Athena 8.4 Release (AC-08.4)

Overview

In July 2000, Information Systems released the latest version of the Athena system (Release 8.4) on Sun, Linux and SGI workstations. These changes are summarized in this document.

Summary of Changes

Among the most visible changes (effective with the Release) are the following:

• Operating Systems, System Software, and Peripherals:
  • Operating system updates
  • Solaris 7
  • Irix 6.5.7
  • Red Hat Linux 6.2
  • More Linux workstations deployed
  • glib and gtk+

• Basic Application Software:
  • Netscape
  • EZ and Andrew
  • xss
  • teTeX
  • athrun
  • rep
  • xmore

• For Developers:
  • Sun compilers upgraded
  • SGI MIPSpro compilers updated

• For Private Workstation Owners:
  • mkserv remote

• Third-Party Software Upgrades:
  • Maple: Version 6
  • Frame Maker: Version 6
  • Star Office: Version 5.2
  • ApplixWare: Version 5
  • SAS: Version 8

Relevant details about user-visible changes are listed in later sections of this document. For the complete list of changes in the release (not only user-visible changes), see the System Release Notes.

How to Tell What Version of Athena You Are Running

If your workstation is running the Athena 8.4 Release, the text string "8.4" should appear within the output of the machtype -L command. For example:

  athena% machtype -L
  8.4.1

The numbers following "8.4" may be different on your system; this simply indicates a patch update within the 8.4 Release. As long as it says "8.4", you are running the new release.

Reporting Bugs

Please report any problems in the new release with Athena's sendbug utility; to do this, type sendbug at the Athena prompt.

Changes to Operating Systems and Other System Software

• Operating Systems Updates
  • The Sun workstations are now running Solaris 7. The major change is that the native package and patch tools are being used to distribute the Solaris operating system software instead of track. This should result in increased reliability and fewer changes to the OS software during Athena updates.
  • We have upgraded from Irix 6.5.3 to Irix 6.5.7 . This is a relatively minor bug fix upgrade.
  • Red Hat Linux 6.2 is a supported platform as of the Athena 8.4 release. The structure of the Athena port to Linux is different from other ports; instead of having a /srvd directory containing an install image of all of the Athena software, the port is distributed as a collection of packages in the native package format (RPM). Because the operating system and the Athena software are distributed in the same package format, the update system is simplified. In addition, administrators of Linux machines can choose to retain more control over their machines and install only specific Athena RPMs.

• New Workstations will be deployed in the clusters later this summer. Approximately 95 Sun Sparc 4's will be removed from the clusters and replaced with approximately 30 Linux machines and 60 Sun Ultra 5's.
• glib and gtk+ The popular gtk+ graphical toolkit library, and the glib library it is dependant upon, have been added to the Athena release.

Changes to Basic Application Software

• Netscape is now included in the Athena release. This means the default version of Netscape will be stored on local disk. As Netscape will no longer have to be loaded over the network, startup times will be significantly faster. If, for any reason, you would prefer to run the infoagents locker copy of netscape instead of the version on local disk, you can run the command
  athena% athrun infoagents netscape

  or before you start Netscape type

  athena% add -f infoagents

• The Andrew User Interface System (previously known as the Andrew Toolkit), which includes EZ , is now supported under Linux Athena. The version running on the Linux platform is 7.5 while version 6.3 is running on the Suns and SGI's. There are few differences between the versions that are user visible but we do not plan to update the Sun and SGI versions.
• The teTeX distribution has been added to the release and replaces the locally maintained collection of tex software. We hope this will result in a more stable and complete tetex distribution.
• xss, the standard screensaver, is now included in the default set of X startup activities. If your workstation is idle for 10 minutes, the screensaver will start. One minutes after the screensaver starts, it will lock the screen. To unlock the screen, enter your password.

  If you included xss in your dotfiles at startup, you will see an error message in the console upon login as only one copy of xss will run at a time. You can remove starting xss from your dotfiles to avoid the error messages. xss-button has been modified to work properly when an xss process is already running, so if you run xss-button in your dotfiles or at the command line it will work. If you want to disable xss startup, add the line

  set skip_xss

  to your ~/.environment file

• A new script, athrun, has been added to simplify the task of running a piece of software out of a locker without adding it to your path. The general usage is

  athrun lockername programname arguments

  athena% athrun infoagents netscape

  athena% athrun graphics xv picture.gif

  athena% athrun xess

  In last example, athrun will assume the locker name and program name are the same when you list only the locker name. In this example it successfully starts xess since the program xess is located in the xess locker.
• rep has been removed from the release.
• xmore has also been removed from the release.

Changes of Note for Developers

In addition to the changes listed below and elsewhere in this document, program developers should be sure to read the Athena 8.4 System Release Notes for details of the many changes involved in the release. The items included here are only highlights:

• The default Sun Compilers have been updated from version 4.2 to version 5.0. Note that there is no Pascal (pc) compiler in this release. You can still use the last release (including pc) by typing "add -f sunsoft_v5.1".
• The SGI MIPSpro Compilers have been upgraded from version 7.2.1 to 7.3.1. There should be no significant user visible changes.

Changes of Note for Private Workstation Owners

In addition to the changes listed below and elsewhere in this document, private workstation owners should be sure to see the Athena 8.4 System Release Notes for details of the many changes involved in the release. The items here include only highlights:

• The default behavior of mkserv remote has been altered. Previously when you ran mkserv remote it defaulted to not requiring encrypted remote connections. Now, it defaults to requiring encryption for remote connections. This change will not alter the settings on existing machiness. It will effect uses of mkserv remote on all machines that have not previously run mkserv remote .

  You are strongly encouraged to require encryption for remote connections as this makes your machine less vulnerable to outside attacks and resulting loss of data and/or damage to the network. To require encryption for remote connections on your private wrokstation, become root and run mkserv remote again answering the questions appropriately. For more information see the Private Athena Workstation Owner's Guide.

Changes to Third-Party Software

[Strictly speaking, changes to locker software are not "Athena release changes," because this software is not tied in with the basic Athena release. Instead, locker changes are simply "changes to Athena application software." These changes are listed here because they happen to coincide with the Athena 8.4 Release.]

Many of the major locker-based Athena applications (MATLAB, Maple, Netscape, FrameMaker, and Tecplot) are being upgraded over the summer: the newest versions of each of these will become the default on Athena by the end of the summer. For more information on third-party software, see the following:

  http://web.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/acs/www/3partysw.html

The significant changes to the third-party software suite include:

• Maple upgraded to Version 6 Version 6 is primarily a bug fix release and will become the default later this summer. To run the new version now:

  add maple; maple -ver 6.0

  For more information on this release take a look at the "What's New" section in the help menu of Maple version 6.0.

• FrameMaker: Version 6 is primarily a bug fix release and is available, but not yet the default. To run version 6 now:

  add frame; maker -ver 6.0.0

  To find out more about this release from Help in FrameMaker, select "Online Manuals" then "Release Notes".
• Star Office version 5.2 is also a bug fix release and should arrive some time later this summer.
• ApplixWare 5 should be arriving later this summer. It has many bug fixes and should be a more stable version.
• SAS 8 has arrived and is installed. New features are documented in the online help system.

Last modified: July 27, 2000