This message is to announce the new 1.2.6 release of Jacl and
Tcl Blend.  These releases are the result of a joint effort by
Mo DeJong, Christopher Hylands, Bryan Surles, and Scott Redman. 
The goal of this project is to extend and improve the 1.0 release 
of Jacl and Tcl Blend which was originally started by the Sun Tcl team.

The 1.2.6 release of Jacl and Tcl Blend are available for
downloading at the following URL:

    http://www.scriptics.com/java

The 1.2 version is a "production" release, it is considered
stable enough to be used on an everyday basis. This stable
release is the result of a years worth of development.

What's New in the 1.2.6 Release?
----------------------------------

The new release includes no new features, but it does fix
a couple of bugs present in the 1.2.5 release. Building
Tcl Blend from the source under Windows was broken, it
has now been fixed. The pkgIndex.tcl file does additional
checks for CLASSPATH entries in the env array with the
wrong case. A couple of bugs in Jacl's implementation of
the clock command were fixed. Error messages provided
by the TclClassLoader were also improved, and some
additional examples were added to the HTML documentation.
Additional support for the IBM JDK port for Linux has
been added for both Jacl and Tcl Blend.

See the new_features.txt and changes.txt files for more info.

What is Jacl?
----------------

Jacl is a 100% Java implementation of Tcl 8.  This allows Tcl to run
in more environments and also brings the power of scripting to Java
developers.  Jacl only implements a subset of the Tcl language (the C
version of Tcl has a lot of features!).  However, the core of the
language is implemented and well tested.

What is Tcl Blend?
------------------------

Tcl Blend is a Tcl Extension that allows you to have access to the
Java VM from the Tcl interpreter.  The goal here is to allow Tcl
developers to write new Tcl extensions in Java rather then C or C++
for better portability.  Tcl Blend is known to work on Solaris,
Windows 95/NT, IRIX, and Linux. Other systems have not been tested
but it should be easy to port Tcl Blend to any system that supports
dynamic loading and the Java JNI interface.

For additional information:
---------------------------------

Scriptics Corporation maintains the download site for Jacl and Tcl
Blend.  This site contains a variety of information about Tcl & Java
integration: including FAQs, man pages, and the binary and source
distributions for Jacl and Tcl Blend.  Please visit the following URL:

    http://www.scriptics.com/java

Christopher Hylands maintains his own page that lists a plethora of
information.  There are links to related Web pages, his own personal
notes about building and using Jacl and Tcl Blend, and in depth
explanations about Tcl and Java integration.  This information can be
found at the following URL:

    http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cxh/java/tclblend

Comments and questions can be sent to the Tcl & Java integration
mailing list at:

    tcljava@scriptics.com

Of course, you will need to join the mailing list first. You can do
so by sending an email to this address.

    tcljava-request@scriptics.com

Scriptics support for Jacl and Tcl Blend:
-------------------------------------------------

It is important to understand that this release is due entirely to the
efforts of Christopher Hylands and Mo DeJong. Scriptics currently has
a minor, facilitating role in Jacl and Tcl Blend. Scriptics does provide
enterprise support for Tcl Blend through negotiable support agreements.

If you have a problem with Jacl or Tcl Blend or you think you have
a great idea for a feature, you should send an email to the tcljava
mailing list. Please do not send email directly to the authors.

Credits
---------
The Jacl and Tcl Blend releases are brought to you by:

 Mo DeJong
 Christopher Hylands
 Scott Redman
 Bryan Surles

We would like to thank the Jacl and Tcl Blend 1.0 team:

 Ray Johnson: Project Manager
 Melissa Hirschl
 Ioi Lam
 Bryan Surles

And a special thanks to Scott Stanton who implemented Tcl Blend, and
to John Reekie of UC Berkeley.
