Forum OpenACS Development: ANNOUNCE: Next Scripting Framework 2.1.0 is available
Posted by
Gustaf Neumann
on 12/28/16 05:44 PM
Dear Community,
We are pleased to announce the availability of the Next Scripting
Framework (NSF) 2.1.0 as a Christmas present to the community.
Over the last years, NSF is constantly being developed based
on experience in largish projects. To document these changes
we have decided it to bump the version numbers and make
a new release.
Since the release of NSF 2.0.0, there have been more than 450
commits to our code repository. For this release NSF was
tested in 192 build configurations with Tcl 8.5.19 and
Tcl 8.6.6 on Linux and Mac OS X (both using recent gcc and
clang). Common build configurations have been tested under Windows
(Windows 2012 Server: VS15 & MSVC 19, MinGW).
Diff stats since 2.0.0:
186 files changed, 26475 insertions(+), 15671 deletions(-)
Major changes relative to 2.0.0 are:
- Improved debugging/tracing/profiling support (NSF)
- Deprecated and debug modes for NSF procs and methods (NSF, NX, XOTcl2)
- Script-level access to NSF parameter/argument parser (NSF).
- Slot-trace reform (NX, XOTcl2)
- Updated MongoDB interface to the newest mongo-c-driver (NSF, NX)
- Improved scripted shells (e.g., nxsh, xotclsh)
Below is a summary of are the changes in more details. The detailed
changelog is available at
https://next-scripting.org/xowiki/download/file/ChangeLog-2.0.0-2.1.0.log
NSF 2.1.0 (containing NX 2.1.0 and XOTcl 2.1.0) can be obtained from
https://next-scripting.org/. Please report issues and wishes by opening
a ticket at https://sourceforge.net/p/next-scripting/tickets/.
Best regards
- Gustaf Neumann
- Stefan Sobernig
========================================================================
New Features
- NSF:
* Improved debugging/tracing/profiling support:
+ NSF procs and methods can be marked "deprecated" and/or
"debug-enabled". For this, all NSF proc and method definitions
in NX and XOTcl2 now accept the new flags "-debug" and
"-deprecated". The low-level interface (nsf::method::property)
enables introspection and selective enabling during runtime.
nsf::proc ... ?-debug? ?-deprecated? ... /name/ /argspec/ /body/
nsf::method::property /obj/ /method/ deprecated ?0|1?
nsf::method::property /obj/ /method/ debug ?0|1?
A debug-enabled NSF proc or method will be reported on entering
and exiting the proc and method (similar to a traced proc/
method incl. a time probe; see above):
% nsf::proc -debug foo {} {return 123}
% foo
Debug: call(1) - foo
Debug: exit(1) - ::nsf::procs::foo 72 usec -> 123
The enter and exit messages can be tailored and redirected
at the script level by redefining "::nsf::debug::call" and
"::nsf::debug::exit", respectively.
To actively manage API evolution, NSF procs and methods can be
marked "deprecated". Using deprecated procs/ methods will result
in a warning:
% nsf::proc -deprecated foo {} {;}
% foo
Warning: *** proc foo is deprecated.
The warning message can be tailored and redirected
at the script level by redefining the proc "::nsf::deprecated".
+ NSF procs and methods can be profiled (and optionally traced)
when profiling support is configured during compilation
./configure --enable-profile (default: disabled)
This can be controlled via
nsf::__profile_trace -enable /bool/ ?-verbose /bool/?
nsf::__profile_get
nsf::__profile_clear
When profiling is enabled, the profiling data is kept in memory
and can be obtained via "nsf::__profile_get" in form of a list
structure containing the wall clock time since start of
profiling, the aggregated ms and lists containing object times
(what time was spent in which object/classes), method times
(what time was spent in which methods) and proc data (what time
was used in which procs) followed by trace data (showing calls
and exits of methods/procs/cmds). When "nsf::__profile_trace" is
called with the "-verbose" flag, the trace is printed via
"nsf::log".
* Add script-level access to the NSF argument parser to conveniently
process, e.g., non-positional parameters/arguments and value
checkers. See
https://next-scripting.org/xowiki/docs/nx/tutorial/index1#_parameters
for the details.
The command
::nsf::parseargs /paramspec/ /arglist/
can be used to parse arglist based on the paramspec to set the
parsed arguments in the local context. For example, the command
% nsf::parseargs {{-x:integer 1} y} {123}
% set x
1
% set y
123
will define variables x holding "1" and y holding "123" for the
current Tcl scope.
* Minor logging reform (NsfLog, interp): "nsf::configure debugLevel
/severity/" will print error messages at a level equal or greater
than the given severity (0, 1, 2, 3). For example, "nsf::configure
debugLevel 0" will print any "nsf::log" message, and
"nsf::configure debugLevel 3" will print just "nsf::log" level 3
(error) messages while omitting warnings etc. This does not entail
changed logging semantics, but helped remove some confusion at the
NSF/C level.
* Improved NSF/C code generator (gentclAPI.tcl): Allows for
specifying and generating enum types.
* Misc:
+ New flag "-notrace" for "nsf::var::set" and "nsf::var::get" to
implement ability to use these low-level commands for accessing
variables without firing Tcl traces.
+ New cmd "nsf::method::forward::property" for reading for writing
introspection of forwarders. This is important for the
serializer to map the per-object forwarder when different target
objects are specified.
+ New option for call-stack introspection: "nsf::current
level". It returns the stack level of the currently executing
NSF method (like "info level"), or an empty string outside of an
NSF context.
- NX:
* NX method definitions ("alias", "forward", and "method") now
accept the optional flags "-deprecated" and "-debug". See NSF
section above for usage details.
/cls/ public alias ?-deprecated? ?-debug? /method/ ...
/cls/ public forward ?-deprecated? ?-debug? /method/ ...
/cls/ public method ?-deprecated? ?-debug? /method/ ...
/obj/ public object alias ?-deprecated? ?-debug? /method/ ...
/obj/ public object forward ?-deprecated? ?-debug? /method/ ...
/obj/ public object method ?-deprecated? ?-debug? /method/ ...
* Improved object and method introspection: Newly added
introspection sub-commands complete the set of introspection
commands and reflect the newly introduced method options.
/cls/ info method callprotection
/cls/ info method debug
/cls/ info method deprecated
/obj/ info baseclass
/obj/ info object method callprotection
/obj/ info object method debug
/obj/ info object method deprecated
* Reform of traces on slot-managed object variables: Revised the
interface and semantics for the interaction of variable traces and
slots. It is now possible to specify in the definition of a
"property" or "variable" whether the slot-accessor methods
("value=get", "value=set") should be fired whenever a variable is
read/written or when it is initialized to a default value for the
first time ("value=default").
/obj/ object property|variable ?-trace set|get|default? ...
/cls/ property|variable ?-trace set|get|default? ...
See the nx::Object and nx::Class man pages for details.
This supersedes the experimental interface available in
XOTcl 1.* based on "initcmd", "valuecmd" and "valuechangedcmd".
* Documentation (API and examples):
+ Added
Rosetta implementations: Inheritance/ single, add object
variable dynamically, tree traversal, and tokenizer.
+ Updated
Object.man: Added missing description on "info lookup
parameters" and "info lookup syntax"; corrected description of
"copy"; added "info baseclass"
{alias|forward|method}.man.inc: Added documentation of
"-debug" and "-deprecated" switches.
current.man: Added description of 'level' option.
Rosetta implementations: Inheritance/multiple, polymorphic
copy, multiple distinct objects
- XOTcl2:
* XOTcl2 method definitions ("proc", "instproc", "forward", and
"instforward") now accept the optional flags "-deprecated" and
"-debug". See NSF section above for usage details.
/cls/ instforward -deprecated|-debug /method/ ...
/cls/ instproc -deprecated|-debug /method/ ...
/obj/ forward -deprecated|-debug /method/ ...
/obj/ proc -deprecated|-debug /method/ ...
* New "-return" flag: XOTcl2 method definitions can now specify a
return-value checker, similar to NX methods.
/cls/ instproc -returns /method/ ...
/obj/ proc -returns /method/ ...
- Shells:
* There is now an improved and packaged shell implementation:
nx::shell2. It is used by all four shell scripts. nx::shell2
builds on Tcl's event loop, rather than while + update. This
avoids blocking the Tk main window (update). In addition,
nx::shell2's behavior is more akin to Tcl's native shells (e.g.,
no extra lines on enter, catches EOF). The Tcl package can be
conveniently sourced, e.g., in Tclkit main scripts.
* The new shells accept script input now via stdin or as provided
via "-c" in the command line.
* They are more robust: Don't quit due to inner [return] calls,
[exit] is handled gracefully.
* Added tests for the shells to the regression test suite
(shells.test).
- Traits:
* The namespace "nx::traits::XXX" was renamed to "nx::trait::XXX" in
order to improve naming orthogonality with the trait management
package "nx::trait".
- MongoDB interface upgrade:
* Upgraded MongoDB and drivers to mongodb-c-driver 1.5.1, libbson
1.5.1 and MongoDB v3.4.0.
* The upstream mongodb-c-driver has deprecated the old OP_QUERY syntax
with $-modifiers and old names like $orderby and $query, which will
be removed from the driver. The new interface is more in the mongodb
style, many former parameters (e.g. -limit, -skip, -project, -sort)
went to the new "-opts" argument.
mongo::collection::query /collection/ /filter/ ?-opts /opts/?
mongo::cursor::find /collection/ /filter/ ?-opts /opts/?
See the begin of nsf-mongo.test file for examples for queries with
the old and new interface. The high-level interface for nx::Object
is unchanged.
* Support for new binary type "decimal128"
- Maintenance & bug fixes:
* Tcl command resolvers and command literals:
Between Tcl 8.6.0 and (including) Tcl 8.6.6, there was a problem
in the interaction between Tcl 8.6 and the command resolvers of
NSF in certain corner cases and Tcl's command literals. The issue
and patches were reported upstream to the Tcl core team, was
recognized and will enter an upcoming patch release (8.6.7). Our
regression test-suite was extended accordingly to track the issue.
See Tcl Fossil tickets d4e7780ca1 and 3418547.
* Finalizing NSF and NSF object systems:
In this release, the finalization procedures of NSF (on process
exits, thread exits, and interp teardowns) has been revised. For
example, NSF's ExitHandler is guaranteed to be called just once in
the above scenarios (e.g., to avoid double frees of NSF
structures).
* Fixed a long-standing and not easy reproducible bug when deleting
classes in multiple nested diamond inheritance structures.
* UnsetTracedVars:
Provide for a two-pass deletion logic during object shutdown, to
account for unset traces possibly reviving an object variable
under deletion. This corresponds to a recent memory leak fix to
Tcl itself. See also Tcl Fossil ticket 4dbdd9af144dbdd9af14.
* Serializer:
The combined NX and XOTcl2 serializer has been extended to cover
newly added features (esp., NSF procs, method flags) and has been
improved based on experiences from multi-threaded NSF/Tcl
applications (NaviServer). Improvements and fixes relate to "info"
methods and forwarders.
* Tcl 8.7:
Preliminary support for a future Tcl 8.7 (as of Dec 2, 2016;
commit 71fa1f9c91). NSF compiles under 8.7a0 and its regression
tests execute successfully.
* Misc (esp. NSF/C):
+ Refactoring: There is now a common infrastructure for
hash-tables using function pointers as keys (as required for
NSF/C command definitions and enumerations).
+ Removed all implicit type-conversions, signed/unsigned
comparisons as flagged by the following gcc/clang flags (ensure
cleanness on 64bit) -Wconversion -Wsign-conversion
-Wfloat-conversion -Wsign-compare.
+ Reduced variable scopes.
+ Guarded against potential Tcl_Obj leaks, esp. when using
"NsfMethodNamePath", as indicated by valgrind.
+ Refactored functions for topological sorting ("TopoSort") to
avoid code redundancies.
+ Addressed more than 18 code-quality issues as indicated by
Coverity Scan, incl. control-flow issues (risking NULL
dereferencing), dead code branches, etc.
+ Removed uses of deprecated functions, e.g. "Tcl_AppendResult".
+ Based on the improve NSF/C code generator (see above), proper
enum types are used in generated function signatures and the
respective control structures (switch).
* Extended regression test suite:
The test suite contains (for Tcl 8.6.6) now 5852 tests.
- Packaging & distribution:
* Updated TEA to 3.10
* Support for MSVC 1900 (VS 2015; win/makefile.vc)
* Debian package: https://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nsf.html
* MacPorts port: https://trac.macports.org/browser/trunk/dports/lang/nsf/Portfile
* Part of the KitCreator battery: https://kitcreator.rkeene.org/fossil/
* Part of the kbskit battery: https://sourceforge.net/projects/kbskit/
