[98] in linux-announce channel archive
OBST3-4.3 available!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Thu Jan 19 14:55:00 1995
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 19:38:18 +0200
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi, linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
X-Mn-Key: announce
From: stone@fzi.de (The OBST Team)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: OBST3-4.3 available!
Organization: Forschungszentrum Informatik (FZI), Karlsruhe, Germany
Reply-To: stone@fzi.de
Keywords: obst, X11, objects, persistent store, data bases
Approved: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu (Lars Wirzenius)
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.misc
OBST3-4.3 as well as updated versions of OBST tools are now available
at ftp.fzi.de under /pub/OBST/OBST3-4.3.
Experienced users will notice that we've changed the structure of
our ftp directory tree somewhat: The subtree 'compress' is no longer
available, all files are compressed with GNU's gzip.
By sending
echo 'info ftp_listing' | mail obst-listserv@fzi.de
you will get a directory listing from our ftp server.
Major Changes
. All Packages
. Bug Fixes, switched to autoconf 2.1
. OBST
. Added support for DEC ULTRIX and shared libraries under Linux.
. Pregenerated container sets for DEC and PC architectures, a full
bootstrap is no longer necessary (see section 5.b of the README).
. tclOBST
. Can be compiled with Tcl7.4, Tk4.0; several bug fixes.
. Added stream-like interface from C++ to OBST meta schema.
. USE
. Removed most of the known bugs and quirks at the user interface.
The installation of OBST requires a C++ compiler
(GNU g++ 2.3.3/2.4.5/2.5.8/2.6.3, or AT&T 2.1/3.01).
The OBST graphical tools run under the X-Windows
system (currently X11R4, X11R5 and X11R6).
Installation has been tested for SunOS 4.1.3, Solaris 2.3 and LINUX.
Best regards and happy OBST programming.
The OBST Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version: OBST3-4.3
Date: 12/12/94
The OBject system of STONE --- OBST
-----------------------------------
The persistent object management system OBST was developed by
Forschungszentrum Informatik (FZI) as a contribution to the STONE
project (supported by grant no. ITS8902A7 from the BMFT, i.e. the
German Ministry for Research).
OBST was originally designed to serve as the common persistent
object store for the tools in software engineering environments.
Data Model
---------
The OBST data model can be characterized by the following properties:
* Schema definition language syntactically similar to C++
* Support of multiple inheritance
* Generic classes
* Abstract classes and methods
* Distinction between public, protected, and private methods
* Redefinition of methods
* Overloading of methods
Schemas and Containers
----------------------
Schemas are compiled by the OBST schema compiler. The compilation
results are instances of classes of the meta schema. From these
instances in a next step interfaces to different programming languages
can be generated. At present the C++ language binding is implemented.
Objects are stored in so-called containers. The container an object
belongs to is determined at the time of object creation and fixed
throughout the object's lifetime. Containers are the units of
clustering, synchronization, and recovery. Objects can be referenced
by other objects across container boundaries.
Incremental Loading
-------------------
OBST provides a mechanism to incrementally load methods. This enables
programs to deal with objects whose type is defined after the program
itself has been developed. This is useful in systems that provide for
inheritance and it supports schema evolution. We used it e.g. for
programs that interpret the object base and call methods of the
found objects (for example the below mentioned browser).
The System
----------
Since end 1990 the first prototype of OBST has been available and has been
shipped to interested universities and research institutions.
The system has been publicly available via FTP (see below) since March '92.
There is a mailing list (see below) with >>100 subscribers.
The system comes with the schema compiler, a library of predefined
classes (like Set<Entity>, List<Entity>, String, ...), a graphical
object browser (more a shell than a browser), a graphical schema
designer (USE), the structurer and flattener (STF), tclOBST,
and all manuals.
For USE, STF and tclOBST see below.
Schema Evolution Support Environment (USE)
------------------------------------------
This environment consists of a graphical schema designer built with
tclOBST (see below). It can be used to inspect existing class hierarchies
and to modify these hierarchies; it allows the addition of new classes
as well as the modification of existing ones.
Structurer and Flattener (STF)
------------------------------
This is a tool to build objects from byte strings and flatten objects
down to byte strings. It is intended to be used when coupling UNIX
tools to the object management system. The user defines a grammar that
describes her objects. Afterwards, the structurer parses an ascii
text according to the given grammar and creates an OBST object
structure that represents the corresponding parse tree.
The flattener does the inverse transformation, that means it generates
an ascii text from a given OBST object structure according to the given
grammar.
tclOBST
-------
tclOBST is a library which provides an embedding of OBST into the
interactive tool command language tcl, developed by John Ousterhout
at the University of Berkeley.
Based on the standard tcl shells, tclOBST offers interpretative access
to the complete functionality modelled by OBST schemas.
System Requirements
-------------------
For the prototype's installation a C++ compiler (GNU g++, AT&T cfront,
or others) and the X-Windows system for the graphical tools are required.
Installation is well-tried on SUN Sparc stations and should be no
problem on other UNIX machines, too. You can find a more detailed
description of the supported platforms in the README.install.OBST* file
that comes with the OBST distribution.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Status and Future of the OBST System
------------------------------------
As of the end of '94, Xcc Software, Karlsruhe has taken over the task of
maintaining the publicly available OBST version.
OBST has been licensed to Xcc. That company will develop and distribute a
commercial OBST version.
Xcc will continue to maintain this freeware version of OBST e.g. by
incorporating bug fixes and by porting it to new operating system or
compiler releases. The home ftp server of this freely available version
remains the same, too (see below).
If you have developed extensions/code for OBST that you want to share with
other OBST users, we encourage you to contact us in order to help you in
adding your code to the freely available version.
Such user extensions and modifications will be distributed preferably
under the terms of the GNU LGPL and be made available to all OBST
developers using the freeware OBST system.
We would also very much appreciate if you could drop us a note after
porting the freely available version to a new platform.
Contact Information
-------------------
Xcc encourages all professional users to subscribe to the new support
program that covers support for both the freely available and the
commercial versions of OBST.
Please contact Xcc for details and prices.
postal address: Xcc Software GmbH
Durlacher Allee 53
D-76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
eMail: obst@xcc-ka.de
Phone: +49-721-616474
Fax: +49-721-621384
System Distribution
-------------------
The OBST system is available via anonymous FTP from
ftp.fzi.de [141.21.4.3] and some mirror servers.
The system as well as some overview papers, documentation
(User's Guide, Language Reference Manual, Tutorial, ...),
and lots of manual pages can be found in the directory /pub/OBST.
Feedback
--------
Without any implication that we expect to get a lot of these: Bug reports
should contain a small example program with which the bug can be reproduced,
or at least a detailed description of the observed phenomenon. They should
also mention:
o OBST version
o configuration parameters for your OBST version
(from file config.status)
o kind and version of C++ compiler
o machine
o operating system
Besides bug reports we are strongly interested in all experiences
our users make with OBST (e.g. sufficiency of data model, performance,
...) and in our users' application areas and the applications as
well. So, please don't hesitate to send us a short note.
Mailing Lists
-------------
There are mailing lists for announcing OBST enhancements,
new versions, porting hints, etc. as well as for exchanging experiences
with other OBST users.
Send a mail with content 'LONGINDEX' to obst-listserv@fzi.de to learn about
the mailing lists which are currently installed:
echo LONGINDEX | mail obst-listserv@fzi.de
The mailing lists are maintained by an automatic list processor.
Use 'HELP' to learn about the commands understood by this processor:
echo HELP | mail obst-listserv@fzi.de
OBST Developers
---------------
The original OBST development team can be reached at:
Forschungszentrum Informatik (FZI)
Projekt OBST
Haid-und-Neu-Strasse 10-14
D-76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
or email to: dbs@fzi.de
Phone: ++49-721-9654-701
Fax: ++49-721-9654-709
Please use obst@xcc-ka.de for questions, general feedback, bug reports, ...
Best regards and happy OBST programming.
The OBST Team,
Boris Boesler, Dirk Eichberg, Frank Fock, Axel Freyberg,
Michael Gravenhorst, Ingolf Mertens, Michael Pergande, Christian Popp,
Bernhard Schiefer, Dietmar Theobald, Axel Uhl, Walter Zimmer
---
BTW "Obst" is the German word for "fruit",
so have a fruitful time with OBST!
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