WWW Lib

CERN Library 3.0 Prerelease 3 (TEST OF WINDOWS PORT)


This is the announcement of the CERN Common Code Library 3.0pre3. This beta-release is the last before the real thing. It contains a set of bug fixes, new interface AND A PORT TO PC/WINDOWS based on Winsock. The purpose of this last prerelease before the official 3.0 release is to get feedback from PC/WINDOWS developers so that we can get better support in Library version 3.0. Some more information:
  1. I have used Microsoft Virtual C++ (msvc) and a so-called project. One of the problems using this is that it generates a non-standard make file. Also, msvc automaticly scans for all dependencies. However, it doesn't use a preprocessor, so if an include file is within
    	#ifdef unix
    	#include <system.h>
    	#end
    
    it is taken as a dependency. There are two solutions to this: Either create dummy include files or hand tailor the make file. I chose the second solution.
  2. The TCP/IP library used is Winsock.
  3. I have tried to compile the library in two modes: When making a DLL, neither stdin, stdout, stderr nor a lot of system calls are defined. This is a problem as I haven't solved all the problems of unresolved references to system calls. I hope to get some help on this one! This is not a problem using a LIB, but it isn't as interesting either.
  4. There are still global memory that's not getting freed at the end. I hope that the WWWLibTerminate() will make this easier. Especially the anchors is a problem.
The Line Mode Browser is also released in order to show how the multithreaded functionality can be enabled. The method used in the Line Mode Browser is not limited to character-based clients but can support GUI clients as well.

Its is known to compile on Sun4, Solaris 2, HP Snake, NeXT, NeXT-386, Decstation Ultrix, DEC OSF/1, SGI, AIX, PC/WINDOWS and possibly a lot more.

NOTE The Library is not compatible with the CERN server 3.0 and it should NOT be linked with this application. A later release of the CERN server will support the current Library.

New or Changed Features

  • Made a WWWLib.h include file which should be the only one necessary DON'T USE ANYTHING ELSE!!!
  • Replaced TRACE messages from stderr to using a macro TDEST On windows and other use local file
  • Due to the PC Port some files have changed names (max 8 chars):
  • Move EnableFrom to HTAccess.html
  • Sockets are no longer assumed to be small, unsigned integers, but uses macros
  • Introduced error_stream as field in HTRequest structure. This enables the client to get the `dead information' that follows in a 3xx request, 4xx request etc.

    Bug Fixes

    Have fun!
    Henrik Frystyk, libwww@w3.org, Marts 1995