Re: libwww

On Tue, 12 Jul 1994, Henrik Frystyk Nielsen wrote:
> Thanks for joining me into the discussion! My comments (and some from
> Tim) are merged into the text below:
> 
>	...
> 
> We are preparing a release ot the World-Wide Web Common Code Library at
> the end of this week. The version number will be 3.0pre1 as this
> release contains two new importans features. First, as Phillip has
> indicated, encryption/decryption functionality has been added, and
> secondly the HTTP client has been rewritten so that it now has a
> interruptable, multithreaded I/O interface. Even though FTP and Gopher
> are fully prepared for multithreaded functionality, HTTP is the most
> important and therefore has highest priority.

Timely....  I'm preparing for the merger and rewrite of the Lynxs.  Tell 
me, if I don't want the multi-threaded stuff in the library, is it easily 
turned off?  I'd look myself but I'm busy fixing Lynx 2-3.  Lynx and 
DosLynx each use their own versions of 2.14.

> At the same time the current version 2.16pre2 will be upgrated to
> version 2.17. The reason for this is that this version is quite stable
> and is the basis of the CERN Proxy Server. However, the plan is to
> merge the multithreaded HTTP (3.0pre1) client and the single threaded
> HTTP Client (2.17) into one version so that the next major release
> contains the possibility of both a single threaded and a multi threaded
> HTTP client.

Are you saying that if I don't want multi-threaded, I'll have to opt to 
use 2.17 for the time being?  I don't want multi-threaded since I am 
supporting DOS and VMS users.  How easy is the consolidation of the 
libraries going to be?  Am I going to have a lot of mods if I use 2.17 
and eventually want to use 3.* since it will then be the library you will 
be continually updating?

> For more information on the current state of the library can be found at
> 
> 	http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Library/Status.html
> 
> > My understanding is that Lynx and DOSLynx provide 2 more totally different
> > versions
> > of libwww.
> > 
> 
> The Lynx version of the library is very close to the CERN version. The
> basic structure is the same, but Lou Montulli has added a lot af fancy
> features that not all are implemented in the CERN code. DOSlynx uses a
> completely other library - I think it is written in C++...

Hehe.  Don't be so sure.  DosLynx uses a mostly unmodified 2.14 with the 
usual massaging; the rest of it is C++, including the old GridText 
functions, callable by C functions via the 

extern "C"	{
	<your c++ code>
};

which turns off the c++ name mangling of identifiers;  global variables 
don't fall under this name mangling so you can use them anywhere (in DOS 
anyhow).

>	...

Yours,
	Garrett. 

Trodden Soil

I am trodden soil.
Dust covers my face.
Soles crush my nature
Revealing a hard empty space.

Garrett Arch Blythe  (913)864-0436
User Services Student Programmer/Consultant
University of Kansas Computer Center
<doslynx@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>

Received on Tuesday, 12 July 1994 17:42:36 UTC