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by elephant-announce＠common-lisp.net 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

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[elephant-announce] Elephant 0.9.1 officially released (The "Postmodern" release)
by Robert L. Read 16 Nov '07

16 Nov '07

Elephant 0.9.1 is now officially released. Instructions for downloading it via darcs can be found here: http://common-lisp.net/project/elephant/downloads.html The release provides official support for using Postmodern http://common-lisp.net/project/postmodern/ as a back-end data repository on top of Postgres. This back-end is about three times faster than the generic SQL interface on top of Postgres. There are some other improvements as well. Note that existing Postgres repositories are not compatible with a Postmodern repository. However, Elephant provides powerful multi-repository migration. If you have an existing Postgres repository and want to migrate to Postmodern, you should create a completely new Postmodern repository and migrate all of your data into it. The migration can be accomplished with a single command. If you have been using the (unofficially released) postmodern backend, you will have to migrate your data into a CL-SQL based postgres backend, or into a BDB backend, and then migrate into your new postmodern repository. This release is not compatible with previous (development) versions of the postmodern functionality. Thanks very much to Henrik Hejte and the postmodern team for this functionality, and to Ian Eslick for other improvements. This release has been tested on a 64-bit Linux with SBCL 1.0.10, and other platforms as well. If anybody downloads it and tests it, please run the (large) set of automated tests and report your results to elphant-devel at common-lisp.net. I will update the platforms page: http://common-lisp.net/project/elephant/platforms.html as I receive your updates. Henrik has creates some new documentation which can be build from the source, but I have been unable to build it, so have not updated the website. -- Robert L. Read Konsenti.com

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[elephant-announce] Announcing Elephant 0.9 RC1
by Robert L. Read 30 Apr '07

30 Apr '07

Dear Elephant community, Robert and I are pleased to announce that a release candidate for Elephant 0.9 is now available. See the online announcement at http:// www.common-lisp.net/project/elephant/news.html for details and pointers to documentation and downloads. A quick note on the switch from 0.6.x to 0.9. With the marked improvement in stability and the existence of a stable and useful feature set, we decided to abandon the 0.6.1 release label and change it to 0.9. There is a modest set of features remaining to achieve a 1.0 release later this year. These features are recorded as tickets at the Trac project site. (http://trac.common-lisp.net/elephant) We do not anticipate any functional changes prior to a formal release and are confident that databases created with this code base will be compatible with the final release. We aim to finalize the release in the next 1 to 2 weeks after a period of evaluation by the community. Features and changes since the Beta 0.6.1 announcement: * Mapping operators o BTrees, BTree indicies, class index and slot/derived indices all have a map operation o Enable mapping a function over values and ranges o Map in both ascending and descending order o Collect function results into a list o Efficient stack allocation where appropriate * Persistent sets o A lighter weight API for persistent collections o Provides insert, remove, find, map and list operations o With appropriate methods, makes one to many slots easy to construct, see tutorial and user-guide for details. * Complete update and rewrite of the users manual o All new and up-to-date tutorial o New section containing more detailed implementation information for advanced users o New sections for prospective data store developers o Detailed installation instructions (supercedes INSTALL file) o A list of use case scenarios that should help developers understand Elephant better o Much work remains to clean up the manual for 1.0, but the bulk of the rewrite is done and we invite comment on what is missing or unclear. * Feature tweaks o Drop commands for persistent collections to reclaim storage for reuse. o Expanded support for nested aggregates in serializer and migrate (i.e. an array of persistent objects will be properly migrated, whereas before only btree collections of persistent objects were properly copied). o Better error handling during object creation, change class operations, etc. o Better error checking during cross-store operations. o Persistent instances passed to print-object print their oid by default to create a recognizable signature o Loading directly via ele-bdb.asd and ele-clsql.asd is now supported as well as the 2-phase load o And many bug fixes... * Performance enhancements o Option to increase cache size for BDB backend o Improve contention performance while mapping btrees o And much more... Testing and Platforms: Prior to tagging the CVS tree tests were run successfully on the following configurations. Mac OS / Allegro / BDB -- green Mac OS / Allegro / SQlite -- green Mac OS / SBCL / BDB -- green Mac OS / SBCL / SQlite -- green Mac OS / Lispworks / BDB -- green Mac OS / Lispworks / SQLite -- green Mac OS / OpenMCL / BDB -- green (1 failing test -- see errata) Linux / SBCL / BDB -- green Linux / SBCL / SQLite -- green Linux / SBCL / Postgresql -- green Linux / Lispworks / BDB -- green Linux / Lispworks / SQLite -- green Windows / Lispworks / BDB -- green Windows / Lispworks / SQLite -- green Windows / Allegro / BDB -- green Windows / Allegro / SQlite -- green (NOTE: Several small changes to the loading process were made after these tests and only a subset of the platform combinations were retested after, but this included all OS's and all but OpenMCL. It is possible that something slipped through that we will have to fix in the final release). Errata: There are only two known issues with this release: * OpenMCL 1.0 has 1 known problem: redefinition of classes do not always result in indices being properly updated. This results from a known problem with the OpenMCL 1.0 MOP implementation. No workaround is currently known, but in practice you can evaluate the defclass form again and manually call (ccl:finalize-inheritance <pclass>) or change the indexing state manually using the API. This will probably not get fixed in this release. * The :deadlock-detect option for the BDB data store is not working in Lispworks. This will be fixed for the formal release. Ian Eslick and Robert Read

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[elephant-announce] Elephant 0.6.1 is now in Beta!
by Robert L. Read 22 Mar '07

22 Mar '07

We have tagged CVS with the tag ELEPHANT-0-6-1-BETA. OpenMCL still needs verification, but has been verified in the past so I don't think it's much work and the current tree seems very stable and addresses all the outstanding issues we documented and discovered for 0.6.1. This would be a good time to do a trial upgrade of your existing databases and try to incorporate this release in running systems. There may still be bugs, but we don't anticipate any major changes. From this point it is mostly documentation and augmenting the test suite where we can and with any luck there will be a release candidate in a week or two. Regards, Ian Eslick and Robert Read

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[elephant-announce] Re: [elephant-devel] Elephant 0.6.1 Alpha Release available
by Robert L. Read 18 Feb '07

18 Feb '07

That's great news; a 64bit system is bound to be useful in the future. I checked in the typo you noticed. Ian and I will review streamlining the testing process/output as we work on the documentation; it is clearly confusing. I think it worked if it didn't give you an error. On Sun, 2007-02-18 at 21:19 +0100, Henrik Hjelte wrote: > Great! > Here are some results from sbcl/linux/amd64: > > elephant.asd line 113 should be like this: > #+(and X86-64 linux) "-march=x86-64" > > berkeley-db tests: > All tests ok, the first time. > If I run do-backend-tests again, prepares-bdb fails. > However, if I run delscript.sh then all tests run ok again. > > > sql tests: > (I use postgresql 8.1) > > 5 out of 115 total tests failed: FIXNUMS, WRITE-64-BIT-FIXNUM, BIGNUMS, > RATIONALS, ARRAYS-2. > > That is because of a typo that in the end causes the old serializer1 to > be loaded. > > The typo is [keyvlaue] should be [keyvalue], line 119 of > sql-controller.lisp in the function create-version-table. > > After fixing this, > everything runs ok. > > Migration tests: > I tried: > (do-migration-tests *testbdb-spec* *testbdb-spec2*) > (do-migration-tests *testbdb-spec2* *testpg-spec*) > Both work I guess, at least they don't show any errors. > But they run awfully fast, and end with the output like this: > Migrating > Migrating class indexes for: IPFOO > Copying the root: > Fetching > > MIGRATE-IPCLASS > MIGRATE-IPCLASS > > Does this mean they run ok? > > To summarize, it looks really good! Thanks a lot for this! > > /Henrik Hjelte > > > > > On Sun, 2007-02-18 at 12:10 -0500, Ian Eslick wrote: > > An alpha release of Elephant 0.6.1 is now available for testing. > > > > Supported platforms: > > - SBCL, Allegro, CMU, OpenMCL, Lispworks (build system is not > > automated for Windows) > > - CMU, OpenMCL and Lispworks have not been fully tested and may > > require minor bug fixes > > > > > > DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL: > > > > The alpha release will only be available via CVS > > > > cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous:anonymous@common-lisp.net:/project/ > > elephant/cvsroot checkout -r ELEPHANT-0-6-1-alpha elephant > > > > This will put the elephant release into the directory: elephant. > > Read the INSTALL, UPGRADE and UPGRADE-BDB files for further > > instructions. > > > > > > PURPOSE OF THE ALPHA RELEASE: > > > > The primary developers do not have ready access to all supported > > platforms and would like to ask the community to help validate the > > current implementation on other platforms. We also are using the > > alpha to improve up our test suite. For more details please see the > > TODO file. If you have a favorite feature such as multi-threading, > > 64-bit, etc., please free to submit a test for the test suite. > > > > > > NEW FEATURES IN 0.6.1: > > > > Simplified build and site configuration support > > - See config.sexp in root directory for site customization (no more > > editing code files) > > - Linux and Mac systems should automatically build libraries when > > asdf is called > > > > 64-bit lisps are now supported > > - 64-bit and 32-bit lisps can read and run off the same database > > files (on the same machine) > > > > Multithreading: > > - Elephant should now be thread safe, including sharing a single > > store-controller across threads > > - Read comments in src/elephant/transactions.lisp and BDB users > > should read src/db-bdb/bdb-transactions.lisp > > - Improved support for mixing transactions and store-controllers > > > > Upgrading: > > - Elephant 0.6.1 can open and directly manipulate 0.6.0 databases > > - Existing 0.6.0 databases can be upgraded via the 'upgrade' function > > which takes > > - Upgrading is required for 64-bit systems > > - New serializer-independant metadata should enable future upgrades > > easier > > - NOTE: There may be some problems upgrading SQL databases > > > > Berkeley DB backend: > > - BDB 4.5 required (see UPGRADE-BDB) > > - *auto-commit* is no longer required. All data access methods auto- > > commit if there is no active transaction. > > - store-controller accepts :deadlock-detect keyword (t or nil) which > > will run db_deadlock as a background process to abort deadlocked threads > > - optimize-storage is a new store-controller method currently > > supported by BDB backend. It compacts a whole database or only a > > specific BTree and returns free pages to the free list or to the file > > system. > > > > Minor features: > > - Re-organization to the internal structure in this release: > > - Renaming including removing defunct sleepycat naming scheme, > > backend packages, etc. > > - The serializer was modularized to allow future releases to > > change serializer > > strategies or implement custom serializers and to be able to > > open legacy databases > > - Remove various warnings in SBCL build, etc. > > - Separated utilities into their own package and directory > > - Serializer improvements > > - 0.6.1 databases can be shared across lisps running on hardware > > of the same endianness > > (i.e. all x86 platforms or PPC/Alpha, etc) > > - Simplified unicode serialization support across all platforms > > - Performance improvements in multi-threading situations > > - Feature :elephant-without-optimize will disable optimization > > declarations simplifying debugging > > - Other fixes and features documented in the TODO file > > > > Thank you, > > Ian Eslick and Robert Read > > Elephant Developers > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > elephant-devel site list > > elephant-devel(a)common-lisp.net > > http://common-lisp.net/mailman/listinfo/elephant-devel > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > elephant-devel site list > elephant-devel(a)common-lisp.net > http://common-lisp.net/mailman/listinfo/elephant-devel

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[elephant-announce] Elephant 0.6.1 Alpha Release available
by Robert L. Read 18 Feb '07

18 Feb '07

An alpha release of Elephant 0.6.1 is now available for testing. Supported platforms: - SBCL, Allegro, CMU, OpenMCL, Lispworks (build system is not automated for Windows) - CMU, OpenMCL and Lispworks have not been fully tested and may require minor bug fixes DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL: The alpha release will only be available via CVS cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous:anonymous@common- lisp.net:/project/ elephant/cvsroot checkout -r ELEPHANT-0-6-1-alpha elephant This will put the elephant release into the directory: elephant. Read the INSTALL, UPGRADE and UPGRADE-BDB files for further instructions. PURPOSE OF THE ALPHA RELEASE: The primary developers do not have ready access to all supported platforms and would like to ask the community to help validate the current implementation on other platforms. We also are using the alpha to improve up our test suite. For more details please see the TODO file. If you have a favorite feature such as multi-threading, 64-bit, etc., please free to submit a test for the test suite. NEW FEATURES IN 0.6.1: Simplified build and site configuration support - See config.sexp in root directory for site customization (no more editing code files) - Linux and Mac systems should automatically build libraries when asdf is called 64-bit lisps are now supported - 64-bit and 32-bit lisps can read and run off the same database files (on the same machine) Multithreading: - Elephant should now be thread safe, including sharing a single store-controller across threads - Read comments in src/elephant/transactions.lisp and BDB users should read src/db-bdb/bdb-transactions.lisp - Improved support for mixing transactions and store-controllers Upgrading: - Elephant 0.6.1 can open and directly manipulate 0.6.0 databases - Existing 0.6.0 databases can be upgraded via the 'upgrade' function which takes - Upgrading is required for 64-bit systems - New serializer-independant metadata should enable future upgrades easier - NOTE: There may be some problems upgrading SQL databases Berkeley DB backend: - BDB 4.5 required (see UPGRADE-BDB) - *auto-commit* is no longer required. All data access methods auto- commit if there is no active transaction. - store-controller accepts :deadlock-detect keyword (t or nil) which will run db_deadlock as a background process to abort deadlocked threads - optimize-storage is a new store-controller method currently supported by BDB backend. It compacts a whole database or only a specific BTree and returns free pages to the free list or to the file system. Minor features: - Re-organization to the internal structure in this release: - Renaming including removing defunct sleepycat naming scheme, backend packages, etc. - The serializer was modularized to allow future releases to change serializer strategies or implement custom serializers and to be able to open legacy databases - Remove various warnings in SBCL build, etc. - Separated utilities into their own package and directory - Serializer improvements - 0.6.1 databases can be shared across lisps running on hardware of the same endianness (i.e. all x86 platforms or PPC/Alpha, etc) - Simplified unicode serialization support across all platforms - Performance improvements in multi-threading situations - Feature :elephant-without-optimize will disable optimization declarations simplifying debugging - Other fixes and features documented in the TODO file Thank you, Ian Eslick and Robert Read Elephant Developers

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[elephant-announce] Elephant 0.6.0 is now released.
by Robert L. Read 27 May '06

27 May '06

The latest release of the Elephant persistent object store is now available. It is numbered 0.6.0. It may be obtained from the project page either as a downloaded tgz file, or you make access it via anonymous CVS. http://common-lisp.net/project/elephant/ Ian Eslick made most of the code contributions to this release, which features a very elegant method of indexing the slots of a persistent class. For developers, the internals of Elephant were also significantly refactored by Ian. Additionally, a layer of data management on top of Elephant that implements a Director-like pattern called Data Collection Management has been added to the contrib directory. In addition to personally thanking Ian, I would like to say that I personally think Elephant has grown into an extraordinarily useful project. Let me just review the major advantages of Elephant as a persistent object store: 1) Extraordinarily convenient for the programmer, 2) An extensive test suite, 3) Tested on several major LISP implementations (ACL, SBCL, OpenMCL), 4) Ability to use multiple back-end data repositories and to migrate whole data stores seamlessly between those repositories, 5) Ability to BerkeleyDB, PostGres, SQLite 3, and probably other back- end databases, 6) Extremely convenient slot and functional indexing that can be dynamically changed. The overall effect of these features together is that Elephant is very flexible for serious application development: you can change fundamental implementation decisions easily as your application evolves. ---- Robert L. Read, PhD read &T robertlread.net Consider visiting Progressive Engineering: http://robertlread.net/pe In Austin: 912-8593 "Think globally, Act locally." -- RBF

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[elephant-announce] Elephant 0.5.0 is released under the LLGPL
by Robert L. Read 06 Feb '06

06 Feb '06

Elephant 0.5.0 is now available under the LLGPL. I put the following text on the project website: The latest version is 0.5.0, release Feb. 5, 2006. It is released under the LLGPL. This version works with ACL, OpenMCL, and SBCL with or without Unicode support. It has significant bug fixes over 0.4.0, especially with respect to OpenMCL and ACL. Thanks to Andrew Blumberg, Ian Eslick, and Waldo Rubinstein. The tutorial and documentation are improved, but may still lag the source code in some ways. ---- Robert L. Read, PhD read &T robertlread.net Consider visiting Progressive Engineering: http://robertlread.net/pe In Austin: 912-8593 "Think globally, Act locally." -- RBF

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[elephant-announce] Re: more allegro changes you might want to incorporate
by Robert L. Read 10 Jan '06

10 Jan '06

Andrew has discovered some problems (and even more than this message.) I thought 4.0 was functional under ACL, but I would now have to say it is questionable. Unfortunately, I am about to begin an weekend-long LAN party to rebuild the website of the Esperanto League of North America, so will not be able to incorprate Andrew's suggestions until next week. Many thanks, Andrew for all your work. If everyone can continue to be patient with me, we will continue to have a better-and-better project. On Fri, 2006-01-06 at 10:08 -0800, Andrew Philpot wrote: > In src/elephant.lisp, you need three more imports from CLOS (primary > name is ACLMOP) > > #+allegro > (:import-from :clos > compute-class-precedence-list > validate-superclass > standard-slot-definition > standard-direct-slot-definition > standard-effective-slot-definition > direct-slot-definition-class > effective-slot-definition-class > slot-definition-name > slot-definition-initform > slot-definition-initfunction > compute-effective-slot-definition > class-slots > slot-value-using-class > slot-boundp-using-class > slot-makunbound-using-class > slot-definition-allocation > slot-definition-initargs > class-finalized-p > finalize-inheritance > compute-slots > slot-definition-readers > slot-definition-writers > class-direct-slots) > > In INSTALL and src/controller, there are stray references to '0.3.0' > Maybe you could use logical pathnames? > > I didn't notice this before, but DESERIALIZE-FROM-BASE64-STRING has > arguments (x &keys sc) and is called incorrectly in SQL-DUMP-CLCN > which should probably be something like > > (defmethod sql-dump-clcn ((clcn integer) sc con) > (let* ( > (tuples > (clsql::select [key] [value] > :from [keyvalue] > :where [and [= [clctn_id] clcn]] > :database con > ))) > (mapcar #'(lambda (x) > (mapcar #'(lambda (q) > (deserialize-from-base64-string q :sc sc)) x)) > tuples)))

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[elephant-announce] Elephant 0.4.0 is released
by Robert L. Read 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

Elephant 0.4.0 is released. It can be obtained from the elephant project main page: http://common-lisp.net/project/elephant/ This release only fixes bugs over the 0.3.0 release; however the numbers seem low for what I deem to be a relatively stable system so I called it 0.4.0. The improvements over 0.3.0 are: 1) 0.4.0 now works with unicode-enables SBCL versions 2) 0.4.0 works with ACL 3) a bug in documentation has been fixed. Thanks to Waldo Rubinstein, Andrew Philpot, Andrew Blumberg and me. If anybody installs 0.4.0 and gets it to work, I would love a confirmation email telling me which LISP implementation you use so that I can build a matrix of what works. I myself only test under SBCL, but I believe this release will work with ACL and Open MCL. ---- Robert L. Read, PhD read &T robertlread.net Consider visiting Progressive Engineering: http://robertlread.net/pe In Austin: 912-8593 "Think globally, Act locally." -- RBF

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