Release Notes for ripe-dbase version 3.0beta2
*********************************************


This is mainly a bugfix release. There has been however an important
change in the installation procedure: the package has been "autoconfiscated",
i.e. it uses the autoconf facilities. This is a step that will ease
the work on portability, still at its early stage.

Please refer to the INSTALL file for the new instructions on how
to compile the package.


Changes From Last Release
-------------------------


Installation/Maintenance/Administration:

o The package has been autoconfiscated. A configure script is used
  to set several site-dependent parameters.

o The dictionary.txt file is no longer necessary; it has been hardcoded
  inside the source of the configuration module.


Dbupdate:

o Syntax checks of phone & fax attributes have been fixed.

o Checks of changed attribute: the current date is added if
  a date is missing in a 'changed' attribute. The order
  of dates is also checked: if the dates are not in order,
  then the update is rejected.

o Object formatting: The objects are "beautified" before
  being inserted into the database. Extra whitespace is
  added after the type name of the attribute.

o in dbupdate, another switch, '-S', has been implemented. 
  When this switch is used, the notifications and acknowledgements
  are sent to a predefined address (DEFMAIL configuration
  variable).  This is for testing and debugging purposes.

o The MAIL-FROM authentication scheme now accepts
  regular expressions.


Queries:

o Several little bugfixes here and there (referral, radix tree,...)



Known Bugs and Limitations
**************************


Installation/Maintenance/Administration:

o You cannot use "-" characters in paths for the definitions
  of logfiles.

o Several side-utilities still need to be implemented.

o Portability: there hasn't been much work yet on the
  portability issue. This package is known to
  work on Solaris 2.6,7 and 8, on SPARC and Intel
  architectures.


Dbupdate:

o The subject line is not parsed.

o The "networkupdate" utility is to be implemented.

o The modified objects appear doubled in notifications.


Queries:

o The "CLIENTADDRESS" referral does not pass addresses as it should.




Old Release Notes
=================

Release Notes for ripe-dbase version 3.0beta1
*********************************************


Introduction
------------

We are going v3.

The package has been renamed, from RIP to ripe-dbase v3.0 .
The reason is that all the core functionalities of the server
are now in place; what is needed now is bugfixes and work
on the infrastructure. But most of the work is done.

This is the beta of the server which will eventually be put
into production for the RIPE Database and replace the old 
software ripe-dbase v2.3.2 .


Changes From Last Release
-------------------------


Installation:

o "make install" now available.


Queries:

o -F mode now uses a "+ " string in line continuation.
o -d option extends radix-style searches to reverse domains,
  including IPv6 and not-fully-parsable domains.
  Takes IP/prefix/range as argument.


Updates:

o Cross-notifications have been implemented.
o Improved acknowledgements:
  a header summary of the update message is included.
o Implemented crash recovery in both dbupdate and the update server.
  In case of server crash, a full recovery is done, including
  committing/rollbacking the crashed transaction, sending outstanding
  acknowledgements, and bringing the database into consistent state.
o New mode of operation (opMode) for managing a static source with no
  possible updates.


Maintenance/Administration:

o Added admin commands to stop query in progress, unblock an automatically
  denied user, edit the logging filters, pause/resume updates,
  switch to whois mode.
o Almost all parameters and texts are now configurable through the
  configuration file.
o There is now a separate configuration file for sources, with a
  clearer syntax.
o Introduced flexible logging system, configured via the config file.
  The various parts of the software send logs via this system.


Infrastructure:

o Introduced hs_cleanup, a utility to archive and clean up the SQL
  database of old serials and history entries.
o Introduced text_export, a utility to export a database in flat
  files that can then be used to load the database on another server.



Release Notes for RIP version 0.5.0beta1
****************************************


Changes From Last Release
-------------------------


Queries:

o -k quits session only if called with no arguments
  (required by RtConfig)
o -R referral fix: the local object containing "refer:"
  attribute is returned only when -R is specified
o -i upd-to and -i mnt-nfy have been implemented


Updates:

o The PGPKEY authentication scheme is now supported.
  PGP messages are handled by the software.
o There are no more hardcoded values in dbupdate.h .
o The "Reply-To:" fields of incoming messages (if they
  exist) are used to send the acknowledgements.

Plus numerous bugfixes.



Release Notes for RIP version 0.4.2beta1
****************************************


Changes From Last Release
-------------------------


o This is mainly a bugfix release. Several
  bugs have been fixed, including memory leaks.


Release Notes for RIP version 0.4.1beta1
****************************************


Changes From Last Release
-------------------------


o This is mainly a bugfix release.
o A basic whois client, whoisRIP.c, has been added
  to ease the task of querying a RIP database which
  supports new flags in respect to the allowed flags
  of a "classic" RIPE whois client.



Release Notes for RIP version 0.4.0beta1
****************************************


Changes From Last Release
-------------------------


Queries:

o query cancellation: closing the socket aborts the search to save
  resources. Note for -k: all data entered before the server finishes
  answering the previous query will be discarded
o query read timeout: the server closes after no data has been received
  for a specified period of time
o -i member-of displays only members validated by the mbrs-by-ref
  attribute
o -q sources displays the available sources
o thread accounting: the currently active threads can be displayed in the
  admin interface with "show threads"
o input filtering: disallowed characters are dropped from the query
o closing session on error: -k mode connection is closed on error


RIP server:

o Multiple repository support by a single server. 
  That means that one can e.g. NRT-mirror RIPE and RADB 
  and update TEST database running only one [super]server. 
  Operational parameters are defined in configuration file.
o Improved support of RPSL syntax (line continuation, 
  End-Of-Line comments, etc.).
o The server can mirror _only_ RPSL stream now. If someone wants to
  NRT-mirror a RIPE181 database, he needs to run a "mirror reflector"
  and use it as a NRTM server. This tiny program (bin/mr) connects to
  a specified NRTM server and accepts requests from RPSL NRTM client. 
  After receiving a request it converts the data stream on fly using
  a specified convertor.
o While mirroring failed transactions are stored for re-distribution
  anyway. This should improve NRTM server reliability and allow
  re-distribution of data from other repositories not fully compliant with
  current implementation (e.g. different level of ref.integrity, different
  NRTM protocol).
o Different handling of deletion of a set. Now this operation is not
  blocked even if the set is referenced from other objects by member-of
  attribute. In order not to violate DB integrity, the set is actually not
  deleted but converted into a dummy object, not visible outside.


Updates:

o More informative acknowledgement messages.
o MIME support added.
o Notifications (except cross-notifications) are in place.
o The "test" mode is implemented. In this mode, users can create mntner 
  objects without overriding. 
o Most of the configuration variables implemented.


Configuration:

o The configuration module is now in place. It is not fully integrated
  in the modules yet, so in this release the configuration is mixed:
  some variables must still be set in the PROPERTIES file, and a small
  number is still to be modified in the header files.




Release Notes for RIP version 0.3.1beta1
****************************************


Changes From Last Release
-------------------------

o There have been big changes in the Makefile structure.
  The hardcoded variables have been much reduced, and
  currently there is only one site-dependent Makefile
  where to change variables and paths for the user.
  Only the update module still needs some changes 
  in a particular header file in order to work in
  your environment. The up module unly affects dbupdate.
  This makes the package easier to compile and run.
o A number of bugfixes.
o Backend work.
o as-block queries are now supported.




Release Notes for RIP version 0.3.0beta2
****************************************


Changes From Last Release
-------------------------

o All the queries for the "old" object types
  are now supported. IPv6 queries have been implemented.
o in-addr.arpa queries are now supported.
o Full support of -K, -t and -v queries.
o The Access Control System is fully functional.
o The expansion of person objects referenced by name
  is working.
o The update functionality has been integrated.
o Lots of bugfixes and backend improvements.
