From: Martin Chilvers <martin@dstc.edu.au> Subject: ANNOUNCE: Fnorb Version 0.4 Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 04:00:33 GMT Greetings Python Friends! Announcing version 0.4 of 'Fnorb' the Python CORBA ORB. There are quite a few changes in this release - hopefully all for the better! Unfortunately, the documentation is still sparse but this *will* be fixed in the next release which will hopefully be complete enough to earn the 1.0 tag! Fnorb 0.4 is built with Python 1.4, but also works with Python 1.5 although you will get warnings about the API mismatch (you will need to recompile the 'cdr' extension module to get rid of those - see the Makefile in the 'src' directory for the appropriate changes). The next release will come with a complete 'configure' script so that these kind of build problems will go away. The changes/fixes from 0.3 are:- 1) Quite a few bug fixes - thanks to everybody that sent them in! 2) Fnorb no longer requires the 'thread' module. 3) The built-in module 'new' *is* now required (and IMHO is so useful it should be included at Python build-time by default!). 4) Fnorb now uses the Reactor pattern (from Douglas Schmidt) to dispatch events. Amongst other things this means that:- - Fnorb now supports nested invocations! - Using the TkReactor (see the 'examples/tkinter' directory) Fnorb can now co-exist with Tkinter!!!!! - All Fnorb programs must call the '_fnorb_mainloop()' method on the BOA to start dispatching events (see any of the examples in the, err, 'examples' directory ;^). 5) The IDL/Python language mapping is now up to date with the current draft of the document that is to be presented to the OMG. This means that:- - IDL modules are now mapped to Python *packages* (previously top level modules were mapped to Python modules, and nested modules mapped to Python classes). - IDL unions are now mapped to a Python class with two member variables; 'd' for the discriminator, and 'v' for the value (previously unions were mapped to tuples in the form (discriminator, value)). 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, Gehrmann Laboratories, Email: martin@dstc.edu.au v The University of Queensland, QLD 4072. ---- From the Fnorb README ---- What is Fnorb? Fnorb is an experimental CORBA ORB written in Python (with just the eensiest-teensiest bit of C code for marshalling ;^). 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 and hopefully this will make it simple, light-weight, and easy to install and use (eventually ;^). Using Fnorb, you no longer have to use <<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 use as a CORBA scripting tool and for building test harnesses for all your CORBA development projects. It also makes prototyping of CORBA systems a whole lot easier! The Python language mapping used by Fnorb is based on the 'living' document that is being prepared by members of the DO-SIG. The primary 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. **** WARNING **** This is an alpha release and documentation is sparse (to say the least)! It is being released now because we believe that it is sufficiently stable to be useful - but more importantly, my Boss wants me doing other things ;^) Amongst the things missing in this release are:- - Requires a 3rd party Interface Repository (see installation guide for an easy solution to this one!). - No DII/DSI - No Implementation Repository (ie. only transient servers) - lots of other stuff! The next release will hopefully address these deficiencies, and will come with decent documentation! **** END OF WARNING ***