
     RELEASE_NOTES for Ensemble version 1.20

Author: Ohad Rodeh
Last updated: 13/09/2001

CHANGES

1. A new C-interface, under sub-directory ce. It works under all supported 
   platforms. 
 
  The README from the CE subdirectory:

    The CE directory defines a C thin C-interface overlaid on 
    the ML interface. To use the interface one should read the interface file
    (ce.h) and link with the library --- libce.a on Unix platforms, and 
    libce.lib on windows platforms. The documentation can be found in the
    doc subdirectory.

    In the future, CE will form the major C-interface to the system, 
    where HOT and Maestro are overlaid on top of it.

    The overhead, as measured on Linux, is very low, on the order on 10\%
    above the cost of direct ML calls. This should be lowered even
    further in the future. Currently messages are copied between C and ML,
    we intend to fix this, allowing for zero-copy.

  Caveats: 
    Due to a bug in the current ocaml distribution, the library is a bit
    flaky on WIN32 platforms. 

2. Removed 4-byte alignment restriction on io-vectors. 

3. Various small bug fixes, and documentation patches.
  - Added documentation to the State-Transfer layer (Xfer). 
  - Stopped supporting the Ethernet mode. 
  - Cleanup of the makefiles.
  - Other small changes. 

4. The current distribution was compiled under ocaml-3.01, due to
   bugs in the Unix library in ocaml-3.02. 
    


