Regina 2.0
13 Mar 2000
The version numbering of Regina has changed. Anders' original intent
was for Regina to be released as version 1.0 when it achieved
100% ANSI Compliance. I originally concurred with this approach
by releasing the 0.08 series, but with this release, Regina has
changed internally sufficient to warrant a major version number
change. By continuing to release version numbers of 0.xx, the
implications are that Regina is not a mature product. Obviously,
this is not the case, and rather than confuse the situation and
release a version 1.0, version 2.0 was decided upon.
Anders is aware of the change and is happy with the change
provided there is no confusion with users. Hopefully that isn't
the case.
Changes in this release (from 0.08h)
------------------------------------
o Added thread support. Support available for platforms that use
Posix Threads, Win32 threads and OS/2 threads. This is the first
version of Regina with thread support, so don't expect a flawless
implementation yet.
Platforms that are known to work:
- Linux RedHat 6.1
- Windows NT/98/2000
- Solaris 2.5 using gcc
Platforms that are known not to work:
- Linux RedHat 5.1 - threads library too old
- Digital Unix 4.0 - compilation errors
OS/2 thread support is only available with EMX, and that hasn't
been tested thoroughly.
o A new sample program; threader, has been written to demonstrate
Regina's multi-threading capabilities.
o Removed limitation on maximum value of NUMERIC DIGITS. Now no
effective limit.
o Regina now returns a tokenised version of a Rexx program via
RexxStart() that can be re-loaded from another session.
o Regina can now be built on the Amiga with gcc.
o Fixed "groundhog day" bug with TIME('L'), where times at .5 second
would be rounded up to the next second.
o Regina's stack usage has been dramatically reduced.
o Removed limitation of nested functions and loops. Now no effective
limit.
o Reduced common global symbols in the library. Reduced symbols
in shared libraries (ELF format) and DLLs.
o Changed the method for Unix installation. Should now work on all
Unix platforms.
o Fixed bug with CALLing external routines with parameters; eg
CALL "extrout" parm1
Once again Florian Grosse-Coosmann has made the majority of the
contributions to the success of this release.
Cheers, Mark.
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* Mark Hessling, M.Hessling@qut.edu.au http://www.lightlink.com/hessling/
* Author of THE, a Free XEDIT/KEDIT editor and, Rexx/SQL
* Maintainer of PDCurses: Public Domain Curses and, Regina Rexx interpreter
* Use Rexx ? join the Rexx Language Association: http://www.rexxla.org
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