field of output records is -used, IVOA still requires an INVALID severity to trigger value replacement.

- -

New build target tapfiles

- -

This new make target runs the same tests as the runtests target, but -instead of summarizing or displaying the output for each test script it creates -a .tap file inside the architecture build directory which contains the -detailed test output. The output file can be parsed by continuous integration -packages such as Jenkins to show the -test results.

- -

Array field double-buffering

- -

Array data can now be moved, without copying, into and out of the VAL field -of the waveform, aai, and aao record types by replacing the pointer in BPTR. -The basic rules which device support must follow are:

- -
    -
  1. BPTR, and the memory it is currently pointing to, can only be accessed - while the record is locked.
    2. -
  2. NELM may not be changed; NORD should be updated whenever the number of - valid data elements changes.
    3. -
  3. When BPTR is replaced it must always point to a block of memory large - enough to hold the maximum number of elements, as given by the NELM and - FTVL fields.
    4. -
- -

Spin-locks API added

- -

The new header file epicsSpin.h adds a portable spin-locks API which is -intended for locking very short sections of code (typically one or two lines of -C or C++) to provide a critical section that protects against race conditions. -On Posix platforms this uses the pthread_spinlock_t type if it's available and -the build is not configured to use Posix thread priorities, but otherwise it -falls back to a pthread_mutex_t. On the UP VxWorks and RTEMS platforms the -implementations lock out CPU interrupts and disable task preemption while a -spin-lock is held. The default implementation (used when no other implementation -is provided) uses an epicsMutex. Spin-locks may not be taken recursively, and -the code inside the critical section should be short and deterministic.

- -

Improvements to aToIPAddr()

- -

The libCom routine aToIPAddr() and the vxWorks implementation of the -associated hostToIPAddr() function have been modified to be able to look up -hostnames that begin with one or more digits. The epicsSockResolveTest program -was added to check this functionality.

- -

mbboDirect and mbbiDirect records

- -

These record types have undergone some significant rework, and will behave -slightly differently than they did in their 3.14 versions. The externally -visible changes are as follows:

- -
mbbiDirect
- - - -
mbboDirect
- - - -

Redirection of the errlog console stream

- -

A new routine has been added to the errlog facility which allows the console -error message stream to be redirected from stderr to some other already open -file stream:

- -
int errlogSetConsole(FILE *stream);
-
- -

The stream argument must be a FILE* pointer as returned by fopen() that is -open for output. If NULL is passed in, the errlog thread's stderr output stream -will be used instead. Note that messages to the console can be disabled and -re-enabled using the eltc routine which is also an iocsh command, but there is -no iocsh command currently provided for calling errlogSetConsole.

- -

Add cleanup subroutine to aSub record

- -

An aSub routine may set the CADR field with a function pointer which will be -run before a new routine in the event that a change to the SNAM field changes -the record's process subroutine.

- -

This can be used to free any resources the routine needs to allocate. It can -also be used to determine if this is the first time this routine has been called -by this record instance. The CADR field is set to NULL immediately after the -routine it points to is called.

- -

Example:

- -
void cleanup(aSubRecord* prec) {
-    free(prec->dpvt);
-    prec->dpvt = NULL;
-}
-
-long myAsubRoutine(aSubRecord* prec) {
-    if (!prec->cadr) {
-        /* check types of inputs and outputs */
-        if (prec->ftva != menuFtypeDOUBLE)
-            return 1; /* oops */
-
-        dpvt = malloc(42);
-        prec->cadr = &cleanup;
-    }
-
-    /* normal processing */
-}
-epicsRegisterFunction(myAsubRoutine);
-
- -

Sequence record enhancements

- -

The sequence record type now has 16 link groups numbered 0 through 9 and A -through F, instead of the previous 10 groups numbered 1 through 9 and A. The -changes to this record are directly equivalent to those described below for the -fanout record. The fields OFFS and SHFT have been added and operate on the SELN -value exactly the same way. The result is backwards compatible with the 3.14 -version of the sequence record as long as none of the new fields are modified -and the application does not rely on the SOFT/INVALID alarm that was generated -when the selection number exceeded 10. The record also now posts monitors on the -SELN field at the end of the sequence if its value changed when read through the -SELL link. - -

Fanout record enhancements

- -

The fanout record type now has 16 output links LNK0-LNK9 and LNKA-LNKF, plus -two additional fields which make the result backwards compatible with 3.14 -databases, but also allow the link selection to be shifted without having to -process the SELN value through a calc or calcout record first.

- -

Previously there was no LNK0 field, so when SELM is Mask bit 0 of SELN -controls whether the LNK1 link field was activated; bit 1 controls LNK2 and so -on. When SELM is Specified and SELN is zero no output link would be -activated at all; LNK1 gets activated when SELN is 1 and so on. Only 6 links -were provided, LNK1 through LNK6. The updated record type maintains the original -behavior when the new fields are not configured, except that the SOFT/INVALID -alarm is not generated when SELN is 7 through 15.

- -

The update involved adding a LNK0 field, as well as fields LNK7 through LNK9 -and LNKA through LNKF. To add flexibility and maintain backwards compatibility, -two additional fields have been added:

- -
-
OFFS
- -
This field holds a signed offset which is added to SELN to select which link -to activate when SELM is Specified. If the resulting value is outside the -range 0 .. 15 the record will go into a SOFT/INVALID alarm state. The default -value of OFFS is zero, so if it is not explicitly set and SELN is 1 the LNK1 -link will be activated.
- -
SHFT
- -
When SELM is Mask the signed field SHFT is used to shift the SELN -value by SHFT bits (positive means right-wards, values outside the range -15 .. -15 will result in a SOFT/INVALID alarm), before using the resulting bit-pattern -to control which links to activate. The default value is -1, so if SHFT is not -explicitly set bit 0 of SELN will be used to control whether LNK1 gets -activated.
- -
- -

The record also now posts monitors on the SELN field if it changes as a -result of record processing (i.e. when read through the SELL link).

- -

Deleted Java build rules

- -

Java has its own build systems now, so we've deleted the rules and associated -variables from Base, although they might get added to the Extensions build rules -for a while in case anyone still needs them.

- -

Changes made between 3.14.x and 3.15.0.1

- -

Application clean rules

- -

The clean Makefile target has changed between a single-colon rule -and a double-colon rule more than once in the life of the EPICS build rules, and -it just changed back to a single-colon rule, but now we recommend that -applications that wish to provide a Makefile that is backwards compatible with -the 3.14 build rules use the construct shown below. The 3.15 rules now support -a variable called CLEANS to which a Makefile can add a list of files to -be deleted when the user does a make clean like this:

- -
CLEANS += <list of files to be cleaned>
-
-ifndef BASE_3_15
-clean::
-	$(RM) $(CLEANS)
-endif
- -

The conditional rule provides compatibility for use with the 3.14 build -system.

- -

MSI included with Base

- -

An enhanced version of the Macro Substitution and Include program msi -has been included with Base. Both this new version of msi and the IOC's -dbLoadTemplates command now support setting global macros in -substitution files, and dbLoadTemplates can now take a list of global -macro settings as the second argument on its command line. The substitution file -syntax is documented in the Application Developers Guide.

- -

Cross-builds targeting win32-x86-mingw

- -

Some Linux distributions now package the MinGW cross-compiler which makes it -possible to cross-build the win32-x86-mingw target from a linux-x86 host. Build -configuration files for this combination are now included; adjust the settings -in configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.linux-x86.win32-x86-mingw and add win32-x86-mingw to -the CROSS_COMPILER_TARGET_ARCHS variable in configure/CONFIG_SITE or in -configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.linux-x86.Common.

- -

Architecture win32-x86-cygwin Removed

- -

The ability to compile non-cygwin binaries using the Cygwin build tools is no -longer supported by current versions of Cygwin, so this architecture has been -removed. Use the MinWG tools and the win32-x86-mingw architecture instead.

- -

RTEMS and VxWorks Test Harnesses

- -

The original libCom test harness has been renamed libComTestHarness, -and two additional test harnesses have been created dbTestHarness and -filterTestHarness which are all built for RTEMS and vxWorks targets. -The new ones include tests in src/ioc/db/test and src/std/filters/test.

- -

Running the new tests requires additional .db and .dbd files to be loaded at -runtime, which can be found in the relevant source directory or its O.Common -subdirectory. If the target can access the Base source tree directly it may be -simplest to cd to the relevant source directory before running the test. If not, -the files needed are listed in the generated 'testspec' file found in the -associated build (O.arch) directory.

- -

For RTEMS users the current directory is determined in a BSP specific way. -See rtems_init.c and setBootConfigFromNVRAM.c in src/libCom/RTEMS.

- -

New API to hook into thread creation

- -

A hook API has been added allowing user-supplied functions to be called -whenever a thread starts. The calls are made from the thread's context, -and can be used to control additional thread properties not handled inside -EPICS base, e.g. setting the scheduling policy or CPU affinity (on SMP -systems).

- -

The API also supports a mapping operation, calling a user-supplied function -for every thread that is currently running.

- -

New scan rate units

- -

Scan rates defined in the menuScan.dbd file may now be specified in seconds, -minutes, hours or Hertz, and plural time units will also be accepted (seconds -are used if no unit is mentioned in the choice string). At iocInit each -scan rate is compared with the OS's clock tick and a warning printed if the -rate is too fast or likely to be more than 10% different to the requested rate. -For example the rates given below are all valid, although non-standard (the -default menuScan choices that come with Base have not been changed):

- -
-
menu(menuScan) {
-    choice(menuScanPassive,     "Passive")
-    choice(menuScanEvent,       "Event")
-    choice(menuScanI_O_Intr,    "I/O Intr")
-    choice(menuScan1_hour,      "1 hour")
-    choice(menuScan0_5_hours, "0.5 hours")
-    choice(menuScan15_minutes, "15 minutes")
-    choice(menuScan5_minutes,   "5 minutes")
-    choice(menuScan1_minute,    "1 minute")
-    choice(menuScan10_seconds, "10 seconds")
-    choice(menuScan5_seconds,   "5 seconds")
-    choice(menuScan2_seconds,   "2 seconds")
-    choice(menuScan1_second,    "1 second")
-    choice(menuScan2_Hertz,     "2 Hertz")
-    choice(menuScan5_Hertz,     "5 Hertz")
-    choice(menuScan10_Hertz,   "10 Hz")
-}
- -

Alarm filtering added to input record types

- -

The record types ai, calc, longin and mbbi have a new alarm filter added to -them. This provides a low-pass filter that can be used to delay the reporting of -alarms caused by the input level passing the HIGH, HIHI, LOW or LOLO values. The -filter is controlled with a new AFTC field that sets the filter's time constant. -The default value for this field is zero, which keeps the record's original -alarm behaviour.

- -

The record must be scanned often enough for the filtering action to work -effectively and the alarm severity can only change when the record is processed, -but that processing does not have to be regular; the filter uses the time since -the record last processed in its calculation. Setting AFTC to a positive number -of seconds will delay the record going into or out of a minor alarm severity or -from minor to major severity until the input signal has been in that range for -that number of seconds.

- -

Post events on Waveform record's NORD field

- -

When the record type or device support modify the NORD field of a waveform -record, the record support code now posts DBE_VALUE and DBE_LOG events for that -field, signalling the array length change to any client monitoring the NORD -field.

- -

Attributes of Non-VAL Fields

- -

Non-VAL fields now report meaningful information for precision, units, -graphic limits, control limits, and alarm limits instead of simply using -PREC, EGU, HOPR, LOPR, DRVL, DRVH, HIHI, HIGH, LOW, and LOLO. All delay -fields have a default precision of 2 digits, units "s" and control limits -of 0 to 100,000 seconds (these precision and limit values can be changed -for each record type as a whole at runtime by updating a registered global -variable). Input fields like A-L of the calc record read their metadata -from the corresponding INPn link if possible.

-

epicsStdioRedirect.h merged into epicsStdio.h

- -

The definitions from the header file epicsStdioRedirect.h have been moved -into epicsStdio.h so all calls to printf(), puts() and putchar() in files that -include that OSI header will now be subject to stdout redirection. In past -releases (3.14.7 and later) it was necessary to request the redirection support -by including the epicsStdioRedirect.h header file. The header file is still -provided, but now it just includes epicsStdio.h.

- -

Named Soft Events

- -

Soft events can now be given meaningful names instead of just using the -numbers 1-255. The EVNT field is now a DBF_STRING. The post_event() API -is now deprecated but still works. It should be replaced by code that in advance -looks up the EVNTPVT event handle associated with the named event by -calling eventNameToHandle(char *), and when that event occurs passes -that handle to the new postEvent(EVNTPVT) routine (which may be called -from interrupt level). A new iocsh command postEvent name will -trigger a named event from the command-line or a startup script (on vxWorks the -expression postEvent(eventNameToHandle("name")) must be used -instead though).

- -

Parallel Builds

- -

-As EPICS sites get computers with more CPUs they report additional bugs in our -parallel build rules. Various issues have been fixed by separating out the build -rules that generate dependency (.d) files, ensuring that they are constructed at -the appropriate time in the build.

- -

-These rule changes can cause additional warning messages to appear when building -support modules. Where an application provides its own Makefile rules it may now -have to add rules to construct an associated dependency file. In many cases -though the change needed is just to replace a dependency for a -target$(OBJ) with the target$(DEP) so this

- -
-    myLib$(OBJ): myLib_lex.c
- -

-becomes

- -
-    myLib$(DEP): myLib_lex.c
- -

-To debug build issues assocated with dependency files, use the command make ---debug=m which tells GNUmake to display information about what it is doing -during the first pass when it updates its makefiles.

- -

-Removed tsDefs.h

- -

-The deprecated tsDefs API was provided for 3.13 compatibility only, and has now -been removed. Convert any remaining code that used it to call the epicsTime API -instead.

- -

-Changes to epicsVersion.h

- -

-The two macros EPICS_UPDATE_LEVEL and EPICS_CVS_SNAPSHOT have -been deleted from the epicsVersion.h file; they were deprecated in R3.14 and can -be replaced with EPICS_PATCH_LEVEL and EPICS_DEV_SNAPSHOT -respectively.

- -

-A new pair of macros has been added to make version number comparisons easier. -Code that will not work with a version of Base before 3.15.0 can now be -written like this to prevent it from compiling:

- -
-#if defined(VERSION_INT) && EPICS_VERSION_INT < VERSION_INT(3,15,0,0)
-#  error EPICS Base R3.15.0 or later is required
-#endif
-
- -

-Added support for iocLogPrefix

- -

-Added a iocLogPrefix command to iocsh. This adds a -prefix to all messages from this IOC (or other log client) as they get sent to the -iocLogServer. This lets sites use the "fac=<facility>" syntax for -displaying the facility, process name etc. in log viewers like the -cmlogviewer.

- -

-Reworked the epicsEvent C & C++ APIs

- - - -

-Enabled histogram record type

- -

-The histogram record was not included in the base.dbd file in any 3.14 release, -but has now been added along with its associated soft device support. The build -system now generates the list of all the record.dbd files in base automatically -in src/std/rec/Makefile.

- -

-Reorganization of src/

- -

Reorganization of subdirectories of src/ to better represent the relation -between different parts as described in the following table.

- -

This change also allows the number of libraries built to be reduced to: -libCap5.so, libca.so, libdbCore.so, libdbStaticHost.so, -libCom.so, libcas.so, libdbRecStd.so, and libgdd.so

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ComponentDependencyLibrary nameDescription
src/toolsBuild system scripts
src/libComsrc/toolsComUtility routines and OS-independant API
src/templatesrc/toolsUser application templates (e.g. makeBaseApp)
src/ca/clientsrc/libComcaChannel Access client
src/ca/legacy/gddsrc/ca/clientgddGeneric data layer for PCAS
src/ca/legacy/pcassrc/ca/legacy/gddcasPortable Channel Access Server
src/iocsrc/cadbCoreCore database processing functions
src/stdsrc/iocdbRecStdStandard records, soft device support and the softIoc
- -

-In order to better reflect these relations the following -directories and files were moved as described:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Relocations
PreviousNew
libCom
src/RTEMSsrc/libCom/RTEMS
src/toolsComm/flexsrc/libCom/flex
src/toolsComm/antelopesrc/libCom/yacc
src/dbStatic/alarm.h
.../alarmString.h		src/libCom/misc/
IOC Core Components
src/bptsrc/ioc/bpt
src/dbsrc/ioc/db
src/dbStaticsrc/ioc/dbStatic
src/dbtoolssrc/ioc/dbtemplate
src/miscsrc/ioc/misc
src/registrysrc/ioc/registry
src/rsrvsrc/ioc/rsrv 1
Standard Record Definitions
src/dev/softDevsrc/std/dev
src/recsrc/std/rec
src/softIocsrc/std/softIoc
Channel Access
src/casrc/ca/client
src/catoolssrc/ca/client/tools
src/cap5src/ca/client/perl
src/gddsrc/ca/legacy/gdd
src/cassrc/ca/legacy/pcas
src/excassrc/ca/legacy/pcas/ex
User Templates
src/makeBaseAppsrc/template/base
src/makeBaseExtsrc/template/ext
Dispersed
src/util 2src/ca/client
src/ca/client/test
src/libCom/log
src/as 3src/libCom/as
src/ioc/as
- -

1 -RSRV is built as part of dbCore due to its tight (bidirectional) coupling -with the other database code.

- -

2 -The contents for src/util/ moved to three locations. The caRepeater init script -was moved to src/ca/client/. ca_test is now in src/ca/client/test/. -The iocLogServer was moved into the same directory (src/libCom/log) as -the log client code.

- -

3 -The Access Security code has been divided, with the parts not related to the -database (lexer/parser and trap registration) becoming part of libCom. -The remaining components are included in the dbCore library

- -

-Moved src/RTEMS/base directory

- -

-These files are now found under src/RTEMS.

- -

-Removed 3.13 compatibility

- -

-Removed the 3.13 <top>/config directory and build compatibility rules and -variables, and various conversion documents.

- - - diff --git a/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..133c823a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/documentation/RELEASE_NOTES.md @@ -0,0 +1,1610 @@ +# EPICS Base Release 3.15.7 + +This version of EPICS Base has not been released yet. + +## Changes made on the 3.15 branch since 3.15.6 + + + +### Add option to avoid CALLBACK conflict + +If a macro `EPICS_NO_CALLBACK` is defined, then callback.h will no longer (re)define CALLBACK. +The name 'CALLBACK' is used by the WIN32 API, and redefinition in callback.h cause errors +if some windows headers are later included. + +Code which defines `EPICS_NO_CALLBACK`, but still wishes to use callbacks, should use +the alternate name 'epicsCallback' introduced in 3.15.6, 3.16.2, and 7.0.2. +It is also possible, though not encouraged, to use 'struct callbackPvt' +which has been present since the callback API was introduced. + +### Cleaning up with Multiple CA contexts in a Process + +Bruno Martins reported a problem with the CA client library at shutdown in a +process that uses multiple CA client contexts. The first context that triggers +the CA client exit handler prevents any others from being able to clean up +because it resets the ID of an internal epicsThreadPrivate variable which is +shared by all clients. This action has been removed from the client library, +which makes cleanup of clients like this possible. + +### Perl CA bindings fixed for macOS Mojave + +Apple removed some Perl header files from macOS Mojave that were available +in their SDK, requiring a change to the include paths used when compiling the +CA bindings. The new version should build on new and older macOS versions, and +these changes may also help other targets that have an incomplete installation +of Perl (the build will continue after printing a warning that the Perl CA +bindings could not be built). + +### Routine `epicsTempName()` removed from libCom + +This routine was a simple wrapper around the C89 function `tmpnam()` +which is now seen as unsafe and causes warning messages to be generated by +most modern compilers. The two internal uses of this function have been +modified to call `epicsTempFile()` instead. We were unable to find any +published code that used this function, so it was removed immediately instead +of being deprecated. + +### DBD Parsing of Record Types + +The Perl DBD file parser has been made slightly more liberal; the order in +which DBD files must be parsed is now more flexible, so that a record type +definition can now be parsed after a device support that referred to that +record type. A warning message will be displayed when the device support is +seen, but the subsequent loading of the record type will be accepted without +triggering an error. See +[Launchpad bug 1801145](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1801145). + +### menuScan and several record types documented with POD + +The EPICS Wiki pages describing a number of standard record types has been +converted into the Perl POD documentation format and added to the DBD files, +so at build-time an HTML version of these documents is generated and installed +into the htmls directory. Thanks to Tony Pietryla. + +### CA client tools learned `-V` option + +This displays the version numbers of EPICS Base and the CA protocol. + +## Changes made between 3.15.5 and 3.15.6 + +### Unsetting environment variables + +The new command `epicsEnvUnset varname` can be used to +unset an environment variable. + +### Warning indicators in msi (and macLib) output + +The libCom macro expansion library has been modified so that when the +`SUPPRESS_WARNINGS` flag is set it will no longer include any `,undefined` +or `,recursive` indicators in its output when undefined or recursive +macros are encountered. These indicators were harmless when the output was fed +into an IOC along with a definition for the macro, but when the `msi` +tool was used to generate other kinds of files they caused problems. If the +`msi -V` flag is used the markers will still be present in the output +whenever the appropriate condition is seen. + +### Improvements to msi + +In addition to fixing its response to discovering parsing errors in its +substitution input file (reported as Launchpad +[bug 1503661](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1503661)) +so it now deletes the incomplete output file, the msi program has been cleaned +up a little bit internally. + +### All array records now post monitors on their array-length fields + +The waveform record has been posting monitors on its NORD field since Base +3.15.0.1; we finally got around to doing the equivalent in all the other +built-in record types, which even required modifying device support in some +cases. This fixes +[Launchpad bug 1730727](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1730727). + +### HOWTO: Converting Wiki Record Reference to POD + +Some documentation has been added to the `dbdToHtml.pl` script +explaining how Perl POD (Plain Old Documentation) markup can be added to +`.dbd` files to generate HTML documentation for the record types. To see +these instructions, run `perl bin//dbdToHtml.pl -H` +or `perldoc bin//dbdToHtml.pl`. + +### Fix problem with numeric soft events + +Changing from numeric to named soft events introduced an incompatibility +when a numeric event 1-255 is converted from a DOUBLE, e.g. from a calc record. +The `post_event()` API is not marked deprecated any more. + +Also `scanpel` has been modified to accept a glob pattern for +event name filtering and to show events with no connected records as well. + +### Add `osiSockOptMcastLoop_t` and osiSockTest + +Added a new OS-independent typedef for multicast socket options, and a test +file to check their correct operation. + +### Support for `CONFIG_SITE.local` in Base + +This feature is mostly meant for use by developers; configuration +settings that would normally appear in `base/configure/CONFIG_SITE` can now +be put in a locally created `base/configure/CONFIG_SITE.local` file instead +of having go modify or replace the original. A new `.gitignore` pattern +tells git to ignore all `configure/*.local` files. + +### Fix broken `EPICS_IOC_LOG_FILE_LIMIT=0` setting + +The Application Developers' Guide says this is allowed and disables the +limit on the log-file, but it hasn't actually worked for some time (if ever). +Note that the iocLogServer will be removed from newer Base release sometime +soon as its functionality can be implemented by other dedicated log servers +such as logstash or syslog-ng. + +Fixes [lp:1786858](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1786858) +and part of [lp:1786966](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1786966). + +### Cleanup of startup directory + +The files in the startup directory have not been maintained in recent years +and have grown crufty (technical term). This release includes the following +updates to these files: + + - The Perl `EpicsHostArch.pl` script has been rewritten, and support + for a few previously missing host architectures has been added to it. + - The `EpicsHostArch.pl` script has also been moved into the standard + `src/tools` directory, from where it will be installed into + `lib/perl`. In this new location it is no longer executable, so it must + be run by the `perl` executable. + - The build system has been adjusted to look for `EpicsHostArch.pl` in + both places if the `EPICS_HOST_ARCH` environment variable has not been + set at build-time. + - Sites that used the original Perl script to set `EPICS_HOST_ARCH` as + part of their standard environment will need to adjust their scripts when they + upgrade to this release. + - The `EpicsHostArch` shell script has been replaced with a wrapper + routine that calls the Perl `EpicsHostArch.pl` script. Sites that rely on + this script to set `EPICS_HOST_ARCH` should consider switching to the + Perl script instead. + - The `Site.cshrc` and `Site.profile` files have been renamed to + `unix.csh` and `unix.sh`, respectively. + - The existing `win32.bat` file has been cleaned up and a new + `windows.bat` file added for 64-bit targets. The contents of these files + should be seen as examples, don't uncomment or install parts for software that + you don't explicitly know that you need. + +### Recent Apple XCode Build Issues + +The latest version of XCode will not compile calls to `system()` or +`clock_settime()` for iOS targets. There were several places in Base +where these were being compiled, although there were probably never called. The +code has now been modified to permit iOS builds to complete again. + +### Prevent illegal alarm severities + +A check has been added to `recGblResetAlarms()` that prevents records +from getting an alarm severity higher than `INVALID_ALARM`. It is still possible +for a field like HSV to get set to a value that is not a legal alarm severity, +but the core IOC code should never copy such a value into a record's SEVR or +ACKS fields. With this fix the record's alarm severity will be limited to +`INVALID_ALARM`. + +### Fixes for Launchpad bugs + +The following launchpad bugs have fixes included: + + - [lp: 1786320](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1786320), dbCa subscribes twice to ENUM + - [lp: 541221](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/541221), 'assert (pca-\>pgetNative)' failed in ../dbCa.c + - [lp: 1747091](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1747091), epicsTimeGetEvent() / generalTime bug + - [lp: 1743076](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1743076), Segfault in `ca_attach_context()` during exits + - [lp: 1751380](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1751380), Deadlock in `ca_clear_subscription()` + - [lp: 1597809](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1597809), Setting NAME field in DB file may break IOC + - [lp: 1770292](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1770292), `get_alarm_double()` inconsistent across record types + - [lp: 1771298](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1771298), Conversion of NaN to integer relies on undefined + behavior + +### Updated VxWorks Timezone settings + +Removed the settings for 2017; fixed the hour of the change for MET. + +### Fixed camonitor server side relative timestamps bug + +Initialize the first time-stamp from the first monitor, not the client-side +current time in this configuration. + +### Build changes for MSVC + +Windows builds using Visual Studio 2015 and later now use the `-FS` +compiler option to allow parallel builds to work properly. + +We now give the `-FC` option to tell the compiler to print absolute +paths for source files in diagnostic messages. + +### Extend maximum Posix epicsEventWaitWithTimeout() delay + +The Posix implementation of epicsEventWaitWithTimeout() was limiting the +timeout delay to at most 60 minutes (3600.0 seconds). This has been changed to +10 years; significantly longer maximum delays cause problems on systems where +`time_t` is still a signed 32-bit integer so cannot represent absolute +time-stamps after 2038-01-19. Our assumption is that such 32-bit systems will +have been retired before the year 2028, but some additional tests have been +added to the epicsTimeTest program to detect and fail if this assumption is +violated. + +### New test-related make targets + +This release adds several new make targets intended for use by developers +and Continuous Integration systems which simplify the task of running the +built-in self-test programs and viewing the results. Since these targets are +intended for limited use they can have requirements for the build host which +go beyond the standard minimum set needed to build and run Base. + +#### `test-results` — Summarize test results + +The new make target `test-results` will run the self-tests if +necessary to generate a TAP file for each test, then summarizes the TAP output +files in each test directory in turn, displaying the details of any failures. +This step uses the program “prove” which comes with Perl, but also needs +“cat” to be provided in the default search path so will not work on most +Windows systems. + +#### `junitfiles` — Convert test results to JUnit XML Format + +The new make target `junitfiles` will run the self-tests if necessary +and then convert the TAP output files into the more commonly-supported JUnit +XML format. The program that performs this conversion needs the Perl module +“`XML::Generator`” to have been installed. + +#### `clean-tests` — Delete test result files + +The new make target `clean-tests` removes any test result files from +previous test runs. It cleans both TAP and JUnit XML files. + +### Fix DNS related crash on exit + +The attempt to fix DNS related delays for short lived CLI programs (eg. caget) +in lp:1527636 introduced a bug which cased these short lived clients to crash on exit. +This bug should now be fixed. + +### Server bind issue on Windows + +When a National Instruments network variables CA server is already running on +a Windows system and an IOC or PCAS server is started, the IOC's attempt to +bind a TCP socket to the CA server port number fails, but Windows returns a +different error status value than the IOC is expecting in that circumstance +(because the National Instruments code requests exclusive use of that port, +unlike the EPICS code) so the IOC fails to start properly. The relevent EPICS +bind() checks have now been updated so the IOC will request that a dynamic port +number be allocated for this TCP socket instead when this happens. + +### Checking Periodic Scan Rates + +Code has been added to the IOC startup to better protect it against bad +periodic scan rates, including against locales where `.` is not +accepted as a decimal separator character. If the scan period in a menuScan +choice string cannot be parsed, the associated periodic scan thread will no +longer be started by the IOC and a warning message will be displayed at iocInit +time. The `scanppl` command will also flag the faulty menuScan value. + +## Changes made between 3.15.4 and 3.15.5 + +### dbStatic Library Speedup and Cleanup + +Loading of database files has been optimized to avoid over-proportionally +long loading times for large databases. As a part of this, the alphabetical +ordering of records instances (within a record type) has been dropped. In the +unexpected case that applications were relying on the alphabetic order, setting +`dbRecordsAbcSorted = 1` before loading the databases will retain the +old behavior. + +The routine `dbRenameRecord()` has been removed, as it was intended +to be used by database configuration tools linked against a host side version +of the dbStatic library that is not being built anymore. + +### Launchpad Bug-fixes + +In addition to the more detailed change descriptions below, the following +Launchpad bugs have also been fixed in this release: + + - [lp:1440186](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1440186) Crash due to a too small buffer being provided in + dbContextReadNotifyCache + - [lp:1479316](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1479316) Some data races found using Helgrind + - [lp:1495833](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1495833) biRecord prompt groups are nonsensical + - [lp:1606848](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1606848) WSAIoctl `SIO_GET_INTERFACE_LIST` failed in Windows + +### Whole-Program Optimization for MS Visual Studio Targets + +When using the Microsoft compilers a new build system variable is provided +that controls whether whole program optimization is used or not. For static +builds using Visual Studio 2010 this optimization must be disabled. This is +controlled in the files `configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.windows-x64-static` and +`configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.win32-x86-static` by setting the variable +`OPT_WHOLE_PROGRAM = NO` to override the default value +`YES` that would otherwise be used. + +Note that enabling this optimization slows down the build process. It is not +possible to selectively disable this optimization, when building a particular +module say; Microsoft's linker will restart itself automatically with the +`-LTCG` flag set and display a warning if it is asked to link any object +files that were compiled with the `-GL` flag. + +### Add dynamic (variable length) array support to PCAS + +Dynamic array sizing support was added to the IOC server (RSRV) in the +Base-3.14.12 release, but has not until now been supported in the “Portable +Channel Access Server” (PCAS). Channel Access server applications using the +PCAS may not need to be modified at all; if they already push monitors with +different gdd array lengths, those variable sizes will be forwarded to any CA +clients who have requested variable length updates. The example CAS server +application has been modified to demonstrate this feature. + +In implementing the above, the gdd method `gdd::put(const gdd *)` now +copies the full-sized array from the source gdd if the destination gdd is of +type array, has no allocated memory and a boundary size of 0. + +### Additional epicsTime conversion + +The EPICS timestamp library (epicsTime) inside libCom's OSI layer has +been extended by routines that convert from `struct tm` to the EPICS +internal `epicsTime` type, assuming UTC - i.e. without going through +the timezone mechanism. This solves issues with converting from the structured +type to the EPICS timestamp at driver level from multiple threads at a high +repetition rate, where the timezone mechanism was blocking on file access. + +### MinGW Cross-builds from Linux + +The build configuration files that allow cross-building of the 32-bit +win32-x86-mingw cross-target have been adjusted to default to building shared +libraries (DLLs) as this is now supported by recent MinGW compilers. The 64-bit +windows-x64-mingw cross-target was already being built that way by default. The +configuration options to tell the minGW cross-compiler to link programs with +static versions of the compiler support libraries have now been moved into the +`CONFIG_SITE.linux-x86.` files. + +### General Time updates + +The `iocInit` code now performs a sanity check of the current time +returned by the generalTime subsystem and will print a warning if the wall-clock +time returned has not been initialized yet. This is just a warning message; when +a time provider does synchonize the IOC will subsequently pick up and use the +correct time. This check code also primes the registered event system provider +if there is one so the `epicsTimeGetEventInt()` routine will work on IOCs +that ask for event time within an interrupt service routine. + +The osiClockTime provider's synchronization thread (which is only used on +some embedded targets) will now poll the other time providers at 1Hz until the +first time it manages to get a successful timestamp, after which it will poll +for updates every 60 seconds as before. + +The routine `generalTimeGetExceptPriority()` was designed for use by +backup (lower priority) time providers like the osiClockTime provider which do +not have their own absolute time reference and rely on other providers for an +absolute time source. This routine no longer implements the ratchet mechanism +that prevented the time it returned from going backwards. If the backup clock's +tick-timer runs fast the synchronization of the backup time provider would never +allow it to be corrected backwards when the ratchet was in place. The regular +`epicsTimeGetCurrent()` API still uses the ratchet mechanism, so this +change will not cause the IOC to see time going backwards. + +### Microsoft Visual Studio builds + +The build configuration files for builds using the Microsoft compilers have +been updated, although there should be no noticable difference at most sites. +One extra compiler warning is now being suppressed for C++ code, `C4344: behavior change: use of explicit template arguments results in ...` which is +gratuitous and was appearing frequently in builds of the EPICS V4 modules. + +Cross-builds of the windows-x64 target from a win32-x86 host have been +removed as they don't actually work within the context of a single `make` +run. Significant changes to the build configuration files would be necessary for +these kinds of cross-builds to work properly, which could be done if someone +needs them (email Andrew Johnson before working on this, and see +[this stack-overflow answer](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5807647/how-do-you-compile-32-bit-and-64-bit-applications-at-the-same-time-in-visual-stu) for a starting point). + +### Bazaar keywords such as 'Revision-Id' removed + +In preparation for moving to git in place of the Bazaar revision control +system we have removed all the keywords from the Base source code. + +### Linux systemd service file for CA Repeater + +Building this version of Base on a Linux system creates a systemd service +file suitable for starting the Channel Access Repeater under systemd. The file +will be installed into the target bin directory, from where it can be copied +into the appropriate systemd location and modified as necessary. Installation +instructions are included as comments in the file. + +## Changes made between 3.15.3 and 3.15.4 + +### New string input device support "getenv" + +A new "getenv" device support for both the stringin and lsi (long string +input) record types can be used to read the value of an environment variable +from the IOC at runtime. See base/db/softIocExit.db for sample usage. + +### Build rules and `DELAY_INSTALL_LIBS` + +A new order-only prerequisite build rule has been added to ensure that +library files (and DLL stubs on Windows) get installed before linking any +executables, which resolves parallel build problems on high-powered CPUs. There +are some (rare) cases though where a Makefile has to build an executable and run +it to be able to compile code for a library built by the same Makefile. With +this new build rule GNUmake will complain about a circular dependency and the +build will probably fail in those cases. To avoid this problem the failing +Makefile should set `DELAY_INSTALL_LIBS = YES` before including the +`$(TOP)/configure/RULES` file, disabling the new build rule. + +### IOC environment variables and build parameters + +The IOC now sets a number of environment variables at startup that provide +the version of EPICS Base it was built against (`EPICS_VERSION_...`) and its build +architecture (ARCH). In some cases this allows a single iocBoot/ioc directory to +be used to run the same IOC on several different architectures without any +changes. + +There are also 3 new environment parameters (`EPICS_BUILD_...`) available that +C/C++ code can use to find out the target architecture, OS class and compiler +class it was built with. These may be useful when writing interfaces to other +languages. + +### New implementation of promptgroup/gui\_group field property + +The mechanism behind the `promptgroup()` field property inside a record type +definition has been changed. Instead of using a fixed set of choices, +the static database access library now collects the used gui group names +while parsing DBD information. Group names should start with a two-digit number +plus space-dash-space to allow proper sorting of groups. + +The include file `guigroup.h` that defined the fixed set of choices +has been deprecated. Instead, use the conversion functions between index number +and group string that have been added to dbStaticLib. + +When a DBD file containing record-type descriptions is expanded, any +old-style `GUI_xxx` group names will be replaced by a new-style +string for use by the IOC. This permits an older record type to be used with +the 3.15.4 release, although eventually record types should be converted by +hand with better group names used. + +### CA server configuration changes + +RSRV now honors `EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST` and binds only to the provided list +of network interfaces. Name searches (UDP and TCP) on other network interfaces +are ignored. For example on a computer with interfaces 10.5.1.1/24, 10.5.2.1/24, +and 10.5.3.1/24, setting `EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST='10.5.1.1 10.5.2.1'` will +accept traffic on the .1.1 and .2.1, but ignore from .3.1 + +RSRV now honors `EPICS_CAS_IGNORE_ADDR_LIST` and ignores UDP messages received +from addresses in this list. + +Previously, CA servers (RSRV and PCAS) would build the beacon address list +using `EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST` if `EPICS_CAS_BEACON_ADDR_LIST` was no set. This is no +longer done. Sites depending on this should set both environment variables to the +same value. + +### IPv4 multicast for name search and beacons + +libca, RSRV, and PCAS may now use IPv4 multicasting for UDP traffic (name +search and beacons). This is disabled by default. To enable multicast address(s) +must be listed in `EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST` for clients and `EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST` +for servers (IOCs should set both). For example: +`EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST='224.0.2.9' EPICS_CA_ADDR_LIST=224.0.2.9` + +Please note that no IPv4 multicast address is officially assigned for Channel +Access by IANA. The example 224.0.2.9 is taken from the AD-HOC Block I range. + +### Moved `mlockall()` into its own epicsThread routine + +Since EPICS Base 3.15.0.2 on Posix OSs the initialization of the epicsThread +subsystem has called `mlockall()` when the OS supports it and thread +priority scheduling is enabled. Doing so has caused problems in third-party +applications that call the CA client library, so the functionality has been +moved to a separate routine `epicsThreadRealtimeLock()` which will be +called by the IOC at iocInit (unless disabled by setting the global variable +`dbThreadRealtimeLock` to zero). + +### Added dbQuietMacroWarnings control + +When loading database files, macros get expanded even on comment lines. If a +comment contains an undefined macro, the load still continues but an error +message gets printed. For this release the error message has been changed to a +warning, but even this warning can be made less verbose by setting this new +variable to a non-zero value before loading the file, like this: + +``` + var dbQuietMacroWarnings 1 iocsh + dbQuietMacroWarnings=1 VxWorks +``` + +This was [Launchpad bug +541119](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/541119). + +## Changes from the 3.14 branch between 3.15.3 and 3.15.4 + +### NTP Time Provider adjusts to OS tick rate changes + +Dirk Zimoch provided code that allows the NTP Time provider (used on VxWorks +and RTEMS only) to adapt to changes in the OS clock tick rate after the provider +has been initialized. Note that changing the tick rate after iocInit() is not +advisable, and that other software might still misbehave if initialized before +an OS tick rate change. This change was back-ported from the 3.15 branch. + +### Making IOC `ca_get` operations atomic + +When a CA client gets data from an IOC record using a compound data type such +as `DBR_TIME_DOUBLE` the value field is fetched from the database in a +separate call than the other metadata, without keeping the record locked. This +allows some other thread such as a periodic scan thread a chance to interrupt +the get operation and process the record in between. CA monitors have always +been atomic as long as the value data isn't a string or an array, but this race +condition in the CA get path has now been fixed so the record will stay locked +between the two fetch operations. + +This fixes +[Launchpad bug 1581212](https://bugs.launchpad.net/epics-base/+bug/1581212), +thanks to Till Strauman and Dehong Zhang. + +### New `CONFIG_SITE` variable for running self-tests + +The 'make runtests' and 'make tapfiles' build targets normally only run the +self-tests for the main `EPICS_HOST_ARCH` architecture. If the host is +able to execute self-test programs for other target architectures that are being +built by the host, such as when building a `-debug` version of the host +architecture for example, the names of those other architectures can be added to +the new `CROSS_COMPILER_RUNTEST_ARCHS` variable in either the +`configure/CONFIG_SITE` file or in an appropriate +`configure/os/CONFIG_SITE..Common` file to have the test +programs for those targets be run as well. + +### Additional RELEASE file checks + +An additional check has been added at build-time for the contents of the +`configure/RELEASE` file(s), which will mostly only affect users of the Debian +EPICS packages published by NSLS-2. Support modules may share an install path, +but all such modules must be listed adjacent to each other in any `RELEASE` files +that point to them. For example the following will fail the new checks: + +``` + AUTOSAVE = /usr/lib/epics + ASYN = /home/mdavidsaver/asyn + EPICS_BASE = /usr/lib/epics +``` + +giving the compile-time error + +``` + This application's RELEASE file(s) define + EPICS_BASE = /usr/lib/epics + after but not adjacent to + AUTOSAVE = /usr/lib/epics + Module definitions that share paths must be grouped together. + Either remove a definition, or move it to a line immediately + above or below the other(s). + Any non-module definitions belong in configure/CONFIG_SITE. +``` + +In many cases such as the one above the order of the `AUTOSAVE` and +`ASYN` lines can be swapped to let the checks pass, but if the +`AUTOSAVE` module depended on `ASYN` and hence had to appear +before it in the list this error indicates that `AUTOSAVE` should also be +built in its own private area; a shared copy would likely be incompatible with +the version of `ASYN` built in the home directory. + +### String field buffer overflows + +Two buffer overflow bugs that can crash the IOC have been fixed, caused by +initializing a string field with a value larger than the field size +([Launchpad bug 1563191](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1563191)). + +### Fixed stack corruption bug in epicsThread C++ API + +The C++ interface to the epicsThread API could corrupt the stack on thread +exit in some rare circumstances, usually at program exit. This bug has been +fixed ([Launchpad bug 1558206](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1558206)). + +### RTEMS NTP Support Issue + +On RTEMS the NTP Time Provider could in some circumstances get out of sync +with the server because the `osdNTPGet()` code wasn't clearing its input socket +before sending out a new request. This +([Launchpad bug 1549908](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1549908)) +has now been fixed. + +### CALC engine bitwise operator fixes + +The bitwise operators in the CALC engine have been modified to work properly +with values that have bit 31 (0x80000000) set. This modification involved +back-porting some earlier changes from the 3.15 branch, and fixes +[Launchpad bug 1514520](https://code.launchpad.net/bugs/1514520). + +### Fix `ipAddrToAsciiAsync()`: Don't try to join the daemon thread + +On process exit, don't try to stop the worker thread that makes DNS lookups +asynchronous. Previously this would wait for any lookups still in progress, +delaying the exit unnecessarily. This was most obvious with catools (eg. +cainfo). +[lp:1527636](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1527636) + +### Fix `epicsTime_localtime()` on Windows + +Simpler versions of the `epicsTime_gmtime()` and `epicsTime_localtime()` +routines have been included in the Windows implementations, and a new test +program added. The original versions do not report DST status properly. Fixes +[Launchpad bug 1528284](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1528284). + +## Changes made between 3.15.2 and 3.15.3 + +### Make the NTP Time provider optional on VxWorks + +Recent versions of VxWorks (sometime after VxWorks 6) provide facilities for +automatically synchronizing the OS clock time with an NTP server. The EPICS time +system used to assume that it had to provide time synchronization on VxWorks, +but now it tests for the existance of either of the two OS synchronization +threads before starting the NTP time provider. It is still possible to force the +NTP provider to be started even if the OS synchronization is running by defining +the environment variable `EPICS_TS_FORCE_NTPTIME` in the startup script +before loading the IOC's `.munch` file. Forcing may be necessary if the VxWorks +image is not correctly configured with the IP address of a local NTP server. + +### Assembling files from numbered snippets + +A tool has been added that assembles file snippets specified on the +command line into a single output file, with sorting and replacing/adding of +snippets done based on their file names. The build system integration requires +the output file to be specified setting `COMMON_ASSEMBLIES` (arch independent) +or `ASSEMBLIES` (created by arch), then defining the snippets for each assembly +setting `*_SNIPPETS` (explicitly) or `*_PATTERN` (searched relative to all source +directories). + +### Clean up after GNU readline() + +If EPICS Base is built with readline support, any IOC that calls epicsExit() +from a thread other than the main thread is likely to leave the user's terminal +in a weird state, requiring the user to run something like 'stty sane' to clean +it up. This release patches the readline support code to clean up automatically +by registering an epicsAtExit() routine. + +### Removed the last vestiges of `RSET::get_value()` + +The IOC has not called the `get_value()` routine in the RSET for a very long +time, but there was still one implementation left in the event record support +code, and a structure definition for one of the original arguments to that +routine was defined in recGbl.h. Both of these have now been removed. + +## Changes made between 3.15.1 and 3.15.2 + +### Raised limit on link field length in database files + +The length of INP/OUT link fields in database files was limited to 79 chars +by an internal buffer size in the db file parser. This limitation will go away +completely in 3.16, and has been statically raised to 255 chars for the 3.15 +series. + +### aoRecord raw conversion overflows + +The ao record type now checks converted raw values and limits them to the +32-bit integer range before writing them to the RVAL field. Previously value +overflows relied on Undefined Behaviour which could give different results on +different platforms. The ROFF fields of the ao and ai record types are now +`DBF_ULONG` to allow an ROFF setting of 0x80000000 to work properly. + +### Changes to `/cfg/*` files + +The order in which `cfg/CONFIG*` and `cfg/RULES*` files are included from support +applications listed in the `configure/RELEASE*` files has been changed. Previously +these files were included in the order in which the top areas are listed in the +RELEASE file, but it makes more sense to load them in reverse order since later +entries override earlier ones in Makefiles but the release file order is +supposed to allow earlier entries to take precedence over later ones. The same +change has been made to the inclusion of the `/configure/RULES_BUILD` +files. + +Two new file types can also be provided in a module's `cfg` directory. Files +named `TOP_RULES*` will be included by the top-level Makefile of other modules +that refer to this module; files name `DIR_RULES*` will be included by all +Makefiles that merely descend into lower-level directories. The `cfg/RULES*` files +are only included when make is building code inside the `O.` directories. + +The new `cfg/DIR_RULES*` file inclusion was designed to permit new recursive +make actions to be implemented by appending the name of the new action to the +`ACTIONS` variable. There must be a matching rule in one of the `cfg/RULES*` files +when doing this. Similar rules may also be defined in the `cfg/TOP_RULES*` and/or +`cfg/DIR_RULES*` files, but these should only state prerequisites and not directly +provide commands to be executed. + +### Build rules for RTEMS GESYS modules + +RTEMS target builds can now be configured to make GESYS modules by changing +the `USE_GESYS=NO` setting in the file +`configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS` to `YES`. + +### Added Make variables for command-line use + +The following variables are now used during the build process, reserved for +setting on the command-line only (Makefiles should continue to use the +`USR_` equivalents): + + - `CMD_INCLUDES` + - `CMD_CPPFLAGS` + - `CMD_CFLAGS` + - `CMD_CXXFLAGS` + - `CMD_LDFLAGS` + - `CMD_DBFLAGS` + - `CMD_DBDFLAGS` + - `CMD_REGRDDFLAGS` + - `CMD_ARFLAGS` + +For example: + +``` + make CMD_INCLUDES=/opt/local/include CMD_LDFLAGS=-L/opt/local/lib +``` + +### Enhanced API for asTrapWrite listeners + +External software such as the CA Put Logging module that registers a listener +with the asTrapWrite subsystem was not previously given access to the actual +data being sent by the CA client. In most cases this was not a problem as the +listener can look at the field being modified both before and after the +operation, but if the put processes the record which immediately overwrites the +new value, the client's value cannot be observed. + +This release adds three fields to the asTrapWriteMessage structure that is +passed to the listener routines. These new fields provide the CA data type, the +number of array elements, and a pointer to the source data buffer. This change +is completely backwards compatible with listener code written against the +original API. The new API can be detected at compile-time as follows: + +``` + #include "asLib.h" + + /* ... */ + + #ifdef asTrapWriteWithData + /* Enhanced API */ + #endif +``` + +### Use of `PATH_FILTER` in Makefiles deprecated + +The `PATH_FILTER` variable was being called to convert forward slashes +`/` in file paths into pairs of backward slashes +`\\` on Windows architectures. This has never been strictly +necessary, and was added about 10 years ago to get around some short-comings in +Windows tools at the time. All uses of `PATH_FILTER` in Base have now been +removed; the definition is still present, but will result in a warning being +printed if it is ever used. + +### Using msi for dependencies + +To reduce confusion the msi program has been modified to allow the generation +of dependency rules by adding support for a `-D` option, and changing the +commands in RULES.Db to use this option instead of the mkmf.pl script. The new +build rules will not work with old versions of the msi program, so the command +variable name used in the rules has been changed from `MSI` to `MSI3_15`. Sites that +use a modified version of msi must provide support for both the `-D` and +`-o outfile` options, and should then point the `MSI3_15` variable in +their applications' `CONFIG_SITE` files to that updated executable. + +## Changes made between 3.15.0.2 and 3.15.1 + +### `epicsStrnEscapedFromRaw()` and `epicsStrnRawFromEscaped()` + +These routines have been rewritten; the previous implementations did not +always behave exactly as specified. + +### Shared Library Versions + +On architectures that can support it, the shared library version number for +libraries provided with Base has had the third component of the EPICS version +number added to it, thus libCom.so.3.15.1 instead of libCom.so.3.15. Windows +can only support two components to its internal product version number, and the +Darwin bug that external shared libraries were being built using the EPICS +version number has been fixed. + +### Hooking into dbLoadRecords + +A function pointer hook has been added to the dbLoadRecords() routine, to +allow external modules such as autosave to be notified when new records have +been loaded during IOC initialization. The hook is called `dbLoadRecordsHook` and +follows the model of the `recGblAlarmHook` pointer in that modules that wish to +use it must save the current value of the pointer before installing their own +function pointer, and must call the original function from their own +routine. + +The hook is activiated from the `dbLoadRecords()` routine and gets called only +after a database instance file has been read in without error. Note that the +`dbLoadTemplates()` routine directly calls `dbLoadRecords()` so this hook also +provides information about instantiated database templates. It is still possible +to load record instances using `dbLoadDatabase()` though, and doing this will not +result in the hook routines being called. + +Code to use this hook should look something like this: + +``` + #include "dbAccessDefs.h" + + static DB_LOAD_RECORDS_HOOK_ROUTINE previousHook; + + static void myRoutine(const char* file, const char* subs) { + if (previousHook) + previousHook(file, subs); + + /* Do whatever ... */ + } + + void myInit(void) { + static int done = 0; + + if (!done) { + previousHook = dbLoadRecordsHook; + dbLoadRecordsHook = myRoutine; + done = 1; + } + } +``` + +As with many other parts of the static database access library there is no +mutex to protect the function pointer. Initialization is expected to take place +in the context of the IOC's main thread, from either a static C++ constructor or +an EPICS registrar routine. + +## Changes made between 3.15.0.1 and 3.15.0.2 + +### New iocshLoad command + +A new command `iocshLoad` has been added to iocsh which executes a +named iocsh script and can also set one or more shell macro variables at the +same time, the values of which will be forgotten immediately after the named +script finishes executing. The following example shows the syntax: + +``` + iocshLoad "serial.cmd", "DEV=/dev/ttyS0,PORT=com1,TYPE=RS485" + iocshLoad "radmon.cmd", "PORT=com1,ADDR=0" +``` + +### Support routines for 64-bit integers + +The libCom library now provides support for 64-bit integer types on all +supported architectures. The epicsTypes.h header file defines epicsInt64 and +epicsUInt64 type definitions for both C and C++ code. The epicsStdlib.h header +also declares the following for parsing strings into the relevent sized integer +variables: Functions epicsParseLLong(), epicsParseULLong() with related macros +epicsScanLLong() and epicsScanULLong(), and the functions epicsParseInt64() +and epicsParseUInt64(). Use the first two functions and the macros for long long +and unsigned long long integer types, and the last two functions for the +epicsInt64 and epicsUInt64 types. Note that the latter can map to the types long +and unsigned long on some 64-bit architectures such as linux-x86\_64, not to the +two long long types. + +This version does not provide the ability to define 64-bit record fields, the +use of the 64-bit types in the IOC database will come in a later release of +EPICS Base. + +### Full support for loadable support modules + +Apparently later versions of Base 3.14 permitted support modules to be loaded +from a shared library at runtime without the IOC having been linked against that +shared library; the registerRecordDeviceDriver.pl program would accept a partial +DBD file containing just the entries needed for the library and generate the +appropriate registration code. In 3.15 however the registerRecordDeviceDriver.pl +program was replaced by one using the new DBD file parser, and in this a device +support entry would only be accepted after first loading the record type that it +depended on. + +The parser has been modified to accept device entries without having seen the +record type first, although a warning is given when that happens. To remove the +warning the DBD file can provide a record type declaration instead (no fields +can be defined, so the braces must be empty), before the device() entry. The +result will generate the correct registration code for the device entry without +including anything for any merely declared record types. The generated code can +be linked into a shared library and loaded by an IOC at runtime using dlload. + +### Parallel callback threads + +The general purpose callback facility can run multiple parallel callback +threads per priority level. This makes better use of SMP architectures (e.g. +processors with multiple cores), as callback work - which includes second +stage processing of records with asynchronuous device support and I/O +scanned processing - can be distributed over the available CPUs. + +Note that by using parallel callback threads the order of scan callback +requests in the queue is not retained. If a device support needs to be +informed when scanIoRequest processing has finished, it should use the new +scanIoSetComplete() feature to add a user function that will be called after +the scanIoRequest record processing has finished. + +Parallel callback threads have to be explicitly configured, by default +the IOC keeps the old behavior of running one callback thread per priority. + +### Merge MMIO API from devLib2 + +Added calls to handle 8, 16, and 32 bit Memory Mapped I/O reads and writes. +The calls added include `X_iowriteY()` and `X_ioreadY()` +where `X` is `nat` (native), `be` or `le`, and `Y` is `16` or `32`. +Also added are `ioread8()` and `iowrite8()`. + +### Added optional dbServer API to database + +A server layer that sits on top of the IOC database may now register itself +as such by calling `dbRegisterServer()` and providing optional routines +that other components can use. The initial purpose of this API allows the Trace +Processing implementation in `dbProcess()` to identify a client that +causes a record to process when TPRO is set. + +To support the client identification, the server provides a routine that +returns that identity string when called by one of its own processing +threads. + +### Concatenated database definition files + +A series of database definition (dbd) files can now be concatenated during +the build process into a newly-created dbd file with result being installed into +`$(INSTALL_LOCATION)/dbd` without expanding it. + +The following lines in an EPICS Makefile will create a file name.dbd in the +O.Common build directory containing the contents of file1.dbd followed by +file2.dbd then file3.dbd. The new file will then be installed into +`$(INSTALL_LOCATION)/dbd` without expanding any of its include statements. + +``` + DBDCAT += name.dbd + name_DBD += file1.dbd file2.dbd file3.dbd +``` + +The source files file1.dbd, file2.dbd and file3.dbd may be created by the +current Makefile, be located in the parent directory or any other directory in +the `SRC_DIRS` list, be specified by their full pathname, exist in the install dbd +directory, or be found in any dbd directory linked from the application's +RELEASE files. + +### Posix: Drop `SCHED_FIFO` before exec() in child process + +If Base is compiled with `USE_POSIX_THREAD_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING = YES` +in `configure/CONFIG_SITE` or related files, the Posix implementation of the +libCom `osiSpawnDetachedProcess()` routine will switch the child process +to use the normal `SCHED_OTHER` (non real-time) scheduler before executing the +named executable program. If it needs to use the real-time scheduler the new +program can request that for itself. + +### Posix: Lock all memory when running with FIFO scheduler + +On Posix systems, an IOC application's ability to meet timing deadlines is +often dependent on its ability to lock part or all of the process's virtual +address space into RAM, preventing that memory from being paged to the swap +area. This change will attempt to lock the process's virtual address space into +RAM if the process has the ability to run threads with different priorities. If +unsuccessful, it prints an message to stderr and continues. + +On Linux, one can grant a process the ability to run threads with different +priorities by using the command `ulimit -r unlimited`. To use the +FIFO scheduler for an IOC, use a command like this: + +``` + chrt -f 1 softIoc -d test.db +``` + +On Linux, one can grant a process the ability to lock itself into memory +using the command `ulimit -l unlimited`. These limits can also be +configured on a per user/per group basis by changing `/etc/security/limits.conf` +or its equivalent. + +A child process created via `fork()` normally inherits its parent's resource +limits, so a child of a real-time soft-IOC will get its parent's real-time +priority and memlock limits. The memory locks themselves however are not +inherited by child processes. + +### Implement `EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST` in rsrv + +The IOC server can now bind to a single IP address (and optional port number) +read from the standard environment parameter `EPICS_CAS_INTF_ADDR_LIST`. +Additional addresses included in that parameter after the first will be ignored +and a warning message displayed at iocInit time. + +### alarmString.h deprecated again + +The string arrays that provide string versions of the alarm status and +severity values have been moved into libCom and the header file that used to +instanciate them is no longer required, although a copy is still provided for +backwards compatibility reasons. Only the alarm.h header needs to be included +now to declare the `epicsAlarmSeverityStrings` and `epicsAlarmConditionStrings` +arrays. + +### General purpose thread pool + +A general purpose threaded work queue API epicsThreadPool is added. +Multiple pools can be created with controllable priority and number +of worker threads. Lazy worker startup is supported. + +### Database field setting updates + +A database (.db) file loaded by an IOC does not have to repeat the record +type of a record that has already been loaded. It may replace the first +parameter of the `record(type, name)` statement with an asterisk +character inside double-quotes, `"*"` instead. Thus the following is a +legal database file: + +``` + record(ao, "ao1") {} + record("*", "ao1") { + field(VAL, 10) + } +``` + +Note that database configuration tools will not be expected to have to +understand this syntax, which is provided for scripted and hand-coded database +and template instantiation only. Setting the IOC's `dbRecordsOnceOnly` +flag also makes this syntax illegal, since its purpose is to prevent +multiply-defined records from being collapsed into a single instance. + +### Added echo command to iocsh + +The single argument string may contain escaped characters, which will be +translated to their raw form before being printed (enclose the string in quotes +to avoid double-translation). A newline is always appended to the output, and +output stream redirection is supported. + +### Added macro `EPICS_UNUSED` to compilerDependencies.h + +To prevent the compiler from warning about a known-unused variable, mark it +with the macro `EPICS_UNUSED`. On gcc and clang this will expand to +`__attribute__((unused))` to prevent the warning. + +### User specified db substitution file suffix + +Per Dirk Zimoch's suggestion, a user specified db substitution file suffix is +now allowed by setting the variable `SUBST_SUFFIX` in a configuration directory +`CONFIG_SITE` file or in a Makefile before the include $(TOP)/configure/RULES +line. The default for `SUBST_SUFFIX` is `.substitutions` + +### NTP Time Provider adjusts to OS tick rate changes + +Dirk Zimoch provided code that allows the NTP Time provider (used on VxWorks +and RTEMS only) to adapt to changes in the OS clock tick rate after the provider +has been initialized. Note that changing the tick rate after `iocInit()` is not +advisable, and that other software might still misbehave if initialized before +an OS tick rate change. + +### Added newEpicsMutex macro + +Internal C++ uses of `new epicsMutex()` have been replaced with a new +macro which calls a new constructor, passing it the file name and line number of +the mutex creation code. C code that creates mutexes has been using a similar +macro for a long time, but there was no equivalent constructor for the C++ +wrapper class, so identifying a specific mutex was much harder to do. + +### Post `DBE_PROPERTY` events automatically + +A new record field attribute `prop(YES)` has been added to identify fields +holding meta-data. External changes to these fields will cause a CA monitor +event to be sent to all record subscribers who have asked for `DBE_PROPERTY` +updates. Meta-data fields have been marked for all Base record types. + +### errlogRemoveListener() routine changed + +Code that calls `errlogRemoveListener(myfunc)` must be modified to use +the new, safer routine `errlogRemoveListeners(myfunc, &pvt)` instead. +The replacement routine takes a second argument which must be the same private +pointer that was passed to `errlogAddListener()` when adding that +listener. It also deletes all matching listeners (hence the new plural name) and +returns how many were actually deleted, whereas the previous routine only +removed the first listener that matched. + +### Simplified generation of .dbd files + +The Perl script `makeIncludeDbd.pl` has been removed and the rules +that created an intermediate `xxxInclude.dbd` file from the +Makefile variable `xxx_DBD` have been modified to generate the target +`xxx.dbd` file directly. This should simplify applications that +might have had to provide dependency rules for the intermediate files in 3.15. +Applications which provide their own `xxxInclude.dbd` source file +will continue to have it expanded as before. + +### New Undefined Severity field UDFS + +A new field has been added to dbCommon which configures the alarm severity +associated with the record being undefined (when UDF=TRUE). The default value is +INVALID so old databases will not be affected, but now individual records can be +configured to have a lower severity or even no alarm when undefined. Be careful +when changing this on applications where the IVOA field of output records is +used, IVOA still requires an INVALID severity to trigger value replacement. + +### New build target “tapfiles” + +This new make target runs the same tests as the “runtests” target, but +instead of summarizing or displaying the output for each test script it creates +a “.tap” file inside the architecture build directory which contains the +detailed test output. The output file can be parsed by continuous integration +packages such as [Jenkins](http://www.jenkins-ci.org/) to show the +test results. + +### Array field double-buffering + +Array data can now be moved, without copying, into and out of the VAL field +of the waveform, aai, and aao record types by replacing the pointer in BPTR. +The basic rules which device support must follow are: + +1. BPTR, and the memory it is currently pointing to, can only be accessed + while the record is locked. +2. NELM may not be changed; NORD should be updated whenever the number of + valid data elements changes. +3. When BPTR is replaced it must always point to a block of memory large + enough to hold the maximum number of elements, as given by the NELM and + FTVL fields. + +### Spin-locks API added + +The new header file epicsSpin.h adds a portable spin-locks API which is +intended for locking very short sections of code (typically one or two lines of +C or C++) to provide a critical section that protects against race conditions. +On Posix platforms this uses the `pthread_spinlock_t` type if it's available and +the build is not configured to use Posix thread priorities, but otherwise it +falls back to a `pthread_mutex_t`. On the UP VxWorks and RTEMS platforms the +implementations lock out CPU interrupts and disable task preemption while a +spin-lock is held. The default implementation (used when no other implementation +is provided) uses an epicsMutex. Spin-locks may not be taken recursively, and +the code inside the critical section should be short and deterministic. + +### Improvements to aToIPAddr() + +The libCom routine aToIPAddr() and the vxWorks implementation of the +associated hostToIPAddr() function have been modified to be able to look up +hostnames that begin with one or more digits. The epicsSockResolveTest program +was added to check this functionality. + +### mbboDirect and mbbiDirect records + +These record types have undergone some significant rework, and will behave +slightly differently than they did in their 3.14 versions. The externally +visible changes are as follows: + +##### mbbiDirect + + - If the MASK field is set in a database file, it will not be over-written + when the record is initialized. This allows non-contiguous masks to be set, + although only the device support actually uses the MASK field. + - If process() finds the UDF field to be set, the record will raise a + UDF/INVALID alarm. + +##### mbboDirect + + - If the MASK field is set in a database file, it will not be over-written + when the record is initialized. This allows non-contiguous masks to be set, + although only the device support actually uses the MASK field. + - After the device support's `init_record()` routine returns during record + initialization, if OMSL is “supervisory” and UDF is clear the fields + B0-BF will be set from the current VAL field. + - When a put to the OMSL field sets it to “supervisory”, the fields + B0-BF will be set from the current VAL field. This did not used to happen, + the individual bit fields were previously never modified by the record. + Note that this change may require some databases to be modified, if they + were designed to take advantage of the previous behavior. + +### Redirection of the errlog console stream + +A new routine has been added to the errlog facility which allows the console +error message stream to be redirected from stderr to some other already open +file stream: + +``` + int errlogSetConsole(FILE *stream); +``` + +The stream argument must be a `FILE*` pointer as returned by `fopen()` that is +open for output. If `NULL` is passed in, the errlog thread's stderr output stream +will be used instead. Note that messages to the console can be disabled and +re-enabled using the `eltc` routine which is also an iocsh command, but there is +no iocsh command currently provided for calling `errlogSetConsole()`. + +### Add cleanup subroutine to aSub record + +An aSub routine may set the CADR field with a function pointer which will be +run before a new routine in the event that a change to the SNAM field changes +the record's process subroutine. + +This can be used to free any resources the routine needs to allocate. It can +also be used to determine if this is the first time this routine has been called +by this record instance. The CADR field is set to NULL immediately after the +routine it points to is called. + +Example: + +``` + void cleanup(aSubRecord* prec) { + free(prec->dpvt); + prec->dpvt = NULL; + } + + long myAsubRoutine(aSubRecord* prec) { + if (!prec->cadr) { + /* check types of inputs and outputs */ + if (prec->ftva != menuFtypeDOUBLE) + return 1; /* oops */ + + dpvt = malloc(42); + prec->cadr = &cleanup; + } + + /* normal processing */ + } + epicsRegisterFunction(myAsubRoutine); +``` + +### Sequence record enhancements + +The sequence record type now has 16 link groups numbered 0 through 9 and A +through F, instead of the previous 10 groups numbered 1 through 9 and A. The +changes to this record are directly equivalent to those described below for the +fanout record. The fields OFFS and SHFT have been added and operate on the SELN +value exactly the same way. The result is backwards compatible with the 3.14 +version of the sequence record as long as none of the new fields are modified +and the application does not rely on the SOFT/INVALID alarm that was generated +when the selection number exceeded 10. The record also now posts monitors on the +SELN field at the end of the sequence if its value changed when read through the +SELL link. + +### Fanout record enhancements + +The fanout record type now has 16 output links LNK0-LNK9 and LNKA-LNKF, plus +two additional fields which make the result backwards compatible with 3.14 +databases, but also allow the link selection to be shifted without having to +process the SELN value through a calc or calcout record first. + +Previously there was no LNK0 field, so when SELM is “Mask” bit 0 of SELN +controls whether the LNK1 link field was activated; bit 1 controls LNK2 and so +on. When SELM is “Specified” and SELN is zero no output link would be +activated at all; LNK1 gets activated when SELN is 1 and so on. Only 6 links +were provided, LNK1 through LNK6. The updated record type maintains the original +behavior when the new fields are not configured, except that the SOFT/INVALID +alarm is not generated when SELN is 7 through 15. + +The update involved adding a LNK0 field, as well as fields LNK7 through LNK9 +and LNKA through LNKF. To add flexibility and maintain backwards compatibility, +two additional fields have been added: + + - **OFFS** + This field holds a signed offset which is added to SELN to select which link + to activate when SELM is “Specified”. If the resulting value is outside the + range 0 .. 15 the record will go into a SOFT/INVALID alarm state. The default + value of OFFS is zero, so if it is not explicitly set and SELN is 1 the LNK1 + link will be activated. + - **SHFT** + When SELM is “Mask” the signed field SHFT is used to shift the SELN + value by SHFT bits (positive means right-wards, values outside the range -15 .. + 15 will result in a SOFT/INVALID alarm), before using the resulting bit-pattern + to control which links to activate. The default value is -1, so if SHFT is not + explicitly set bit 0 of SELN will be used to control whether LNK1 gets + activated. + +The record also now posts monitors on the SELN field if it changes as a +result of record processing (i.e. when read through the SELL link). + +### Deleted Java build rules + +Java has its own build systems now, so we've deleted the rules and associated +variables from Base, although they might get added to the Extensions build rules +for a while in case anyone still needs them. + +## Changes made between 3.14.x and 3.15.0.1 + +### Application clean rules + +The `clean` Makefile target has changed between a single-colon rule +and a double-colon rule more than once in the life of the EPICS build rules, and +it just changed back to a single-colon rule, but now we recommend that +applications that wish to provide a Makefile that is backwards compatible with +the 3.14 build rules use the construct shown below. The 3.15 rules now support +a variable called `CLEANS` to which a Makefile can add a list of files to +be deleted when the user does a `make clean` like this: + +``` + CLEANS += + + ifndef BASE_3_15 + clean:: + $(RM) $(CLEANS) + endif +``` + +The conditional rule provides compatibility for use with the 3.14 build +system. + +### MSI included with Base + +An enhanced version of the Macro Substitution and Include program “msi” +has been included with Base. Both this new version of msi and the IOC's +`dbLoadTemplates` command now support setting global macros in +substitution files, and `dbLoadTemplates` can now take a list of global +macro settings as the second argument on its command line. The substitution file +syntax is documented in the Application Developers Guide. + +### Cross-builds targeting win32-x86-mingw + +Some Linux distributions now package the MinGW cross-compiler which makes it +possible to cross-build the win32-x86-mingw target from a linux-x86 host. Build +configuration files for this combination are now included; adjust the settings +in `configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.linux-x86.win32-x86-mingw` and add win32-x86-mingw to +the `CROSS_COMPILER_TARGET_ARCHS` variable in `configure/CONFIG_SITE` or in +`configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.linux-x86.Common`. + +### Architecture win32-x86-cygwin Removed + +The ability to compile non-cygwin binaries using the Cygwin build tools is no +longer supported by current versions of Cygwin, so this architecture has been +removed. Use the MinWG tools and the win32-x86-mingw architecture instead. + +### RTEMS and VxWorks Test Harnesses + +The original libCom test harness has been renamed `libComTestHarness`, +and two additional test harnesses have been created `dbTestHarness` and +`filterTestHarness` which are all built for RTEMS and vxWorks targets. +The new ones include tests in src/ioc/db/test and src/std/filters/test. + +Running the new tests requires additional .db and .dbd files to be loaded at +runtime, which can be found in the relevant source directory or its O.Common +subdirectory. If the target can access the Base source tree directly it may be +simplest to cd to the relevant source directory before running the test. If not, +the files needed are listed in the generated 'testspec' file found in the +associated build (O.*arch*) directory. + +For RTEMS users the current directory is determined in a BSP specific way. +See `rtems_init.c` and `setBootConfigFromNVRAM.c` in `src/libCom/RTEMS`. + +### New API to hook into thread creation + +A hook API has been added allowing user-supplied functions to be called +whenever a thread starts. The calls are made from the thread's context, +and can be used to control additional thread properties not handled inside +EPICS base, e.g. setting the scheduling policy or CPU affinity (on SMP +systems). + +The API also supports a mapping operation, calling a user-supplied function +for every thread that is currently running. + +### New scan rate units + +Scan rates defined in the menuScan.dbd file may now be specified in seconds, +minutes, hours or Hertz, and plural time units will also be accepted (seconds +are used if no unit is mentioned in the choice string). At `iocInit` each +scan rate is compared with the OS's clock tick and a warning printed if the +rate is too fast or likely to be more than 10% different to the requested rate. +For example the rates given below are all valid, although non-standard (the +default menuScan choices that come with Base have not been changed): + +``` + menu(menuScan) { + choice(menuScanPassive, "Passive") + choice(menuScanEvent, "Event") + choice(menuScanI_O_Intr, "I/O Intr") + choice(menuScan1_hour, "1 hour") + choice(menuScan0_5_hours, "0.5 hours") + choice(menuScan15_minutes, "15 minutes") + choice(menuScan5_minutes, "5 minutes") + choice(menuScan1_minute, "1 minute") + choice(menuScan10_seconds, "10 seconds") + choice(menuScan5_seconds, "5 seconds") + choice(menuScan2_seconds, "2 seconds") + choice(menuScan1_second, "1 second") + choice(menuScan2_Hertz, "2 Hertz") + choice(menuScan5_Hertz, "5 Hertz") + choice(menuScan10_Hertz, "10 Hz") + } +``` + +### Alarm filtering added to input record types + +The record types ai, calc, longin and mbbi have a new alarm filter added to +them. This provides a low-pass filter that can be used to delay the reporting of +alarms caused by the input level passing the HIGH, HIHI, LOW or LOLO values. The +filter is controlled with a new AFTC field that sets the filter's time constant. +The default value for this field is zero, which keeps the record's original +alarm behaviour. + +The record must be scanned often enough for the filtering action to work +effectively and the alarm severity can only change when the record is processed, +but that processing does not have to be regular; the filter uses the time since +the record last processed in its calculation. Setting AFTC to a positive number +of seconds will delay the record going into or out of a minor alarm severity or +from minor to major severity until the input signal has been in that range for +that number of seconds. + +### Post events on Waveform record's NORD field + +When the record type or device support modify the NORD field of a waveform +record, the record support code now posts `DBE_VALUE` and `DBE_LOG` events for that +field, signaling the array length change to any client monitoring the NORD +field. + +### Attributes of Non-VAL Fields + +Non-VAL fields now report meaningful information for precision, units, +graphic limits, control limits, and alarm limits instead of simply using +PREC, EGU, HOPR, LOPR, DRVL, DRVH, HIHI, HIGH, LOW, and LOLO. All delay +fields have a default precision of 2 digits, units "s" and control limits +of 0 to 100,000 seconds (these precision and limit values can be changed +for each record type as a whole at runtime by updating a registered global +variable). Input fields like A-L of the calc record read their metadata +from the corresponding INPn link if possible. + +#### epicsStdioRedirect.h merged into epicsStdio.h + +The definitions from the header file epicsStdioRedirect.h have been moved +into epicsStdio.h so all calls to printf(), puts() and putchar() in files that +include that OSI header will now be subject to stdout redirection. In past +releases (3.14.7 and later) it was necessary to request the redirection support +by including the epicsStdioRedirect.h header file. The header file is still +provided, but now it just includes epicsStdio.h. + +#### Named Soft Events + +Soft events can now be given meaningful names instead of just using the +numbers 1-255. The EVNT field is now a `DBF_STRING`. The `post_event()` API +is now deprecated but still works. It should be replaced by code that in advance +looks up the `EVNTPVT` event handle associated with the named event by +calling `eventNameToHandle(char *)`, and when that event occurs passes +that handle to the new `postEvent(EVNTPVT)` routine (which may be called +from interrupt level). A new iocsh command `postEvent name` will +trigger a named event from the command-line or a startup script (on vxWorks the +expression `postEvent(eventNameToHandle("name"))` must be used +instead though). + +#### Parallel Builds + +As EPICS sites get computers with more CPUs they report additional bugs in our +parallel build rules. Various issues have been fixed by separating out the build +rules that generate dependency (.d) files, ensuring that they are constructed at +the appropriate time in the build. + +These rule changes can cause additional warning messages to appear when building +support modules. Where an application provides its own Makefile rules it may now +have to add rules to construct an associated dependency file. In many cases +though the change needed is just to replace a dependency for a +`target$(OBJ)` with the `target$(DEP)` so this + +``` + myLib$(OBJ): myLib_lex.c +``` + +becomes + +``` + myLib$(DEP): myLib_lex.c +``` + +To debug build issues associated with dependency files, use the command +`make --debug=m` which tells GNUmake to display information about what it is doing +during the first pass when it updates its makefiles. + +### Removed tsDefs.h + +The deprecated tsDefs API was provided for 3.13 compatibility only, and has now +been removed. Convert any remaining code that used it to call the epicsTime API +instead. + +### Changes to epicsVersion.h + +The two macros `EPICS_UPDATE_LEVEL` and `EPICS_CVS_SNAPSHOT` have +been deleted from the epicsVersion.h file; they were deprecated in R3.14 and can +be replaced with `EPICS_PATCH_LEVEL` and `EPICS_DEV_SNAPSHOT` +respectively. + +A new pair of macros has been added to make version number comparisons easier. +Code that will not work with a version of Base before 3.15.0 can now be +written like this to prevent it from compiling: + +``` + #if defined(VERSION_INT) && EPICS_VERSION_INT < VERSION_INT(3,15,0,0) + # error EPICS Base R3.15.0 or later is required + #endif + ``` + +### Added support for iocLogPrefix + +Added a `iocLogPrefix` command to `iocsh`. This adds a +prefix to all messages from this IOC (or other log client) as they get sent to the +iocLogServer. This lets sites use the `fac=` syntax for +displaying the facility, process name etc. in log viewers like the +`cmlogviewer`. + +### Reworked the epicsEvent C & C++ APIs + + - Renamed the enum epicsEventWaitStatus to epicsEventStatus + - Defined epicsEventWaitStatus as a macro for epicsEventStatus + - Renamed epicsEventWaitOk to epicsEventOk + - Renamed epicsEventWaitError to epicsEventError + - Defined epicsEventWaitOK and epicsEventWaitError as macros + - Added epicsEventTrigger(id) which triggers an event and returns OK or an + error status if the underlying OS primitives report an error + - Added epicsEventMustTrigger(id) which halts on error + - Defined epicsEventSignal(id) as a macro for epicsEventMustTrigger(id) + - Added a new C++ method epicsEvent::trigger() which throws an + epicsEvent::invalidSemaphore in the event of an error + - epicsEvent::signal() makes an inline call to epicsEvent::trigger() + - epicsEventWait() and epicsEventWaitWithTimeout() now return an error + status if the underlying OS primitives report an error + - All the epicsEventMust...() routines are now implemented in the common + libCom/osi/epicsEvent.cpp source file, and call cantProceed() instead of + mis-using assert() + - Implemented epicsEventShow() on Posix + - Win32: Removed all epicsShareAPI decorations + +### Enabled histogram record type + +The histogram record was not included in the base.dbd file in any 3.14 release, +but has now been added along with its associated soft device support. The build +system now generates the list of all the record.dbd files in base automatically +in src/std/rec/Makefile. + +### Reorganization of src/ + +Reorganization of subdirectories of src/ to better represent the relation +between different parts as described in the following table. + +This change also allows the number of libraries built to be reduced to: +libCap5.so, libca.so, libdbCore.so, libdbStaticHost.so, +libCom.so, libcas.so, libdbRecStd.so, and libgdd.so + +| Component | Dependency | Library name | Description | +| ------------------ | ----------------- | ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- | +| src/tools | | | Build system scripts | +| src/libCom | src/tools | Com | Utility routines and OS-independant API | +| src/template | src/tools | | User application templates (e.g. makeBaseApp) | +| src/ca/client | src/libCom | ca | Channel Access client | +| src/ca/legacy/gdd | src/ca/client | gdd | Generic data layer for PCAS | +| src/ca/legacy/pcas | src/ca/legacy/gdd | cas | Portable Channel Access Server | +| src/ioc | src/ca | dbCore | Core database processing functions | +| src/std | src/ioc | dbRecStd | Standard records, soft device support and the softIoc | + +In order to better reflect these relations the following +directories and files were moved as described: + +#### Relocations + +Category | Previous | New +:--- | :--- | :--- +libCom | srcRTEMS | src/libCom/RTEMS +| | src/toolsComm/flex | src/libCom/flex | +| | src/toolsComm/antelope | src/libCom/yacc +| | src/dbStatic/alarm.h | src/libCom/misc +| | .../alarmString.h | src/libCom/misc +IOC Core Components | src/bpt | src/ioc/bpt +| | src/db | src/ioc/db +| | src/dbStatic | src/ioc/dbStatic +| | src/dbtools | src/ioc/dbtemplate +| | src/misc | src/ioc/misc +| | src/registry | src/ioc/registry +| | src/rsrv | src/ioc/rsrv [1](#rsrv) +Standard Record Definitions | src/dev/softDev | src/std/dev +| | src/rec | src/std/rec +| | src/softIoc | src/std/softIoc +Channel Access | src/ca | src/ca/client +| | src/catools | src/ca/client/tools +| | src/cap5 | src/ca/client/perl +| | src/gdd | src/ca/legacy/gdd +| | src/cas | src/ca/legacy/pcas +| | src/excas | src/ca/legacy/pcas/ex +User Templates | src/makeBaseApp | src/template/base +| | src/makeBaseExt | src/template/ext +Dispersed | src/util [2](#util) | src/ca/client +| | | src/ca/client/test +| | | src/libCom/log +| | src/as [3](#as) | src/libCom/as +| | | src/ioc/as + +1 +RSRV is built as part of dbCore due to its tight (bidirectional) coupling +with the other database code. + +2 +The contents for src/util/ moved to three locations. The caRepeater init script +was moved to src/ca/client/. `ca_test` is now in src/ca/client/test/. +The iocLogServer was moved into the same directory (src/libCom/log) as +the log client code. + +3 +The Access Security code has been divided, with the parts not related to the +database (lexer/parser and trap registration) becoming part of libCom. +The remaining components are included in the dbCore library + +### Moved src/RTEMS/base directory + +These files are now found under src/RTEMS. + +### Removed 3.13 compatibility + +Removed the 3.13 `/config` directory and build compatibility rules and +variables, and various conversion documents.