From: Martin Chilvers <martin@dstc.edu.au>
Subject: ANNOUNCE - Fnorb 1.0 - A Python CORBA ORB
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 00:28:23 GMT

Announcing the release of version 1.0 of 'Fnorb' a Python CORBA ORB.

Thanks to all those people who tried out 1.0b1 and submitted bug reports -
here is the detailed list of the changes since the last release as found
in the CHANGES file:-

Fnorb 1.0
---------

1) The Windows NT/95 installation has been changed to make the setting of the
FNORB_HOME, PATH and PYTHONPATH environment variables up to the user (ie. the
installation no longer updates the registry or autoexec.bat).

For convenience, an additional batch file ('...\Fnorb\script\fnvars.bat') is
created which can be run from a command prompt to set the variables
appropriately. To repeat, this is for convenience only - it works on NT with
Python 1.5.2c1 - but there are no guarantees beyond that! Win 95 users need to
edit the file, remove any spaces in directory names, and wish they had a
decent shell ;^)

2) The CORBA type 'unsigned long' is now mapped (as per the draft) to the
Python *long* integer type. This has some effect as Python sequences cannot be
indexed with these values without an explicit conversion (int(x)).

3) Added support for the CORBA 'long long' and 'unsigned long long' (64-bit
integer) types - they are also mapped to Python long integers.

4) The stubs and skeletons generated by 'fnidl' now reference all Fnorb
modules explicitly, hence removing possible name clashes with user IDL files.

5) Ugly bug in the parsing/marshalling of recursive types fixed.

6) Locking bug in '_narrow' fixed.

7) Bug in interface repository fixed so that 'fnfeed' now works as expected!

8) A few other minor bug fixes from 1.0b1!


Things on the TODO RSN list:-

1) Implement the POA
2) Implement the rest of the CORBA 2.1 datatypes
3) Move documentation to PDF format.

Get more details and download Fnorb from:-

	http://www.dstc.edu.au/Fnorb

The Fnorb Development Team

c/o

Martin

 _--_|\  Martin Chilvers,                           Voice: +61-7-3365-4310
/      * Research Scientist, Architectures Unit,    Fax:   +61-7-3365-4311
\_.--._/ DSTC, Level 7, GP South, Staff House Road, Email: martin@dstc.edu.au
      v  The University of Queensland, QLD 4072.

---- From the Fnorb README ----

What is Fnorb?

Fnorb is a CORBA 2.0 ORB written in Python (with just the eensiest-teensiest
bit of C code for marshalling and parsing ;^). Python is a mature,
interpreted, object-oriented programming language with powerful high-level
datatypes that make it ideally suited as a scripting language for CORBA.
Best of all Python is free so check it out!

Like ILU from Xerox PARC, Fnorb gives the Python programmer access to the
wonderful world of CORBA. It supports all CORBA 2.0 datatypes (including
Any's) and provides a full implementation of IIOP.  Unlike ILU, Fnorb is
Python and CORBA/IDL specific which makes it simple, light-weight, and easy
to install and use.

Using Fnorb, you no longer have to use <insert your least favourite language
here - who said C++ ;^)> to write CORBA clients and servers - you can now
use, yep you guessed it, Python!  This makes Fnorb ideal for prototyping
complex CORBA architectures, for use as a scripting tool, and for building
test harnesses for all your CORBA development projects.

The Python language mapping used by Fnorb is based on the 'living' document
that is being prepared by members of the DO-SIG.  One goal of Fnorb is to
allow the Python community to experiment with the mapping before we attempt
to set it in stone via the OMG standardisation process.

Fnorb is being developed as part of the Hector project at the CRC for
Distributed Systems Technology based at the University of Queensland in
Brisbane, Australia.