<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html xmlns:fn="http://www.w3.org/2005/02/xpath-functions">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../../../../doc/otp_doc.css" type="text/css">
<title>Erlang -- Kernel Release Notes</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="white" text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#ff00ff" alink="#ff0000"><div id="container">
<script id="js" type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="../../../../doc/js/flipmenu/flipmenu.js"></script><script id="js2" type="text/javascript" src="../../../../doc/js/erlresolvelinks.js"></script><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
function getWinHeight() {
var myHeight = 0;
if( typeof( window.innerHeight ) == 'number' ) {
//Non-IE
myHeight = window.innerHeight;
} else if( document.documentElement && ( document.documentElement.clientWidth ||
document.documentElement.clientHeight ) ) {
//IE 6+ in 'standards compliant mode'
myHeight = document.documentElement.clientHeight;
} else if( document.body && ( document.body.clientWidth || document.body.clientHeight ) ) {
//IE 4 compatible
myHeight = document.body.clientHeight;
}
return myHeight;
}
function setscrollpos() {
var objf=document.getElementById('loadscrollpos');
document.getElementById("leftnav").scrollTop = objf.offsetTop - getWinHeight()/2;
}
function addEvent(obj, evType, fn){
if (obj.addEventListener){
obj.addEventListener(evType, fn, true);
return true;
} else if (obj.attachEvent){
var r = obj.attachEvent("on"+evType, fn);
return r;
} else {
return false;
}
}
addEvent(window, 'load', setscrollpos);
//--></script><div id="leftnav"><div class="innertube">
<img alt="Erlang logo" src="../../../../doc/erlang-logo.png"><br><small><a href="index.html">Reference Manual</a><br><a href="release_notes.html">Release Notes</a><br><a href="../pdf/kernel-2.15.3.pdf">PDF</a><br><a href="../../../../doc/index.html">Top</a></small><p><strong>Kernel</strong><br><strong>Release Notes</strong><br><small>Version 2.15.3</small></p>
<br><a href="javascript:openAllFlips()">Expand All</a><br><a href="javascript:closeAllFlips()">Contract All</a><p><small><strong>Chapters</strong></small></p>
<ul class="flipMenu" imagepath="../../../../doc/js/flipmenu"><li id="loadscrollpos" title="Kernel Release Notes" expanded="true">Kernel Release Notes<ul>
<li><a href="notes.html">
Top of chapter
</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.15.3"><a href="notes.html#id63214">Kernel 2.15.3</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.15.2"><a href="notes.html#id60144">Kernel 2.15.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.15.1"><a href="notes.html#id97800">Kernel 2.15.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.15"><a href="notes.html#id69806">Kernel 2.15</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.14.5"><a href="notes.html#id56523">Kernel 2.14.5</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.14.4"><a href="notes.html#id56629">Kernel 2.14.4</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.14.3"><a href="notes.html#id69968">Kernel 2.14.3</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.14.2"><a href="notes.html#id70060">Kernel 2.14.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.14.1.1"><a href="notes.html#id70114">Kernel 2.14.1.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.14.1"><a href="notes.html#id70172">Kernel 2.14.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.14"><a href="notes.html#id62402">Kernel 2.14</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13.5.3"><a href="notes.html#id62548">Kernel 2.13.5.3</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13.5.2"><a href="notes.html#id62578">Kernel 2.13.5.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13.5.1"><a href="notes.html#id62608">Kernel 2.13.5.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13.5"><a href="notes.html#id62646">Kernel 2.13.5</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13.4"><a href="notes.html#id62812">Kernel 2.13.4</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13.3"><a href="notes.html#id90171">Kernel 2.13.3</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13.2"><a href="notes.html#id90319">Kernel 2.13.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13.1"><a href="notes.html#id90379">Kernel 2.13.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.13"><a href="notes.html#id90483">Kernel 2.13</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.5.1"><a href="notes.html#id60743">Kernel 2.12.5.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.5"><a href="notes.html#id60798">Kernel 2.12.5</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.4"><a href="notes.html#id59377">Kernel 2.12.4</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.3"><a href="notes.html#id59474">Kernel 2.12.3</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.2.1"><a href="notes.html#id59670">Kernel 2.12.2.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.2"><a href="notes.html#id59715">Kernel 2.12.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.1.2"><a href="notes.html#id96094">Kernel 2.12.1.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.1.1"><a href="notes.html#id96139">Kernel 2.12.1.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12.1"><a href="notes.html#id96169">Kernel 2.12.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.12"><a href="notes.html#id96275">Kernel 2.12</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.5.2"><a href="notes.html#id77335">Kernel 2.11.5.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.5.1"><a href="notes.html#id77367">Kernel 2.11.5.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.5"><a href="notes.html#id77450">Kernel 2.11.5</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.4.2"><a href="notes.html#id77591">Kernel 2.11.4.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.4.1"><a href="notes.html#id77627">Kernel 2.11.4.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.4"><a href="notes.html#id77660">Kernel 2.11.4</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.3.1"><a href="notes.html#id91627">Kernel 2.11.3.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.3"><a href="notes.html#id91661">Kernel 2.11.3</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.2"><a href="notes.html#id91740">Kernel 2.11.2</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.1.1"><a href="notes.html#id91919">Kernel 2.11.1.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11.1"><a href="notes.html#id91953">Kernel 2.11.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.11"><a href="notes.html#id92034">Kernel 2.11</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.13"><a href="notes.html#id96862">Kernel 2.10.13</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.12"><a href="notes.html#id96997">Kernel 2.10.12</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.11.1"><a href="notes.html#id97218">Kernel 2.10.11.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.11"><a href="notes.html#id81128">Kernel 2.10.11</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.10.1"><a href="notes.html#id81376">Kernel 2.10.10.1</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.10"><a href="notes.html#id81426">Kernel 2.10.10</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.9"><a href="notes.html#id81585">Kernel 2.10.9</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.8"><a href="notes.html#id81846">Kernel 2.10.8</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.7"><a href="notes.html#id81900">Kernel 2.10.7</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.6"><a href="notes.html#id82006">Kernel 2.10.6</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.5"><a href="notes.html#id80134">Kernel 2.10.5</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.4"><a href="notes.html#id80225">Kernel 2.10.4</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.3"><a href="notes.html#id80275">Kernel 2.10.3</a></li>
<li title="Kernel 2.10.1"><a href="notes.html#id80346">Kernel 2.10.1</a></li>
</ul>
</li></ul>
</div></div>
<div id="content">
<div class="innertube">
<h1>1 Kernel Release Notes</h1>
<p>This document describes the changes made to the Kernel application.</p>
<h3><a name="id63214">1.1
Kernel 2.15.3</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Ensure 'erl_crash.dump' when asked for it. This will
change erl_crash.dump behaviour.</p>
<p>
* Not setting ERL_CRASH_DUMP_SECONDS will now terminate
beam immediately on a crash without writing a crash dump
file.</p>
<p>
* Setting ERL_CRASH_DUMP_SECONDS to 0 will also terminate
beam immediately on a crash without writing a crash dump
file, i.e. same as not setting ERL_CRASH_DUMP_SECONDS
environment variable.</p>
<p>
* Setting ERL_CRASH_DUMP_SECONDS to a negative value will
let the beam wait indefinitely on the crash dump file
being written.</p>
<p>
* Setting ERL_CRASH_DUMP_SECONDS to a positive value will
let the beam wait that many seconds on the crash dump
file being written.</p>
<p>
A positive value will set an alarm/timeout for restart
both in beam and in heart if heart is running.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10422 Aux Id: kunagi-250 [161] </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id60144">1.2
Kernel 2.15.2</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Fixed issue where using controlling_process/2 with self()
as the second argument caused the port to leak if self()
crashes. (Thanks to Ricardo Catalinas Jiménez)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10094</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
When sending large files using the file:sendfile fallback
file:sendfile would crash. This is now fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10098</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fix rpc:call/5 for local calls with a finite Timeout
(Thanks to Tomer Chachamu)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10149</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
fix escript/primary archive reloading</p>
<p>
If the mtime of an escript/primary archive file changes
after being added to the code path, correctly reload the
archive and update the cache. (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10151</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Support added for home directories named with non-ASCII
characters (codepoints above 127) on a system running in
Unicode file mode (e.g. on MacOSX or Linux with startup
arguments +fnu or +fna with the right LOCALE). Also
environment variables with Unicode content are supported
in applicable environments.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10160</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Allow mixed IPv4 and IPv6 addresses to sctp_bindx</p>
<p>
Also allow mixed address families to bind, since the
first address on a multihomed sctp socket must be bound
with bind, while the rest are to be bound using
sctp_bindx. At least Linux supports adding address of
mixing families. Make inet_set_faddress function
available also when HAVE_SCTP is not defined, since we
use it to find an address for bind to be able to mix ipv4
and ipv6 addresses. Thanks to Tomas Abrahamsson</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10217</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Document inet options: high_watermark, priority,
linger and a some other options that previously was
undocumented.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10053</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Remove bit8 option support from inet</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10056</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> The type of the disk log header has been corrected.
(Thanks to Niclas Eklund.) </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10131</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id97800">1.3
Kernel 2.15.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Driver output has been corrected so output of large
binaries (> 4 GiB) now does not silently fail or crash
the emulator, but either outputs the binary or fails the
call. This means that writing a binary > 4 Gib to file
now works but on e.g 64-bit Windows (that has
scatter/gather I/O buffer segment lengths of 32 bits)
fails. The behaviour may change in the future to always
write the binary, in parts if necessary.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9820 Aux Id: OTP-9795 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
erts: minor fix for unnecessary condition erts: change
SENDFILE_CHUNK_SIZE from signed to unsigned (Thanks to
jovi zhang)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9872</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> Two contracts in <span class="code">gen_sctp</span> have been corrected.
</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9874</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If a process calls a module with an running on_load
handler, the process is supposed to be suspended. But if
the module with the on_load handler was loading used
<span class="code">code:load_binary/3</span>, the call would instead fail
with an <span class="code">undef</span> exception.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9875</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
File name and error reason is now returned if creation of
a cookie fails. (Thanks to Magnus Henoch)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9954</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fix port leak in <span class="code">zlib</span> when passing invalid data to
<span class="code">compress,uncompress,zip,unzip,gzip,gunzip</span>.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9981</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Various typographical errors corrected in documentation
for the global, error_logger, etop, lists, ets and
supervisor modules and in the c_portdriver and kernel_app
documentation. (Thanks to Ricardo Catalinas Jiménez)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9987</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> Fix returned error from gen_tcp:accept/1,2 when
running out of ports
<p>
The {error, enfile} return value is badly misleading and
confusing for this case, since the Posix ENFILE errno
value has a well-defined meaning that has nothing to do
with Erlang ports. The fix changes the return value to
{error, system_limit}, which is consistent with e.g.
various file(3) functions. inet:format_error/1 has also
been updated to support system_limit in the same manner
as file:format_error/1. (Thanks to Per Hedeland)</p></p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9990</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="code">erts_debug:size/1</span> has been corrected to take
sharing in the environment of funs into account. For funs
it used to always give the same result as
<span class="code">erts_debug:flat_size/1</span>.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9991</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
In some cases when the process doing file:sendfile
crashes while sending the file the efile_drv code would
not clean up after itself correctly. This has now been
fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9993</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
On BSD based platforms file:sendfile would sometime go
into an infinite loop when sending big files. This has
now been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9994</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>While <span class="code">disk_log</span> eagerly collects logged terms
for better performance, collecting too much data may
choke the system and cause huge binaries to be
written.</p>
<p>The problem was addressed in OTP-9764, but the
situation was not improved in all cases.</p>
<p>(Thanks to Richard Carlsson.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9999 Aux Id: OTP-9764 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The documentation of .app files incorrectly said that the
default value for the <span class="code">mod</span> parameter is
<span class="code">undefined</span>. This is now corrected to <span class="code">[]</span>.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10002</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id69806">1.4
Kernel 2.15</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p> Calls to <span class="code">global:whereis_name/1</span> have been
substituted for calls to
<span class="code">global:safe_whereis_name/1</span> since the latter is not
safe at all.</p>
<p>The reason for not doing this earlier is that setting
a global lock masked out a bug concerning the restart of
supervised children. The bug has now been fixed by a
modification of <span class="code">global:whereis_name/1</span>. (Thanks to
Ulf Wiger for code contribution.)</p>
<p>A minor race conditions in <span class="code">gen_fsm:start*</span> has
been fixed: if one of these functions returned <span class="code">{error,
Reason}</span> or ignore, the name could still be registered
(either locally or in <span class="code">global</span>. (This is the same
modification as was done for gen_server in OTP-7669.)</p>
<p>The undocumented function
<span class="code">global:safe_whereis_name/1</span> has been removed. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9212 Aux Id: seq7117, OTP-4174 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Honor option <span class="code">packet_size</span> for http packet parsing
by both TCP socket and <span class="code">erlang:decode_packet</span>. This
gives the ability to accept HTTP headers larger than the
default setting, but also avoid DoS attacks by accepting
lines only up to whatever length you wish to allow. For
consistency, packet type <span class="code">line</span> also honor option
<span class="code">packet_size</span>. (Thanks to Steve Vinoski)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9389</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> <span class="code">disk_log:reopen/2,3</span> and
<span class="code">disk_log:breopen/3</span> could return the error reason
from <span class="code">file:rename/2</span> rather than the reason
<span class="code">{file_error, Filename, Reason}</span>. This bug has been
fixed. </p> <p> The message <span class="code">{disk_log, Node, {error,
disk_log_stopped}}</span> which according the documentation
is sent upon failure to truncate or reopen a disk log was
sometimes turned into a reply. This bug has been fixed.
</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9508</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Environment variable 'shutdown_timeout' is added to
kernel application. Earlier, application_controller would
hang forever if an application top supervisor did not
terminate upon a shutdown request. If this new
environment variable is set to a positive integer T, then
application controller will now give up after T
milliseconds and instead brutally kill the application.
For backwards compatibility, the default value for
shutdown_timeout is 'infinity'.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9540</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Add '-callback' attributes in stdlib's behaviours</p>
<p>
Replace the behaviour_info(callbacks) export in stdlib's
behaviours with -callback' attributes for all the
callbacks. Update the documentation with information on
the callback attribute Automatically generate
'behaviour_info' function from '-callback' attributes</p>
<p>
'behaviour_info(callbacks)' is a special function that is
defined in a module which describes a behaviour and
returns a list of its callbacks.</p>
<p>
This function is now automatically generated using the
'-callback' specs. An error is returned by lint if user
defines both '-callback' attributes and the
behaviour_info/1 function. If no type info is needed for
a callback use a generic spec for it. Add '-callback'
attribute to language syntax</p>
<p>
Behaviours may define specs for their callbacks using the
familiar spec syntax, replacing the '-spec' keyword with
'-callback'. Simple lint checks are performed to ensure
that no callbacks are defined twice and all types
referred are declared.</p>
<p>
These attributes can be then used by tools to provide
documentation to the behaviour or find discrepancies in
the callback definitions in the callback module.</p>
<p>
Add callback specs into 'application' module in kernel
Add callback specs to tftp module following internet
documentation Add callback specs to inets_service module
following possibly deprecated comments</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9621</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
make tab completion work in remote shells (Thanks to Mats
Cronqvist)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9673</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Add missing parenthesis in heart doc.</p>
<p>
Add missing spaces in the Reference Manual distributed
section.</p>
<p>
In the HTML version of the doc those spaces are necessary
to separate those words.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9693</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fixes net_kernel:get_net_ticktime() doc</p>
<p>
Adds missing description when `ignored' is returned.
(Thanks to Ricardo Catalinas Jiménez )</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9713</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> While <span class="code">disk_log</span> eagerly collects logged terms
for better performance, collecting too much data may
choke the system and cause huge binaries to be written.
In order to remedy the situation a (small) limit on the
amount of data that is collected before writing to disk
has been introduced. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9764</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<ul> <li><p>Correct callback spec in application
module</p></li> <li><p>Refine warning about callback
specs with extra ranges</p></li> <li><p>Cleanup
autoimport compiler directives</p></li> <li><p>Fix
Dialyzer's warnings in typer</p></li> <li><p>Fix
Dialyzer's warning for its own code</p></li>
<li><p>Fix bug in Dialyzer's behaviours
analysis</p></li> <li><p>Fix crash in
Dialyzer</p></li> <li><p>Variable substitution was
not generalizing any unknown variables.</p></li>
</ul></p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9776</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fix a crash when file:change_time/2,3 are called with
invalid dates</p>
<p>
Calling file:change_time/2,3 with an invalid date tuple
(e.g file:change_time("file.txt", {undefined,
undefined})) will cause file_server_2 to crash.
error_logger will shutdown and the whole VM will stop.
Change behavior to validate given dates on system
boundaries. (i.e before issuing a server call).(Thanks to
Ahmed Omar)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9785</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p> An option list argument can now be passed to
<span class="code">file:read_file_info/2, file:read_link_info/2</span> and
<span class="code">file:write_file_info/3</span> and set time type
information in the call. Valid options are <span class="code">{time,
local}, {time, universal}</span> and <span class="code">{time, posix}</span>.
In the case of <span class="code">posix</span> time no conversions are made
which makes the operation a bit faster. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7687</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="code">file:list_dir/1,2</span> will now fill an buffer
entire with filenames from the efile driver before
sending it to an erlang process. This will speed up this
file operation in most cases.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9023</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>gen_sctp:open/0-2 may now return
{error,eprotonosupport} if SCTP is not supported</p>
<p>gen_sctp:peeloff/1 has been implemented and creates a
one-to-one socket which also are supported now</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9239</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Sendfile has been added to the file module's API.
sendfile/2 is used to read data from a file and send it
to a tcp socket using a zero copying mechanism if
available on that OS.</p>
<p>
Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz and Steve Vinovski for original
implementation</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9240</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Tuple funs (a two-element tuple with a module name and a
function) are now officially deprecated and will be
removed in R16. Use '<span class="code">fun M:F/A</span>' instead. To make
you aware that your system uses tuple funs, the very
first time a tuple fun is applied, a warning will be sent
to the error logger.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9649</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id56523">1.5
Kernel 2.14.5</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Fix type of Packet arg of gen_tcp:send/2 and
gen_udp:send/4</p>
<p>
The type is marked as a binary() or a string() but in
practice it can be an iodata(). The test suite was
updated to confirm the gen_tcp/2 and gen_udp:send/4
functions accept iodata() (iolists) packets. (Thanks to
Filipe David Manana)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9514</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> XML files have been corrected. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9550 Aux Id: OTP-9541 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p> The types and specifications of the inet modules have
been improved. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9260</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> Types and specifications have been added. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9356</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> Contracts in STDLIB and Kernel have been improved and
type errors have been corrected. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9485</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> Update documentation and specifications of some of
the zlib functions. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9506</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id56629">1.6
Kernel 2.14.4</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
The send_timeout option in gen_tcp did not work properly
in active mode or with {active,once} options. This is now
corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9145</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fixed various typos across the documentation (Thanks to
Tuncer Ayaz)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9154</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fix typo in doc of rpc:pmap/3 (Thanks to Ricardo
Catalinas Jiménez)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9168</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
A bug in inet_res, the specialized DNS resolver, has been
corrected. A late answer with unfortunate timing could
cause a runtime exception. Some code cleanup and
improvements also tagged along. Thanks to Evegeniy
Khramtsov for a pinpointing bug report and bug fix
testing.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9221 Aux Id: OTP-8712 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p> Types and specifications have been added. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9268</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> Erlang types and specifications are used for
documentation. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9272</p>
</li>
<li>
<p> Two opaque types that could cause warnings when
running Dialyzer have been modified. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9337</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id69968">1.7
Kernel 2.14.3</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">os:find_executable/{1,2}</span> will no longer return the
path of a directory that happens to be in the PATH.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8983 Aux Id: seq11749 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fix -spec for file:write_file/3</p>
<p>
Change type for second parameter from binary() to
iodata(), since the function explicitly takes steps to
accept lists as well as binaries. (thanks to Magnus
Henoch).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9067</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Sanitize the specs of the code module</p>
<p>
After the addition of unicode_binary() to the
file:filename() type, dialyzer started complaining about
erroneous or incomplete specs in some functions of the
'code' module. The culprit was hard-coded information in
erl_bif_types for functions of this module, which were
not updated. Since these functions have proper specs
these days and code duplication (pun intended) is never a
good idea, their type information was removed from
erl_bif_types.</p>
<p>
While doing this, some erroneous comments were fixed in
the code module and also made sure that the code now runs
without dialyzer warnings even when the
-Wunmatched_returns option is used.</p>
<p>
Some cleanups were applied to erl_bif_types too.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9100</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
- Add spec for function that does not return - Strenghen
spec - Introduce types to avoid duplication in specs -
Add specs for functions that do not return - Add specs
for behaviour callbacks - Simplify two specs</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9127</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id70060">1.8
Kernel 2.14.2</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
The Erlang VM now supports Unicode filenames. The feature
is turned on by default on systems where Unicode
filenames are mandatory (Windows and MacOSX), but can be
enabled on other systems with the '+fnu' emulator option.
Enabling the Unicode filename feature on systems where it
is not default is however considered experimental and not
to be used for production. Together with the Unicode file
name support, the concept of "raw filenames" is
introduced, which means filenames provided without
implicit unicode encoding translation. Raw filenames are
provided as binaries, not lists. For further information,
see stdlib users guide and the chapter about using
Unicode in Erlang. Also see the file module manual page.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8887</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
There is now a new function inet:getifaddrs/0 modeled
after C library function getifaddrs() on BSD and LInux
that reports existing interfaces and their addresses on
the host. This replaces the undocumented and unsupported
inet:getiflist/0 and inet:ifget/2.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8926</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id70114">1.9
Kernel 2.14.1.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>In embedded mode, on_load handlers that called
<span class="code">code:priv_dir/1</span> or other functions in <span class="code">code</span>
would hang the system. Since the <span class="code">crypto</span>
application now contains an on_loader handler that calls
<span class="code">code:priv_dir/1</span>, including the <span class="code">crypto</span>
application in the boot file would prevent the system
from starting.</p>
<p>Also extended the <span class="code">-init_debug</span> option to print
information about on_load handlers being run to
facilitate debugging.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8902 Aux Id: seq11703 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id70172">1.10
Kernel 2.14.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Fixed: inet:setopts(S, [{linger,{true,2}}]) returned
{error,einval} for SCTP sockets. The inet_drv had a bug
when checking the option size.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8726 Aux Id: seq11617 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
gen_udp:connect/3 was broken for SCTP enabled builds. It
did not detect remote end errors as it should.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8729</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>reference() has been substituted for ref() in the
documentation.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8733</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A bug introduced in kernel-2.13.5.3 has been fixed. If
running <span class="code">net_kernel:set_net_ticktime/1</span> twice within
the <span class="code">TransitionPerod</span> the second call caused the
net_kernel process to crash with a <span class="code">badmatch</span>.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8787 Aux Id: seq11657, OTP-8643 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
inet:getsockopt for SCTP sctp_default_send_param had a
bug to not initialize required feilds causing random
answers. It is now corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8795 Aux Id: seq11655 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>For a socket in the HTTP packet mode, the return value
from <span class="code">gen_tcp:recv/2,3</span> if there is an error in the
header will be <span class="code">{ok,{http_error,String}}</span> instead of
<span class="code">{error,{http_error,String}}</span> to be consistent with
<span class="code">ssl:recv/2,3</span>.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8831</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Even when configuring erlang with --enable-native-libs,
the native code for modules loaded very early (such as
lists) would not get loaded. This has been corrected.
(Thanks to Paul Guyot.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8750</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The undocumented function inet:ifget/2 has been improved
to return interface hardware address (MAC) on platforms
supporting getaddrinfo() (such as BSD unixes). Note it
still does not work on all platforms for example not
Windows nor Solaris, so the function is still
undocumented.</p>
<p>
Buffer overflow and field init bugs for inet:ifget/2 and
inet:getservbyname/2 has also been fixed.</p>
<p>
Thanks to Michael Santos.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8816</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
As a usability improvement the 'inet6' option to
functions gen_tcp:listen/2, gen_tcp:connect/3-4,
gen_udp:open/2 and gen_sctp:open/1-2 is now implicit if
the address argument or the 'ip' option contain an IPv6
address (8-tuple).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8822</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id62402">1.11
Kernel 2.14</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
os:find_executable can now be fed with the complete name
of the executable on Windows and still find it. I.e
os:find_executable("werl.exe") will work as
os:find_executable("werl").</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-3626</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The shell's line editing has been improved to more
resemble the behaviour of readline and other shells.
(Thanks to Dave Peticolas)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8635</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Under certain circumstances the net kernel could hang.
(Thanks to Scott Lystig Fritchie.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8643 Aux Id: seq11584 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The kernel DNS resolver was leaking one or two ports if
the DNS reply could not be parsed or if the resolver(s)
caused noconnection type errors. Bug now fixed. A DNS
specification borderline truncated reply triggering the
port leakage bug has also been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8652</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>As of this version, the global name server no longer
supports nodes running Erlang/OTP R11B.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8527</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The file module's functions write,read and read_line now
handles named io_servers like 'standard_io' and
'standard_error' correctly.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8611</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The functions file:advise/4 and file:datasync/1 have been
added. (Thanks to Filipe David Manana.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8637</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>When exchanging groups between nodes <span class="code">pg2</span> did
not remove duplicated members. This bug was introduced in
R13B03 (kernel-2.13.4).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8653</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
There is a new option 'exclusive' to file:open/2 that
uses the OS O_EXCL flag where supported to open the file
in exclusive mode.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8670</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id62548">1.12
Kernel 2.13.5.3</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
A bug introduced in Kernel 2.13.5.2 has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8686 Aux Id: OTP-8643</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id62578">1.13
Kernel 2.13.5.2</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Under certain circumstances the net kernel could hang.
(Thanks to Scott Lystig Fritchie.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8643 Aux Id: seq11584</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id62608">1.14
Kernel 2.13.5.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
A race condition in <span class="code">os:cmd/1</span> could cause the
caller to get stuck in <span class="code">os:cmd/1</span> forever.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8502</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id62646">1.15
Kernel 2.13.5</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>A race bug affecting <span class="code">pg2:get_local_members/1</span>
has been fixed. The bug was introduced in R13B03.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8358</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The loading of native code was not properly atomic in the
SMP emulator, which could cause crashes. Also a per-MFA
information table for the native code has now been
protected with a lock since it turns that it could be
accessed concurrently in the SMP emulator. (Thanks to
Mikael Pettersson.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8397</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
user.erl (used in oldshell) is updated to handle unicode
in prompt strings (io:get_line/{1,2}). io_lib is also
updated to format prompts with the 't' modifier (i.e. ~ts
instead of ~s).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8418 Aux Id: OTP-8393 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The resolver routines failed to look up the own node name
as hostname, if the OS native resolver was erroneously
configured, bug reported by Yogish Baliga, now fixed.</p>
<p>
The resolver routines now tries to parse the hostname as
an IP string as most OS resolvers do, unless the native
resolver is used.</p>
<p>
The DNS resolver inet_res and file resolver inet_hosts
now do not read OS configuration files until they are
needed. Since the native resolver is default, in most
cases they are never needed.</p>
<p>
The DNS resolver's automatic updating of OS configuration
file data (/etc/resolv.conf) now uses the 'domain'
keyword as default search domain if there is no 'search'
keyword.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8426 Aux Id: OTP-8381 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
The expected return value for an on_load function has
been changed. (See the section about code loading in the
Reference manual.)</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8339</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Explicit top directories in archive files are now
optional.</p>
<p>
For example, if an archive (app-vsn.ez) just contains an
app-vsn/ebin/mod.beam file, the file info for the app-vsn
and app-vsn/ebin directories are faked using the file
info from the archive file as origin. The virtual
direcories can also be listed. For short, the top
directories are virtual if they does not exist.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8387</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">code:clash/0</span> now looks inside archives (.ez
files). (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8413</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
There are new <span class="code">gen_sctp:connect_init/*</span> functions
that initiate an SCTP connection without blocking for the
result. The result is delivered asynchronously as an
sctp_assoc_change event. (Thanks to Simon Cornish.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8414</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id62812">1.16
Kernel 2.13.4</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>A link in <span class="code">pg2(3)</span> has been fixed. (Thanks to
Christophe Romain.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8198</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
A ticker process could potentially be blocked
indefinitely trying to send a tick to a node not
responding. If this happened, the connection would not be
brought down as it should.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8218</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A bug in <span class="code">pg2</span> when members who died did not
leave process groups has been fixed. (Thanks to Matthew
Dempsky.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8259</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
The documentation is now built with open source tools
(xsltproc and fop) that exists on most platforms. One
visible change is that the frames are removed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8201</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The top directory in archive files does not need to have
a <span class="code">-vsn</span> suffix anymore. For example if the archive
file has the name like <span class="code">mnesia-4.4.7.ez</span> the top
directory in the archive can either be named
<span class="code">mnesia</span> or <span class="code">mnesia-4.4.7</span>. If the archive file
has a name like <span class="code">mnesia.ez</span> the top directory in the
archive must be named <span class="code">mnesia</span> as earlier.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8266</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The -on_load() directive can be used to run a function
when a module is loaded. It is documented in the section
about code loading in the Reference Manual.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8295</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id90171">1.17
Kernel 2.13.3</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p> The DNS resolver client inet_res has been rewritten,
documented and released. See inet_res(3) and Erts User's
Guide: Inet configuration. </p>
<p> It can formally not be
incompatible with respect to earlier versions since there
was no earlier official version. However it was used
before and some details have changed. </p>
<p>
Configuration now initializes from /etc/resolv.conf and
/etc/hosts on all unix platforms regardless of which
distribution mode the node is started in. The directory
(/etc) these files are supposed to reside in can be
changed via an environment variable. These configuration
file locations can also be changed in the inet
configuration. The files are monitored for change and
re-read, which makes a few resolver configuration
variables out of application control. The /etc/hosts
entries have now their own cache table that is shadowed
(with lookup method 'file' is used) by the application
configured host entries. This problem (that inet_res
configuration only worked for distribution mode long
names) was among other reported by Matthew O'Gorman many
moons ago. </p>
<p> The lookup methods are still 'native'
only per default. Resolver configuration is done on all
Unix platforms just to get a usable configuration for
direct calls to inet_res. </p>
<p> The functions
<span class="code">inet_res:nslookup/3..5</span> and
<span class="code">inet_res:nnslookup/4..4</span> are no longer recommended
to use, instead use <span class="code">inet_res:lookup/3..5</span> and
<span class="code">inet_res:resolve/3..5</span> which provide clearer
argument types and the possibility to override options in
the call. </p>
<p> Users of previous unsupported versions
of inet_res have included internal header files to get to
the internal record definitions in order to examine DNS
replies. This is still unsupported and there are access
functions in inet_dns to use instead. These are
documented in inet_res(3). </p>
<p> Bug fix: a compression
reference loop would make DNS message decoding loop
forever. Problem reported by Florian Weimer. </p>
<p> Bug
fix and patch suggestion by Sergei Golovan: configuring
IPv6 nameservers did not work. His patch (as he warned)
created many UDP sockets; one per nameserver. This has
been fixed in the released version. </p>
<p> Improvement:
<span class="code">inet_res</span> is now EDNS0 capable. The current
implementation is simple and does not probe and cache
EDNS info for nameservers, which a fully capable
implementation probably should do. EDNS has to be enabled
via resolver configuration, and if a nameserver replies
that it does not support EDNS, <span class="code">inet_res</span> falls back
to a regular DNS query. </p>
<p> Improvement: now
<span class="code">inet_res</span> automatically falls back to TCP if it
gets a truncated answer from a nameserver. </p>
<p>
Warning: some of the ancient and exotic record types
handled by <span class="code">inet_res</span> and <span class="code">inet_dns</span> are not
supported by current versions of BIND, so they could not
be tested after the rewrite, with reasonable effort, e.g
MD, MF, NULL, and SPF. The risk for bugs in these
particular records is still low since their code is
mostly shared with other tested record types. </p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7955 Aux Id: OTP-7107 OTP-6852 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
A TCP socket with option <span class="code">{packet,4}</span> could crash
the emulator if it received a packet header with a very
large size value (>2Gb). The same bug caused
<span class="code">erlang:decode_packet/3</span> to return faulty values.
(Thanks to Georgos Seganos.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8102</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The file module has now a read_line/1 function similar to
the io:get_line/2, but with byte oriented semantics. The
function file:read_line/1 works for raw files as well,
but for good performance it is recommended to use it
together with the 'read_ahead' option for raw file
access.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8108</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id90319">1.18
Kernel 2.13.2</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
A bug when doing io:get_line (among other calls) from a
file opened with encoding other than latin1, causing
false unicode errors to occur, is now corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7974</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Added functionality to get higher resolution timestamp
from system. The erlang:now function returns a timestamp
that's not always consistent with the actual operating
system time (due to resilience against large time changes
in the operating system). The function os:timestamp/0 is
added to get a similar timestamp as the one being
returned by erlang:now, but untouched by Erlangs time
correcting and smoothing algorithms. The timestamp
returned by os:timestamp is always consistent with the
operating systems view of time, like the calendar
functions for getting wall clock time, but with higher
resolution. Example of usage can be found in the os
manual page.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7971</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id90379">1.19
Kernel 2.13.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Many concurrent calls to <span class="code">os:cmd/1</span> will only block
one scheduler thread at a time, making an smp emulator
more responsive if the OS is slow forking processes.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7890 Aux Id: seq11219 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fixed hanging early RPC that did IO operation during node
start.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7903 Aux Id: seq11224 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The error behavior of gen_tcp and gen_udp has been
corrected. gen_tcp:connect/3,4 and gen_udp:send/4 now
returns {error,eafnosupport} for conflicting destination
address versus socket address family. Other corner cases
for IP address string host names combined with not using
the native (OS) resolver (which is not default) has also
been changed to return {error,nxdomain} instead of
{error,einval}. Those changes just may surprise old
existing code. gen_tcp:listen/2 and gen_udp:open/2 now
fails for conflicting local address versus socket address
family instead of trying to use an erroneous address.
Problem reported by Per Hedeland.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7929</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Several glitches and performance issues in the Unicode
and I/O-system implementation of R13A have been
corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7896 Aux Id: OTP-7648 OTP-7887 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The unsupported DNS resolver client inet_res has now been
improved to handle NAPTR queries.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7925 Aux Id: seq11231 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id90483">1.20
Kernel 2.13</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
The old Erlang DNS resolver inet_res has been corrected
to handle TXT records with more than one character
string. Patch courtesy of Geoff Cant.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7588</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>When chunk reading a disk log opened in read_only
mode, bad terms could crash the disk log process.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7641 Aux Id: seq11090 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">gen_tcp:send()</span> did sometimes (only observed on
Solaris) return <span class="code">{error,enotconn}</span> instead of the
expected <span class="code">{error,closed}</span> as the peer socket had
been explicitly closed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7647</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The gen_sctp option sctp_peer_addr_params,
#sctp_paddrparams{address={IP,Port} was erroneously
decoded in the inet driver. This bug has now been
corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7755</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Erlang programs can now access STDERR on platforms where
such a file descriptor is available by using the
io_server 'standard_error', i.e.
io:format(standard_error,"~s~n",[ErrorMessage]),</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6688</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The format of the string returned by
<span class="code">erlang:system_info(system_version)</span> (as well as the
first message when Erlang is started) has changed. The
string now contains the both the OTP version number as
well as the erts version number.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7649</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>As of this version, the global name server no longer
supports nodes running Erlang/OTP R10B.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7661</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
A <span class="code">{nodedown, Node}</span> message passed by the
<span class="code">net_kernel:monitor_nodes/X</span> functionality is now
guaranteed to be sent after <span class="code">Node</span> has been removed
from the result returned by <span class="code">erlang:nodes/Y</span>.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7725</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The deprecated functions <span class="code">erlang:fault/1</span>,
<span class="code">erlang:fault/2</span>, and <span class="code">file:rawopen/2</span> have
been removed.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7812</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Nodes belonging to different independent clusters can now
co-exist on the same host with the help of a new
environment variable setting ERL_EPMD_PORT.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7826</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The copyright notices have been updated.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7851</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id60743">1.21
Kernel 2.12.5.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>When chunk reading a disk log opened in read_only
mode, bad terms could crash the disk log process.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7641 Aux Id: seq11090 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Calling <span class="code">gen_tcp:send()</span> from several processes on
socket with option <span class="code">send_timeout</span> could lead to much
longer timeout than specified. The solution is a new
socket option <span class="code">{send_timeout_close,true}</span> that will
do automatic close on timeout. Subsequent calls to send
will then immediately fail due to the closed connection.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7731 Aux Id: seq11161 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id60798">1.22
Kernel 2.12.5</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The documentation of <span class="code">rpc:pmap/3</span> has been
corrected. (Thanks to Kirill Zaborski.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7537</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The listen socket used for the distributed Erlang
protocol now uses the socket option 'reuseaddr', which is
useful when you force the listen port number using kernel
options 'inet_dist_listen_min' and 'inet_dist_listen_max'
and restarts a node with open connections.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7563</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fixed memory leak of unclosed TCP-ports. A gen_tcp:send()
followed by a failing gen_tcp:recv() could in some cases
cause the port to linger after being closed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7615</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Processes spawned using <span class="code">proc_lib</span> (including
<span class="code">gen_server</span> and other library modules that use
<span class="code">proc_lib</span>) no longer keep the entire argument list
for the initial call, but only the arity.</p>
<p>Also, if <span class="code">proc_lib:spawn/1</span> is used to spawn a
fun, the actual fun is not kept, but only module,
function name, and arity of the function that implements
the fun.</p>
<p>The reason for the change is that keeping the initial
fun (or a fun in an argument list), would prevent
upgrading the code for the module. A secondary reason is
that keeping the fun and function arguments could waste a
significant amount of memory.</p>
<p>The drawback with the change is that the crash reports
will provide less precise information about the initial
call (only <span class="code">Module:Function/Arity</span> instead of
<span class="code">Module:Function(Arguments)</span>). The function
<span class="code">proc_lib:initial_call/1</span> still returns a list, but
each argument has been replaced with a dummy atom.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7531 Aux Id: seq11036 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">io:get_line/1</span> when reading from standard input is
now substantially faster. There are also some minor
performance improvements in <span class="code">io:get_line/1</span> when
reading from any file opened in binary mode. (Thanks to
Fredrik Svahn.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7542</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
There is now experimental support for loading of code
from archive files. See the documentation of <span class="code">code</span>,
<span class="code">init</span>, <span class="code">erl_prim_loader </span> and <span class="code">escript</span>
for more info.</p>
<p>
The error handling of <span class="code">escripts</span> has been improved.</p>
<p>
An <span class="code">escript</span> may now set explicit arguments to the
emulator, such as <span class="code">-smp enabled</span>.</p>
<p>
An <span class="code">escript</span> may now contain a precompiled beam
file.</p>
<p>
An <span class="code">escript</span> may now contain an archive file
containing one or more applications (experimental).</p>
<p>
The internal module <span class="code">code_aux</span> has been removed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7548 Aux Id: otp-6622 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">code:is_sticky/1</span> is now documented. (Thanks to
Vlad Dumitrescu.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7561</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
In the job control mode, the "s" and "r" commands now
take an optional argument to specify which shell to
start. (Thanks to Robert Virding.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7617</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">net_adm:world/0,1</span> could crash if called in an
emulator that has not been started with either the
<span class="code">-sname</span> or <span class="code">-name</span> option; now it will return
an empty list. (Thanks to Edwin Fine.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7618</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id59377">1.23
Kernel 2.12.4</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Large files are now handled on Windows, where the
filesystem supports it.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7410</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
New BIF <span class="code">erlang:decode_packet/3</span> that extracts a
protocol packet from a binary. Similar to the socket
option <span class="code">{packet, Type}</span>. Also documented the socket
packet type <span class="code">http</span> and made it official.
<strong>NOTE</strong>: The tuple format for <span class="code">http</span> packets
sent from an active socket has been changed in an
incompatible way.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7404</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Setting the <span class="code">{active,once}</span> for a socket (using
inets:setopts/2) is now specially optimized (because the
<span class="code">{active,once}</span> option is typically used much more
frequently than other options).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7520</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id59474">1.24
Kernel 2.12.3</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
SCTP_ADDR_CONFIRMED events are now handled by gen_sctp.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7276</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>When leaving a process group with <span class="code">pg2:leave/2</span>
the process was falsely assumed to be a member of the
group. This bug has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7277</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
In the Erlang shell, using up and down arrow keys, the
wrong previous command could sometimes be retrieved.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7278</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The documentation for <span class="code">erlang:trace/3</span> has been
corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7279 Aux Id: seq10927 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
In the SMP emulator, there was small risk that
<span class="code">code:purge(Mod)</span> would kill a process that was
running code in <span class="code">Mod</span> and unload the module
<span class="code">Mod</span> before the process had terminated.
<span class="code">code:purge(Mod)</span> now waits for confirmation (using
<span class="code">erlang:monitor/2</span>) that the process has been killed
before proceeding.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7282</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">zlib:inflate</span> failed when the size of the inflated
data was an exact multiple of the internal buffer size
(4000 bytes by default).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7359</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Additional library directories can now be specified in
the environment variable ERL_LIBS. See the manual page
for the <span class="code">code</span> module. (Thanks to Serge Aleynikov.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6940</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
crypto and zlib drivers improved to allow concurrent smp
access.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7262</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
There is a new function <span class="code">init:stop/1</span> which can be
used to shutdown the system cleanly AND generate a
non-zero exit status or crash dump. (Thanks to Magnus
Froberg.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7308</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The <span class="code">hide</span> option for <span class="code">open_port/2</span> is now
documented. (Thanks to Richard Carlsson.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7358</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id59670">1.25
Kernel 2.12.2.1</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">os:cmd/1</span> on unix platforms now use <span class="code">/bin/sh</span>
as shell instead of looking for <span class="code">sh</span> in the
<span class="code">PATH</span> environment.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7283</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id59715">1.26
Kernel 2.12.2</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>A bug caused by a race condition involving
<span class="code">disk_log</span> and <span class="code">pg2</span> has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7209 Aux Id: seq10890 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The beta testing module <span class="code">gen_sctp</span> now supports
active mode as stated in the documentation. Active mode
is still rather untested, and there are some issues about
what should be the right semantics for
<span class="code">gen_sctp:connect/5</span>. In particular: should it be
blocking or non-blocking or choosable. There is a high
probability it will change semantics in a (near) future
patch.</p> <p>Try it, give comments and send in bug
reports!</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7225</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span class="code">erlang:system_info/1</span> now accepts the
<span class="code">logical_processors</span>, and <span class="code">debug_compiled</span>
arguments. For more info see the, <span class="code">erlang(3)</span>
documentation.</p> <p>The scale factor returned by
<span class="code">test_server:timetrap_scale_factor/0</span> is now also
effected if the emulator uses a larger amount of
scheduler threads than the amount of logical processors
on the system. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7175</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Updated the documentation for
<span class="code">erlang:function_exported/3</span> and <span class="code">io:format/2</span>
functions to no longer state that those functions are
kept mainly for backwards compatibility.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7186</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
A process executing the <span class="code">processes/0</span> BIF can now be
preempted by other processes during its execution. This
in order to disturb the rest of the system as little as
possible. The returned result is, of course, still a
consistent snapshot of existing processes at a time
during the call to <span class="code">processes/0</span>.</p>
<p>
The documentation of the <span class="code">processes/0</span> BIF and the
<span class="code">is_process_alive/1</span> BIF have been updated in order
to clarify the difference between an existing process and
a process that is alive.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7213</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="code">tuple_size/1</span> and <span class="code">byte_size/1</span> have been
substituted for <span class="code">size/1</span> in the documentation.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7244</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id96094">1.27
Kernel 2.12.1.2</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The <span class="code">{allocator_sizes, Alloc}</span> and
<span class="code">alloc_util_allocators</span> arguments are now accepted
by <span class="code">erlang:system_info/1</span>. For more information see
the <span class="code">erlang(3)</span> documentation.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7167</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id96139">1.28
Kernel 2.12.1.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Fixed a problem in group that could cause the ssh server
to lose answers or hang.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7185 Aux Id: seq10871 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id96169">1.29
Kernel 2.12.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
file:read/2 and file:consult_stream/1,3 did not use an
empty prompt on I/O devices. This bug has now been
corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7013</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The sctp driver has been updated to work against newer
lksctp packages e.g 1.0.7 that uses the API spelling
change adaption -> adaptation. Older lksctp (1.0.6) still
work. The erlang API in gen_sctp.erl and inet_sctp.hrl
now spells 'adaptation' regardless of the underlying C
API.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7120</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The documentation has been updated so as to reflect
the last updates of the Erlang shell as well as the minor
modifications of the control sequence <span class="code">p</span> of the
<span class="code">io_lib</span> module.</p> <p>Superfluous empty lines have
been removed from code examples and from Erlang shell
examples.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6944 Aux Id: OTP-6554, OTP-6911 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="code">tuple_size/1</span> and <span class="code">byte_size/1</span> have been
substituted for <span class="code">size/1</span>.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7009</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id96275">1.30
Kernel 2.12</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
A bug for raw files when reading 0 bytes returning 'eof'
instead of empty data has been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6291 Aux Id: OTP-6967 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
A bug in gen_udp:fdopen reported by David Baird and also
found by Dialyzer has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6836 Aux Id: OTP-6594 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Calling <span class="code">error_logger:tty(true)</span> multiple times does
not give multiple error log printouts.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6884 Aux Id: seq10767 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The global name server now ignores <span class="code">nodeup</span>
messages when the command line flag <span class="code">-connect_all
false</span> has been used. (Thanks to Trevor
Woollacott.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6931</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>file:write_file/3, file:write/2 and file:read/2 could
crash (contrary to documentation) for odd enough file
system problems, e.g write to full file system. This bug
has now been corrected.</p> <p>In this process the file
module has been rewritten to produce better error codes.
Posix error codes now originate from the OS file system
calls or are generated only for very similar causes (for
example 'enomem' is generated if a memory allocation
fails, and 'einval' is generated if the file handle in
Erlang is a file handle but currently invalid).</p>
<p>More Erlang-ish error codes are now generated. For
example <span class="code">{error,badarg}</span> is now returned from
<span class="code">file:close/1</span> if the argument is not of a file
handle type. See file(3).</p> <p>The possibility to write
a single byte using <span class="code">file:write/2</span> instead of a list
or binary of one byte, contradictory to the
documentation, has been removed.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6967 Aux Id: OTP-6597 OTP-6291 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Monitor messages produced by the system monitor
functionality, and garbage collect trace messages could
contain erroneous heap and/or stack sizes when the actual
heaps and/or stacks were huge.</p>
<p>
As of erts version 5.6 the <span class="code">large_heap</span> option to
<span class="code">erlang:system_monitor/[1,2]</span> has been modified. The
monitor message is sent if the sum of the sizes of all
memory blocks allocated for all heap generations is equal
to or larger than the specified size. Previously the
monitor message was sent if the memory block allocated
for the youngest generation was equal to or larger than
the specified size.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6974 Aux Id: seq10796 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<span class="code">inet:getopts/2</span> returned random values on Windows
Vista.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7003</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Minor documentation corrections for file:pread/2 and
file:pread/3.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6853</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The deprecated functions <span class="code">file:file_info/1</span>,
<span class="code">init:get_flag/1</span>, <span class="code">init:get_flags/0</span>, and
<span class="code">init:get_args/0</span> have been removed.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6886</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Contract directives for modules in Kernel and STDLIB.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6895</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The functions io:columns/0, io:columns/1, io:rows/0
and io:rows/1 are added to allow the user to get
information about the terminal geometry. The shell takes
some advantage of this when formatting output. For
regular files and other io-devices where height and width
are not applicable, the functions return
{error,enotsup}.</p>
<p>Potential incompatibility: If one has written a custom
io-handler, the handler has to either return an error or
take care of io-requests regarding terminal height and
width. Usually that is no problem as io-handlers, as a
rule of thumb, should give an error reply when receiving
unknown io-requests, instead of crashing.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6933</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The undocumented and unsupported functions
<span class="code">inet:ip_to_bytes/1</span>, <span class="code">inet:ip4_to_bytes/1</span>,
<span class="code">inet:ip6_to_bytes/1</span>, and
<span class="code">inet:bytes_to_ip6/16</span> have been removed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6938</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Added new checksum combine functions to <span class="code">zlib</span>. And
fixed a bug in <span class="code">zlib:deflate</span>. Thanks Matthew
Dempsky.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6970</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The <span class="code">spawn_monitor/1</span> and <span class="code">spawn_monitor/3</span> BIFs
are now auto-imported (i.e. they no longer need an
<span class="code">erlang:</span> prefix).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6975</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>All functions in the <span class="code">code</span> module now fail with
an exception if they are called with obviously bad
arguments, such as a tuple when an atom was expected.
Some functions now also fail for undocumented argument
types (for instance, <span class="code">ensure_loaded/1</span> now only
accepts an atom as documented; it used to accept a string
too).</p>
<p><span class="code">Dialyzer</span> will generally emit warnings for any
calls that use undocumented argument types. Even if the
call happens to still work in R12B, you should correct
your code. A future release will adhere to the
documentation.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6983</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id77335">1.31
Kernel 2.11.5.2</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
The kernel parameter dist_auto_connect once could fail to
block a node if massive parallel sends were issued
during a transient failure of network communication</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6893 Aux Id: seq10753 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id77367">1.32
Kernel 2.11.5.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
The internal (rarely used) DNS resolver has been modified
to not use the domain search list when asked to resolve
an absolute name; a name with a terminating dot. There
was also a bug causing it to create malformed DNS queries
for absolute names that has been corrected, correction
suggested by Scott Lystig Fritchie. The code has also
been corrected to look up cached RRs in the same search
order as non-cached, now allows having the root domain
among the search domains, and can now actually do a zone
transfer request.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6806 Aux Id: seq10714 EABln35459 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
zlib:close/1 would leave an EXIT message in the message
queue if the calling process had the trap_exit flag
enabled.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6811</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The documentation of <span class="code">process_flag(priority,
Level)</span> has been updated, see the <span class="code">erlang(3)</span>
documentation. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-6745 Aux Id: OTP-6715 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id77450">1.33
Kernel 2.11.5</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The shell has been updated to fix the following flaws:
Shell process exit left you with an unresponsive initial
shell if not using oldshell. Starting a restricted shell
with a nonexisting callback module resulted in a shell
where no commands could be used, not even init:stop/0.
Fun's could not be used as parameters to local shell
functions (in shell_default or user_default) when
restricted_shell was active.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6537</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The undocumented feature gen_tcp:fdopen/2 was broken
in R11B-4. It is now fixed again.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6615</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Corrected cancellation of timers in three places in the
inet_res module. (Problem found by Dialyzer.)</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6676</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Corrected protocol layer flue for socket options
SO_LINGER, SO_SNDBUF and SO_RCVBUF, for SCTP.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6625 Aux Id: OTP-6336 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The behaviour of the inet option {active,once} on peer
close is improved and documented.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6681</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The inet option send_timeout for connection oriented
sockets is added to allow for timeouts in communicating
send requests to the underlying TCP stack.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6684 Aux Id: seq10637 OTP-6681 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Minor Makefile changes.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6689 Aux Id: OTP-6742 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The documentation of <span class="code">process_flag(priority, Level)</span> has been updated, see the <span class="code">erlang(3)</span>
documentation. </p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6715</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id77591">1.34
Kernel 2.11.4.2</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>process_flag/2 accepts the new flag <span class="code">sensitive</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6592 Aux Id: seq10555 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id77627">1.35
Kernel 2.11.4.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>A bug in gen_udp:open that broke the 'fd' option has been
fixed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6594 Aux Id: seq10619 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id77660">1.36
Kernel 2.11.4</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Added a warning to the documentation for the
<span class="code">error_logger</span> functions <span class="code">error_msg/1,2</span>,
<span class="code">warning_msg/1,2</span> and <span class="code">info_msg/1,2</span> that
calling these function with bad arguments can crash the
standard event handler.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-4575 Aux Id: seq7693 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A bug in <span class="code">inet_db</span> concerning getting the resolver
option <span class="code">retry</span> has been corrected.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6380 Aux Id: seq10534 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Names registered by calling
<span class="code">global:register_name()</span> or
<span class="code">global:re_register_name()</span> were not always
unregistered when the registering or registered process
died. This bug has been fixed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6428</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>When setting the kernel configuration parameter
<span class="code">error_logger</span> to <span class="code">false</span>, the documentation
stated that "No error logger handler is installed". This
is true, but error logging is not turned off, as the
initial, primitive error logger event handler is kept,
printing raw event messages to tty.</p>
<p>Changing this behavior can be viewed as a backward
incompatible change. Instead a new value <span class="code">silent</span>
for the configuration parameter has been added, which
ensures that error logging is completely turned off.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6445</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Clarified the documentation for <span class="code">code:lib_dir/1</span> and
<span class="code">code:priv_dir/1</span>. The functions traverse the names
of the code path, they do not search the actual
directories.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6466</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="code">io:setopts</span> returned <span class="code">{error,badarg}</span>, when
called with only an <span class="code">expand_fun</span> argument. (Thanks to
igwan.)</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6508</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>An interface towards the SCTP Socket API Extensions
has been implemented.It is an Open Source patch courtesy
of Serge Aleynikov and Leonid Timochouk. The Erlang code
parts has been adapted by the OTP team, changing the
Erlang API somewhat.</p>
<p>The Erlang interface consists of the module
<span class="code">gen_sctp</span> and an include file
<span class="code">-include_lib("kernel/include/inet_sctp.hrl").</span> for
option record definitions. The <span class="code">gen_sctp</span> module is
documented.</p>
<p>The delivered Open Source patch, before the OTP team
rewrites, was written according to
<span class="bold_code"><a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-tsvwg-sctpsocket-13">http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-tsvwg-sctpsocket-13</a></span>
and was claimed to work fine, tested on Linux Fedora Core
5.0 (kernel 2.6.15-2054 or later) and on Solaris 10 and
11. The OTP team rewrites used the same standard document
but might have accidentally broken some functionality. If
so, it will soon be patched to working state. The tricky
parts in C and the general design has essentially not
changed. During the rewrites the code was hand tested on
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, and briefly on Solaris
10. Feedbach on code and docs is very much
appreciated.</p>
<p>The SCTP interface is in beta state. It has only been
hand tested and has no automatic test suites in OTP
meaning everything is most certainly not tested. Socket
active mode is broken. IPv6 is not tested. The documentation
has been reworked due to the API changes,
but has not been proofread after this.</p>
<p>Thank you from the OTP team to Serge Aleynikov and
Leonid Timochouk for a valuable contribution. We hope we
have not messed it up too much.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6336</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A <span class="code">{minor_version,Version}</span> option is now recognized
by <span class="code">term_to_binary/2</span>. {minor_version,1} will cause
floats to be encoded in an exact and more space-efficient
way compared to the previous encoding.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6434</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Monitoring of nodes has been improved. Now the following
properties apply to
<span class="code">net_kernel:monitor_nodes/[1,2]</span>:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<span class="code">nodeup</span> messages will be delivered before delivery
of any message from the remote node passed through the
newly established connection. </li>
<li>
<span class="code">nodedown</span> messages will not be delivered until all
messages from the remote node that have been passed
through the connection have been delivered. </li>
<li>Subscriptions can also be made before the
<span class="code">net_kernel</span> server has been started. </li>
</ul>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6481</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Setting and getting socket options in a "raw" fashion is
now allowed. Using this feature will inevitably produce
non portable code, but will allow setting ang getting
arbitrary uncommon options on TCP stacks that do have
them.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6519</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Dialyzer warnings have been eliminated.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6523</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The documentation for <span class="code">file:delete/1</span> and
<span class="code">file:set_cwd/1</span> has been updated to clarify what
happens if the input arguments are of an incorrect type.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6535</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id91627">1.37
Kernel 2.11.3.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>An erroneous packet size could be used for the first
messages passed through a newly established connection
between two Erlang nodes. This could cause messages to be
discarded, or termination of the connection.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6473</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id91661">1.38
Kernel 2.11.3</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>On Unix, the <span class="code">unix:cmd/1</span> function could leave an
'EXIT' message in the message queue for the calling
process That problem was more likely to happen in an SMP
emulator.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6368</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>More interfaces are added in erl_ddll, to support
different usage scenarios.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6307 Aux Id: OTP-6234 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Locks set by calling <span class="code">global:set_lock()</span> were not
always deleted when the locking process died. This bug
has been fixed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6341 Aux Id: seq10445 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id91740">1.39
Kernel 2.11.2</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Behavior in case of disappeared nodes when using he
dist_auto_connect once got changed in R11B-1. The
timeouts regarding normal distributed operations is now
reverted to the old (pre R11B-1).</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6258 Aux Id: OTP-6200, seq10449 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Start-up problems for the internal process used by the
<span class="code">inet:gethostbyname()</span> functions were eliminated. If
the internal process (<span class="code">inet_gethost_native</span>) had not
previously been started, and if several processes at the
same time called one of the <span class="code">inet:gethostbyname()</span>
functions, the calls could fail.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6286</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Code cleanup: the old internal obsolete file_server has
been removed. It was only used when communicating with R7
and older nodes.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6245</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Trying to open a non-existent or badly formed disk log
no longer results in a crash report. In particular,
<span class="code">ets:file2tab/1</span> reports no error when the argument
is not a well-formed disk log file. (The return value has
not been changed, it is still an error tuple.)</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6278 Aux Id: seq10421 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>There are new BIFs <span class="code">erlang:spawn_monitor/1,3</span>,
and the new option <span class="code">monitor</span> for
<span class="code">spawn_opt/2,3,4,5</span>.</p>
<p>The <span class="code">observer_backend</span> module has been updated to
handle the new BIFs.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6281</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>To help Dialyzer find more bugs, many functions in the
Kernel and STDLIB applications now only accept arguments
of the type that is documented.</p>
<p>For instance, the functions <span class="code">lists:prefix/2</span> and
<span class="code">lists:suffix/2</span> are documented to only accept lists
as their arguments, but they actually accepted anything
and returned <span class="code">false</span>. That has been changed so that
the functions cause an exception if one or both arguments
are not lists.</p>
<p>Also, the <span class="code">string:strip/3</span> function is documented
to take a character argument that is a character to strip
from one or both ends of the string. Given a list instead
of a character, it used to do nothing, but will now cause
an exception.</p>
<p>Dialyzer will find most cases where those functions
are passed arguments of the wrong type.</p>
<p>*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6295</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id91919">1.40
Kernel 2.11.1.1</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>There is now an option read_packets for UDP sockets that
sets the maximum number of UDP packets that will be read
for each invocation of the socket driver.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6249 Aux Id: seq10452 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id91953">1.41
Kernel 2.11.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>In R11B-0, the erl_ddll server process is always started.
Despite that, the configuration parameter
<span class="code">start_ddll</span> for the Kernel application was still
obeyed, which would cause the erl_ddll server to be
started TWICE (and the system shutting down as a result).
In this release, <span class="code">start_ddll</span> is no longer used and
its documentation has been removed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6163</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The kernel option {dist_auto_connect,once} could block
out nodes that had never been connected, causing
persistent partitioning of networks. Furthermore, partial
restarts of networks could cause inconsistent global name
databases. Both problems are now solved.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6200 Aux Id: seq10377 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Late arriving tcp_closed and udp_closed messages are now
removed from the message queue of a process calling
gen_tcp:close/1, gen_udp:close/1, and inet:close/1.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6197</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id92034">1.42
Kernel 2.11</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>When repairing a disk log with a corrupt index file
(caused by for instance a hard disk failure) the old
contents of the index file is kept unmodified. This will
make repeated attempts to open the disk log fail every
time.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5558 Aux Id: seq9823 </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Previously <span class="code">unlink/1</span> and <span class="code">erlang:demonitor/2</span>
behaved completely asynchronous. This had one undesirable
effect, though. You could never know when you were
guaranteed <strong>not</strong> to be affected by a link that you
had unlinked or a monitor that you had demonitored.</p>
<p>The new behavior of <span class="code">unlink/1</span> and
<span class="code">erlang:demonitor/2</span> can be viewed as two operations
performed atomically. Asynchronously send an unlink
signal or a demonitor signal, and ignore any future
results of the link or monitor.</p>
<p><strong>NOTE</strong>: This change can cause some obscure code
to fail which previously did not. For example, the
following code might hang:</p>
<div class="example"><pre>
Mon = erlang:monitor(process, Pid),
%% ...
exit(Pid, bang),
erlang:demonitor(Mon),
receive
{'DOWN', Mon, process, Pid, _} -> ok
%% We were previously guaranteed to get a down message
%% (since we exited the process ourself), so we could
%% in this case leave out:
%% after 0 -> ok
end,
</pre></div>
<p>*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5772</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The behavior when an application fails to start and
possibly causes the runtime system to halt has been
cleaned up, including fixing some minor bugs.</p>
<p><span class="code">application_controller</span> should now always terminate
with a non-nested string, meaning the slogan in an
<span class="code">erl_crash.dump</span> should always be easy to read.</p>
<p><span class="code">init</span> now makes sure that the slogan passed to
<span class="code">erlang:halt/1</span> does not exceed the maximum allowed
length.</p>
<p>Redundant calls to <span class="code">list_to_atom/1</span> has been removed
from the primitive <span class="code">error_logger</span> event handler.
(Thanks Serge Aleynikov for pointing this out).</p>
<p>The changes only affects the contents of the error
messages and crashdump file slogan.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5964</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <span class="code">erl_ddll</span> server is now started when OTP is
started and placed under the Kernel supervisor. This
fixes several minor issues. It used to be started on
demand.</p>
<p>The documentation for the <span class="code">start</span> and <span class="code">stop</span>
functions in the <span class="code">erl_ddll</span> module has been removed,
as those functions are not meant to be used by other
applications.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the <span class="code">erl_ddll:stop/1</span> function no longer
terminates the <span class="code">erl_ddll</span> server, as that would
terminate the entire runtime system.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6033</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Removed some unused functions from
<span class="code">application_master</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-3889</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Global no longer allows the registration of a process
under more than one name. If the old (buggy) behavior is
desired the Kernel application variable
<span class="code">global_multi_name_action</span> can be given the value
<span class="code">allow</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5640 Aux Id: OTP-5603</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The (slightly misleading) warnings that was shown when
the <span class="code">erlang.erl</span> file was compiled has been
eliminated.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5947</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <span class="code">auth</span> module API is deprecated.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6037</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Added <span class="code">erlang:demonitor/2</span>, making it possible to at
the same time flush a received <span class="code">'DOWN'</span> message, if
there is one. See <span class="code">erlang(3)</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-6100 Aux Id: OTP-5772 </p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id96862">1.43
Kernel 2.10.13</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Large files (more than 2 GBytes) are now handled on
Solaris 8.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5849 Aux Id: seq10157</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>During startup, a garbage <span class="code">{'DOWN', ...}</span> message was
left by <span class="code">inet_gethost_native</span>, that caused problems
for the starting code server.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5978 Aux Id: OTP-5974</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span class="code">global</span> now makes several attempts to connect nodes
when maintaining the fully connected network. More than one
attempt is sometimes needed under very heavy load.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5889</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="code">erl_epmd</span> now explicitly sets the timeout to
<span class="code">infinity</span> when calling <span class="code">gen_server:call</span>. The
old timeout of 15 seconds could time out under very heavy
load.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5959</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Corrected the start of code server to use reference-tagged
tuples to ensure that an unexpected message sent to
the parent process does not cause a halt of the system.
Also removed the useless <span class="code">start/*</span> functions in both
<span class="code">code.erl</span> and <span class="code">code_server.erl</span> and no longer
exports the <span class="code">init</span> function from
<span class="code">code_server.erl</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5974 Aux Id: seq10243, OTP-5978</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id96997">1.44
Kernel 2.10.12</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>A bug in <span class="code">global</span> has been fixed: the locker process
added <span class="code">nonode@nohost</span> to the list of nodes to lock.
This could happen before any nodes got known to the global
name server. Depending on net configuration the symptom was
a delay.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5792 Aux Id: OTP-5563</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If an <span class="code">.app</span> file is missing, the error reason
returned by <span class="code">application:load/1</span> has been corrected
to <span class="code">{"no such file or directory", "FILE.app"}</span>,
instead of the less informative <span class="code">{"unknown POSIX error","FILE.app"}</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5809</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Bug fixes: <span class="code">disk_log:accessible_logs/0</span> no longer
reports all <span class="code">pg2</span> process groups as distributed disk
logs; <span class="code">disk_log:pid2name/1</span> did not recognize
processes of distributed disk logs.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5810</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The functions <span class="code">file:consult/1</span>,
<span class="code">file:path_consult/2</span>, <span class="code">file:eval/1,2</span>,
<span class="code">file:path_eval/2,3</span>, <span class="code">file:script/1,2</span>,
<span class="code">file:path_script/2,3</span> now return correct line
numbers in error tuples.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5814</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If there were user-defined variables in the boot script,
and their values were not provided using
the <span class="code">-boot_var</span> option, the emulator would refuse to
start with a confusing error message. Corrected to show a
clear, understandable message.</p>
<p>The <span class="code">prim_file</span> module was modified to not depend
on the <span class="code">lists</span> module, to make it possible to start
the emulator using a user-defined loader. (Thanks to
Martin Bjorklund.)</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5828 Aux Id: seq10151</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Minor corrections in the description of open modes.
(Thanks to Richard Carlsson.)</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5856</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span class="code">application_controller</span> now terminates with the
actual error reason, instead of <span class="code">shutdown</span>. This
means that the crash dump now should be somewhat more
informative, in the case where the runtime system is
terminated due to an error in an application.</p>
<p>Example: If the (permanent) application <span class="code">app1</span> fails
to start, the slogan now will be: "<span class="code">Kernel pid terminated (application_controller) ({application_start_failure,app1,{shutdown, {app1,start,[normal,[]]}}})</span>"</p>
<p>rather than the previous "<span class="code">Kernel pid terminated (application_controller) (shutdown)</span>".</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5811</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id97218">1.45
Kernel 2.10.11.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Timers could sometimes timeout too early. This bug has
now been fixed.</p>
<p>Automatic cancellation of timers created by
<span class="code">erlang:send_after(Time,</span> pid(), Msg), and
<span class="code">erlang:start_timer(Time,</span> pid(), Msg) has been
introduced.
Timers created with the receiver specified by a pid, will
automatically be cancelled when the receiver exits. For
more information see the <span class="code">erlang(3)</span> man page.</p>
<p>In order to be able to maintain a larger amount of timers
without increasing the maintenance cost, the internal
timer wheel and bif timer table have been enlarged.</p>
<p>Also a number of minor bif timer optimizations have been
implemented.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5795 Aux Id: OTP-5090, seq8913, seq10139,
OTP-5782</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Documentation improvements:</p>
<p>- documentation for <span class="code">erlang:link/1</span> corrected</p>
<p>- command line flag <span class="code">-code_path_cache</span> added</p>
<p>- <span class="code">erl</span> command line flags clarifications</p>
<p>- <span class="code">net_kernel(3)</span> clarifications</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5847</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id81128">1.46
Kernel 2.10.11</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Several bug fixes and improvements in the global name
registration facility (see <span class="code">global(3)</span>):</p>
<ul>
<li>the name resolving procedure did not always unlink no
longer registered processes;</li>
<li>the global name could sometimes hang when a
<span class="code">nodedown</span> was immediately followed by a
<span class="code">nodeup</span>;</li>
<li>global names were not always unregistered when a node
went down;</li>
<li>it is now possible to set and delete locks at
the same time as the global name server is resolving
names--the handling of global locks has been separated
from registration of global names;</li>
</ul>
<p>As of this version, <span class="code">global</span> no longer supports nodes
running Erlang/OTP R7B or earlier.</p>
<p>*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5563</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The functions <span class="code">global:set_lock/3</span> and
<span class="code">global:trans/4</span> now accept the value <span class="code">0</span>
(zero) of the <span class="code">Retries</span> argument.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5737</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <span class="code">inet:getaddr(Addr, Family)</span> no longer
validates the <span class="code">Addr</span> argument if it is a 4 or 8
tuple containing the IP address, except for the size of
the tuple and that it contains integers in the correct
range.</p>
<p>The reason for the change is that validation could
cause the following sequence of calls to fail:</p>
<p><span class="code">{ok,Addr} = inet:getaddr(localhost, inet6), gen_tcp:connect(Addr, 7, [inet6])</span></p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5743</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The previously undocumented and UNSUPPORTED <span class="code">zlib</span>
module has been updated in an incompatible way and many
bugs have been corrected. It is now also documented.</p>
<p>*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5715</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Added <span class="code">application</span> interface functions
<span class="code">which_applications/1</span>, <span class="code">set_env/4</span> and
<span class="code">unset_env/3</span>, which take an additional
<span class="code">Timeout</span> argument. To be used in situations where
the standard gen_server timeout (5000ms) is not adequate.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5724 Aux Id: seq10083</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Improved documentation regarding synchronized start of
applications with included applications (using start
phases and <span class="code">application_starter</span>).</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5754</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>New socket options <span class="code">priority</span> and <span class="code">tos</span> for
platforms that support them (currently only Linux).</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5756</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The global name server has been optimized when it comes
to maintaining a fully connected network.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5770</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id81376">1.47
Kernel 2.10.10.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The native resolver has gotten an control API for
extended debugging and soft restart. It is:
<span class="code">inet_gethost_native:control(Control)</span> <br>
<span class="code">Control = {debug_level,Level} | soft_restart</span> <br>
<span class="code">Level = integer() in the range 0-4</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5751 Aux Id: EABln25013</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id81426">1.48
Kernel 2.10.10</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>If several processes (at the same node) simultaneously
tried to start the same distributed application, this
could lead to <span class="code">application:start</span> returning an
erroneous value, or even hang.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5606 Aux Id: seq9838</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The manual pages for most of the Kernel and some of
the STDLIB modules have been updated, in particular
regarding type definitions.</p>
<p>The documentation of the return value for
<span class="code">erts:info/1</span> has been corrected.</p>
<p>The documentation for <span class="code">erlang:statistics/1</span> now
lists all possible arguments.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5360</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>When the native resolver fails a <span class="code">gethostbyaddr</span>
lookup, <span class="code">nxdomain</span> should be returned. There should be
no attempt to fallback on a routine that succeeds if only
the syntax of the IP address is valid. This has been fixed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5598 Aux Id: OTP-5576</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Replaced some tuple funs with the new <span class="code">fun M:F/A</span>
construct.</p>
<p>The high-order functions in the <span class="code">lists</span> module no
longer accept bad funs under any circumstances.
'<span class="code">lists:map(bad_fun, [])</span>' used to return
'<span class="code">[]</span>' but now causes an exception.</p>
<p>Unused, broken compatibility code in the <span class="code">ets</span>
module was removed. (Thanks to Dialyzer.)</p>
<p>Eliminated 5 discrepancies found by Dialyzer in the
Appmon application.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5633</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The possibility to have comments following the list of
tuples in a config file (file specified with
the <span class="code">-config</span> flag) has been added.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5661 Aux Id: seq10003</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id81585">1.49
Kernel 2.10.9</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>'<span class="code">erl -config sys.config</span>' would fail to start if
the <span class="code">sys.config</span> file did not contain any whitespace
at all after the dot. (Thanks to Anders Nygren.)</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5543</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A bug regarding tcp sockets which results in hanging
<span class="code">gen_tcp:send/2</span> has been corrected. To encounter
this bug you needed one process that read from a socket,
one that wrote more date than the reader read out so the
sender got suspended, and then the reader closed the
socket. (Reported and diagnosed by Alexey Shchepin.)</p>
<p>Corrected a bug in the (undocumented and unsupported)
option <span class="code">{packet,http}</span> for <span class="code">gen_tcp.</span>
(Thanks to Claes Wikstrom and Luke Gorrie.)</p>
<p>Updated the documentation regarding the second argument to
<span class="code">gen_tcp:recv/2</span>, the <span class="code">Length</span> to receive.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5582 Aux Id: seq9839</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>At startup, the Erlang resolver hosts table was used to
look up the name of the local (and possibly stand alone)
host. This was incorrect. The configured resolver method
is now used for this purpose.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5393</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <span class="code">erlang:port_info/1</span> BIF is now documented. Minor
corrections of the documentation for
<span class="code">erlang:port_info/2</span>.</p>
<p>Added a note to the documentation of the <span class="code">math</span> module
that all functions are not available on all platforms.</p>
<p>Added more information about the <span class="code">+c</span> option in
the <span class="code">erl</span> man page in the ERTS documentation.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5555</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The new <span class="code">fun M:F/A</span> construct creates a fun that
refers to the latest version of <span class="code">M:F/A.</span> This syntax is
meant to replace tuple funs <span class="code">{M,F}</span> which have many
problems.</p>
<p>The new type test <span class="code">is_function(Fun,A)</span> (which may be
used in guards) test whether <span class="code">Fun</span> is a fun that can be
applied with <span class="code">A</span> arguments. (Currently, <span class="code">Fun</span> can
also be a tuple fun.)</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5584</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>According to the documentation <span class="code">global</span> implements
the equivalent of <span class="code">register/2</span>, which returns
<span class="code">badarg</span> if a process is already registered. As it
turns out there is no check in <span class="code">global</span> if a process is
registered under more than one name. If some process is
accidentally or by design given several names, it is
possible that the name registry becomes inconsistent due
to the way the resolve function is called when name
clashes are discovered (see <span class="code">register_name/3</span> in
<span class="code">global(3)</span>).</p>
<p>In OTP R11B <span class="code">global</span> will not allow the registration of
a process under more than one name. To help finding code
where <span class="code">no</span> will be returned, a Kernel application
variable, <span class="code">global_multi_name_action</span>, is hereby
introduced. Depending on its value (<span class="code">info</span>,
<span class="code">warning</span>, or <span class="code">error</span>), messages are sent to
the error logger when <span class="code">global</span> discovers that some
process is given more than one name. The variable only
affects the node where it is defined.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5603</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id81846">1.50
Kernel 2.10.8</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>In case of a DNS lookup loop, <span class="code">inet_db:getbyname</span> ends
up building an infinite list. This has been fixed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5449</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>When doing an <span class="code">inet6</span> name lookup on an IPv4 address
it was possible to get an address on IPv4 format back. This
has been corrected. Some other minor inconsistencies
regarding IPv6 name lookup have also been corrected.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5576</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id81900">1.51
Kernel 2.10.7</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Under certain circumstances the <span class="code">net_kernel</span> could
emit spurious nodedown messages. This bug has been fixed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5396</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Removed description of the <span class="code">keep_zombies</span>
configuration parameter in the <span class="code">kernel</span> man page.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5497</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Eliminated Dialyzer warnings (caused by dead code) in
the <span class="code">init</span> and <span class="code">prim_file</span> modules.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5496</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="code">inet_config</span> now also checks the environment variable
<span class="code">ERL_INETRC</span> for a possible user configuration file.
See the ERTS User's Guide for details.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5512</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id82006">1.52
Kernel 2.10.6</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The <span class="code">c</span> option for the <span class="code">+B</span> flag has been
introduced which makes it possible to use Ctrl-C
(Ctrl-Break on Windows) to interrupt the shell process
rather than to invoke the emulator break handler. All new
<span class="code">+B</span> options are also supported on Windows (werl) as
of now. Furthermore, Ctrl-C on Windows has now been
reserved for copying text (what Ctrl-Ins was used for
previously). Ctrl-Break should be used for break handling.
Lastly, the documentation of the system flags has been
updated.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5388</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The possibility to start the Erlang shell in parallel
with the rest of the system was reintroduced for backwards
compatibility in STDLIB 1.13.1. The flag to be used for
this is now called <span class="code">async_shell_start</span> and has
been documented. New shells started from the JCL menu are
not synchronized with <span class="code">init</span> anymore. This makes it
possible to start a new shell (e.g. for debugging purposes)
even if the initial shell has not come up.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5406 Aux Id: OTP-5218</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id80134">1.53
Kernel 2.10.5</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Documentation for <span class="code">erlang:binary_to_float/1</span> deleted.
The BIF itself was removed several releases ago.</p>
<p>Updated documentation for <span class="code">apply/2</span> and
<span class="code">apply/3</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5391</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span class="code">net_kernel:monitor_nodes/2</span> which takes a flag and an
option list has been added. By use of
<span class="code">net_kernel:monitor_nodes/2</span> one can subscribe for
<span class="code">nodeup/nodedown</span> messages with extra information. It
is now possible to monitor hidden nodes, and get
<span class="code">nodedown</span> reason. See the <span class="code">net_kernel(3)</span>
documentation for more information.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5374</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id80225">1.54
Kernel 2.10.4</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The application master for an application now terminates
the application faster, which reduces the risk for
timeouts in other parts of the system.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5363 Aux Id: EABln19084</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A BIF <span class="code">erlang:raise/3</span> has been added. See the manual
for details. It is intended for internal system programming
only, advanced error handling.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5376 Aux Id: OTP-5257</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id80275">1.55
Kernel 2.10.3</a></h3>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>With the <span class="code">-eval</span> flag (<span class="code">erl -eval Expr</span>), an
arbitrary expression can be evaluated during system
initialization. This is documented in <span class="code">init(3)</span>.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5260</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The unsupported and undocumented modules <span class="code">socks5</span>,
<span class="code">socks5_auth</span>, <span class="code">socks5_tcp</span>, and <span class="code">socks5_udp</span>
have been removed.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5266</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="id80346">1.56
Kernel 2.10.1</a></h3>
<h4>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The Pman 'trace shell' functionality was broken and has
now been fixed. Furthermore, Pman could not correctly
find the pid of the active shell if more than one shell
process was running on the node. This has also been
corrected.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5191</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The documentation for the <span class="code">auth:open/1</span> function
which no longer exists has been removed. (Thanks to
Miguel Barreiro.)</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5208</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Corrected the <span class="code">crc32/3</span> function in the undocumented
and unsupported <span class="code">zlib</span> module.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5227</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Improvements and New Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<p>You can now start Erlang with the <span class="code">-rsh</span> flag which
gives you a remote initial shell instead of a local one.
Example:</p>
<div class="example"><pre>
erl -sname this_node -rsh other_node@other_host
</pre></div>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5210</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If <span class="code">/etc/hosts</span> specified two hosts with the same IP
address (on separate lines), only the last host would be
registered by inet_db during inet configuration. This has
been corrected now so that both aliases are registered
with the same IP address.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5212 Aux Id: seq7128</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The documentation for BIFs that take I/O lists have
been clarified. Those are <span class="code">list_to_binary/1</span>,
<span class="code">port_command/2</span>, <span class="code">port_control/3</span>.</p>
<p>Documentation for all <span class="code">is_*</span> BIFs (such as
<span class="code">is_atom/1</span>) has been added.</p>
<p>Removed the documentation for
<span class="code">erlang:float_to_binary/2</span> which was removed from
the run-time system several releases ago.</p>
<p>Own Id: OTP-5222</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="footer">
<hr>
<p>Copyright © 1997-2012 Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div></body>
</html>
