archie/prospero/announcement

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2024-05-27 16:13:40 +02:00
This prerelease (5/17/94) was put together hastily in order to solve
Bunyip's urgent performance problems. I used an alternative quick
procedure for making it, where I was not able to go through the
rigorous checks I normally automatedly run to see if any files have
been left out, etc. If you have problems installing it, please
contact me right away, at home (310) 391-4404 or at work (310)
822-1511x749. Since time is of the essence here, if I don't answer at
either the home or work numbers, then please call me right away at
(310) 991-6592 (cellular phone).
The major changes were:
a) bug fixes included since last release
b) DIRECTORYCACHING can now be disabled (and is by default)
c) the VCACHE library is now the exception; vcache is normally built
as a separate program again.
d) many efficiency speedups. The server now does far fewer stat()s,
getpwuid(), and getgrgid() calls than it used to. It is much choosier
aobut when to call dsrfinfo(). It understands that when you're
verifying whether a directory exists you don't need to do a lot of
useless work. It was going to a lot of work to support forwarding.
Note the definition SERVER_DO_NOT_SUPPORT_FORWARDING in <pserver.h>.
This is turned on by default right now. This isn't a permanent change
(the permanent change is to make forwarding a lot more efficient), but
it will work until we need forwarding again. If you are using
forwarding, then contact me right away so that I can up the priority
of fixing this. For now, leaving this definition enabled produces a
considerable speedup in server performance.
I would like to see how well this improves the efficiency problems
that Bunyip has been experiencing. I believe there will be a factor
of ten speedup as a result of these changes.
I have modified lib/psrv/archie3/Makefile to meet the new specs; I
have not done this yet with archie2. I have not tested the
lib/psrv/archie* makefiles and code. Please give me feedback on this.
If somebody installs all of the release except for the archie stuff, I
will be glad to make modifications to those makefiles and code.
However, I do not myself have a copy of the archie server software on
hand to test it with.
The configuration of this release has considerably changed from the
last time the INSTALLATION instructions were revised. I like to think
it's easier to understand. It's certainly easier to maintain.
To build it:
untar the release
copy include/pmachine.h.dist to include/pmachine.h.
Edit include/pmachine.h
copy include/pserver.h.dist to include/pserver.h.
Edit include/pserver.h
copy include/psite.h.dist to include/psite.h.
Edit include/psite.h
edit Makefile.config to meet your needs.
To make archie work fast, add -O3 to the CFLAGS in this makefile; you no longer should need to modify lib/psrv/archie3/Makefile.
Link the archie sources to lib/psrv/archie3/archie_src, as usual.
type 'make' in the top level directory.
In this prerelease, I have included both the .dist files
(include/pmachine.h.dist, include/psite.h.dist,
include/pserver.h.dist, Makefile.config.dist) and our own versions
that have been set up to work on ZEPHYR.ISI.EDU. You will want to
proceed as above, and just delete the zephyr.isi.edu versions.
Please send minor feedback to bug-prospero@ISI.EDU. Please send
feedback about things keeping you from getting work done directly to
me via telephone (numbers above). Follow it up with an email message
to bug-prospero@ISI.EDU so that other people on my project will know
that there's a problem and will hassle me about it on your behalf.
---swa