OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities

OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities Installation and Reference Manual

About This Manual

This is Edition 6, last updated 2007-06-24, of The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities Installation and Reference Manual, for Version 0.9.2 release 6 of the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package.

Preface

Notice

This package is released and distributed under the GPL (see GNU General Public License). Please note, however, that there are different licensing terms for the manual pages and some of the documentation (derived from OpenGroup¹ publications and other sources). Consult the permission notices contained in the documentation for more information.

This manual is released under the FDL (see GNU Free Documentation License) with all sections invariant.

Abstract

This manual provides a Installation and Reference Manual for OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities.

Objective

The objective of this manual is to provide a guide for the STREAMS programmer when developing STREAMS modules, drivers and application programs for OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities.

This guide provides information to developers on the use of the STREAMS mechanism at user and kernel levels.

STREAMS was incorporated in UNIX System V Release 3 to augment the character input/output (I/O) mechanism and to support development of communication services.

STREAMS provides developers with integral functions, a set of utility routines, and facilities that expedite software design and implementation.

Intent

The intent of this manual is to act as an introductory guide to the STREAMS programmer. It is intended to be read alone and is not intended to replace or supplement the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities manual pages. For a reference for writing code, the manual pages (see STREAMS(9)) provide a better reference to the programmer. Although this describes the features of the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package, OpenSS7 Corporation is under no obligation to provide any software, system or feature listed herein.

Audience

This manual is intended for a highly technical audience. The reader should already be familiar with Linux kernel programming, the Linux file system, character devices, driver input and output, interrupts, software interrupt handling, scheduling, process contexts, multiprocessor locks, etc.

The guide is intended for network and systems programmers, who use the STREAMS mechanism at user and kernel levels for Linux and UNIX system communication services.

Readers of the guide are expected to possess prior knowledge of the Linux and UNIX system, programming, networking, and data communication.

Revisions

Take care that you are working with a current version of this manual: you will not be notified of updates. To ensure that you are working with a current version, contact the Author, or check The OpenSS7 Project website for a current version.

A current version of this manual is normally distributed with the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package, strutil-0.9.2.6.²

Version Control

     
     strutil.texi,v
     Revision 0.9.2.13  2007/06/23 01:38:29  brian
     - updates for release
     
     Revision 0.9.2.12  2007/02/28 06:31:35  brian
     - updates and corrections, #ifdef instead of #if
     
     Revision 0.9.2.11  2006/09/18 01:07:22  brian
     - updated manuals and release texi docs
     
     Revision 0.9.2.10  2006/08/28 10:47:11  brian
     - correction
     
     Revision 0.9.2.9  2006/08/28 10:32:59  brian
     - updated references
     
     Revision 0.9.2.8  2006/08/27 12:27:15  brian
     - finalizing auto release files
     
     Revision 0.9.2.7  2006/08/26 14:46:47  brian
     - update todo documentation
     
     Revision 0.9.2.6  2006/08/26 09:19:47  brian
     - better release file generation
     
     Revision 0.9.2.5  2006/08/23 11:00:51  brian
     - added preface, corrections and updates for release
     
     Revision 0.9.2.3  2006-03-22 03:02:07 -0700  brian
     - added makefile target index
     
     Revision 0.9.2.2  2006-03-03 05:17:36 -0700  brian
     - 64-bit and SMP compatibility
     
     Revision 0.9.2.1  2005-07-09 15:59:46 -0600  brian
     - added base files
     
     Revision 0.9  2005-07-09 15:59:46 -0600  brian
     file strutil.texi was initially added on branch OpenSS7-0_9_2.
     

ISO 9000 Compliance

Only the TeX, texinfo, or roff source for this manual is controlled. An opaque (printed, postscript or portable document format) version of this manual is an UNCONTROLLED VERSION.

Disclaimer

OpenSS7 Corporation disclaims all warranties with regard to this documentation including all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or title; that the contents of the manual are suitable for any purpose, or that the implementation of such contents will not infringe on any third party patents, copyrights, trademarks or other rights. In no event shall OpenSS7 Corporation be liable for any direct, indirect, special or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with any use of this manual or the performance or implementation of the contents thereof.

OpenSS7 Corporation reserves the right to revise this software and documentation for any reason, including but not limited to, conformity with standards promulgated by various agencies, utilization of advances in the state of the technical arts, or the reflection of changes in the design of any techniques, or procedures embodied, described, or referred to herein. OpenSS7 Corporation is under no obligation to provide any feature listed herein.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights

If you are licensing this Software on behalf of the U.S. Government ("Government"), the following provisions apply to you. If the Software is supplied by the Department of Defense ("DoD"), it is classified as "Commercial Computer Software" under paragraph 252.227-7014 of the DoD Supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulations ("DFARS") (or any successor regulations) and the Government is acquiring only the license rights granted herein (the license rights customarily provided to non-Government users). If the Software is supplied to any unit or agency of the Government other than DoD, it is classified as "Restricted Computer Software" and the Government's rights in the Software are defined in paragraph 52.227-19 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations ("FAR") (or any successor regulations) or, in the cases of NASA, in paragraph 18.52.227-86 of the NASA Supplement to the FAR (or any successor regulations).

Acknowledgements

As with most open source projects, this project would not have been possible without the valiant efforts and productive software of the Free Software Foundation and the Linux Kernel Community.

Sponsors

Funding for completion of the OpenSS7 OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package was provided in part by:

Additional funding for The OpenSS7 Project was provided by:

Contributors

The primary contributor to the OpenSS7 OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is Brian F. G. Bidulock. The following is a list of significant contributors to The OpenSS7 Project:

Authors

The authors of the OpenSS7 OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package include:

See Author Index, for a complete listing and cross-index of authors to sections of this manual.

Maintainer

The maintainer of the OpenSS7 OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is:

Please send bug reports to bugs@openss7.org using the send-pr script included in the package, only after reading the BUGS file in the release, or See Problem Reports.

Web Resources

The OpenSS7 Project provides a website dedicated to the software packages released by the OpenSS7 Project.

Bug Reports

Please send bug reports to bugs@openss7.org using the send-pr script included in the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package, only after reading the BUGS file in the release, or See Problem Reports. You can access the OpenSS7 GNATS database directly via the web, however, the preferred method for sending new bug reports is via mail with the send-pr script.

Mailing Lists

The OpenSS7 Project provides a number of general discussion Mailing Lists for discussion concerning the OpenSS7 OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package as well as other packages released by The OpenSS7 Project.

These are mailman mailing lists and so have convenient web interfaces for subscribers to control their settings. See http://www.openss7.org/mailinglist.html.

The mailing lists are as follows:

openss7

The openss7 mailing list is for general enquiries, information exchange and announcements regarding the OpenSS7 Project. This is our original mailing list and takes the highest amount of traffic.

openss7-announce

The openss7-announce mailing list is for announcements related to the OpenSS7 Project. This list will accept announcements posted by subscribers. Subscribe to this list if you are interested in announcements from the OpenSS7 Project, subscribers and sponsors, related to the OpenSS7 Project or STREAMS, SS7, SIGTRAN or SCTP in general.

openss7-cvs

The openss7-cvs mailing list is for automatic CVS log reporting. You must get permission of the owner to subscribe to this list. Subscribers are not allowed to post to this list, this is merely for distributing notification of changes to the CVS repository.h

openss7-develop

The openss7-develop mailing list is for email exchange related to the development projects under the OpenSS7 Project. This includes development requests, proposals, requests for comment or proposal. Subscribe to this list if you are interested in ongoing development details regarding the OpenSS7 Project.

openss7-test

The openss7-test mailing list is for email exchange related to the testing of code under the OpenSS7 Project. This specifically relates to conformance testing, verification testing, interoperability testing and beta testing. Subscribe to this list if you are interested in participating in and receiving ongoing details of test activities under the OpenSS7 Project.

openss7-bugs

The openss7-bugs mailing list is specifically tailored to bug tracking. The mailing list takes a feed from the OpenSS7 GNATS bug tracking system and accepts posting of responses to bug reports, tracking and resolution. Subscribe to this list if you are interested in receiving detailed OpenSS7 release code bug tracking information. This list is not archived; for historical information on problem reports, see our GNATS databases.

openss7-updates

The openss7-updates mailing list provides updates on OpenSS7 Project code releases and ongoing activities. Subscribers are not allowed to post to this list; this list is for official OpenSS7 Project announcements only. Subscribe to this list if you are interested in receiving updates concerning official releases and activities of the OpenSS7 Project.

openss7-streams

The openss7-streams mailing list is for email exchange related to the STREAMS development projects under the OpenSS7 Project. This includes development requests, proposals, requests for comment or proposal. Subscribe to this list if you are interested in ongoing development details regarding the OpenSS7 Project STREAMS components.

linux-streams

The linux-streams mailing list is for mail exchange related to Linux Fast-STREAMS or Linux STREAMS. This includes patches, development requests, proposals, requests for comment or proposal. Subscribe to this list if you are interested in ongoing development details regarding the STREAMS for Linux components. This is the the new (September 2006) home of the linux-streams list formerly of <gsyc.escet.urjc.es>.

Spam

To avoid spam being sent to the members of the OpenSS7 mailing list(s), we have blocked mail from non-subscribers. Please subscribe to the mailing list before attempting to post to them. (Attempts to post when not subscribed get bounced.)

As an additional measure against spam, subscriber lists for all OpenSS7 mailing lists are not accessible to non-subscribers; for most lists subscriber lists are only accessible to the list administrator. This keeps your mailing address from being picked off our website by bulk mailers.

Acceptable Use Policy

It is acceptable to post professional and courteous messages regarding the OpenSS7 package or any general information or questions concerning STREAMS, SS7, SIGTRAN, SCTP or telecommunications applications in general.

Large Attachments

The mailing list is blocked from messages of greater than 40k. If you have attachments (patches, test programs, etc.) and you mail them to the list, it will bounce to the list administrator. If you are interested in making your patches, test programs, test results or other large attachments available to the members of the mailing list, state in the message that you would like them posted and the list administrator will place them in the mail archives.

Quick Start Guide

OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities

Package strutil-0.9.2.6 was released under GPLv2 2007-06-24.

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package provides STREAMS modules and drivers, programs and daemons for administration and handling of the STREAMS subsystem.

The strutil package is currently incomplete. The purpose of the package was to move STREAMS utility programs and modules outside of the STREAMS release package so as to allow them to be used with both LiS and Linux Fast-STREAMS. As Linux Fast-STREAMS has already shown superior to LiS in terms of both performance and conformance, it is no longer necessary to keep these packages separate and they can be combined once again with Linux Fast-STREAMS.

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package includes kernel modules, SVR 4.2 STREAMS drivers, modules, libraries, utilities, test programs, daemons, and development environment for the development and execution of STREAMS modules and drivers. This package contains primarily user-space utilities and test programs.

This distribution is only currently applicable to Linux 2.4 and 2.6 kernels and was targeted at ix86, x86_64, ppc and ppc64 architectures, but should build and install for other architectures as well.

Release

This is the strutil-0.9.2.6 package, released 2007-06-24. This `0.9.2.6' release, and the latest version, can be obtained from the download area of The OpenSS7 Project website using a command such as:

     $> wget http://www.openss7.org/tarballs/strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2

The release is available as an autoconf(1) tarball, src.rpm or dsc, or as a set of binary rpms or debs. See the download page for the autoconf(1) tarballs, src.rpms or dscs. See the strutil package page for tarballs, source and binary packages.

Please see the NEWS file for release notes and history of user visible changes for the current version, and the ChangeLog file for a more detailed history of implementation changes. The TODO file lists features not yet implemented and other outstanding items.

Please see the INSTALL, INSTALL-strutil and README-make, files (or see Installation) for installation instructions.

When working from cvs(1) or git(1), please see the README-cvs, file (or see Downloading from CVS). An abbreviated installation procedure that works for most applications appears below.

This release of the package is published strictly under Version 2 of the GNU Public License which can be found in the file COPYING. Package specific licensing terms (if any) can be found in the file LICENSES. Please respect these licensing arrangements. If you are interested in different licensing terms, please contact the copyright holder, or OpenSS7 Corporation <sales@openss7.com>.

See README-alpha (if it exists) for alpha release information.

Prerequisites

The quickest and easiest way to ensure that all prerequisites are met is to download and install this package from within the OpenSS7 Master Package, openss7-0.9.2.F, instead of separately.

Prerequisites for the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package are as follows:

1. Linux distribution, somewhat Linux Standards Base compliant, with a 2.4 or 2.6 kernel and the appropriate tool chain for compiling out-of-tree kernel modules. Most recent Linux distributions are usable out of the box, but some development packages must be installed. For more information, see Compatibility.

   	− A fairly LSB compliant GNU/Linux distribution.3
   	− Linux 2.4 kernel (2.4.10 - 2.4.27), or
   	− Linux 2.6 kernel (2.6.3 - 2.6.21);
   	− glibc2 or better.
   	− GNU info (for info files).
   	− GNU groff (for man pages).4

(Note: If you acquired strutil a part of the OpenSS7 Master Package, then the dependencies listed below will already have been met by unpacking the master package.)

2. OpenSS7 Linux Fast-STREAMS, streams-0.9.2.3. ⁵
3. OpenSS7 STREAMS Compatibility Modules, strcompat-0.9.2.6.

When configuring and building multiple OpenSS7 Project release packages, place all of the source packages (unpacked tarballs) at the same directory level and all build directories at the same directory level (e.g. all source packages under /usr/src).

When installing packages that install as kernel modules, it is necessary to have the correct kernel development package installed. For the following distributions, use the following commands:

     Ubuntu:  $> apt-get install linux-headers
     Debian:  $> apt-get install kernel-headers
     Fedora:  $> yum install kernel-devel

You also need the same version of gcc(1) compiler with which the kernel was built. If it is not the default, add `CC=kgcc' on the line after `./configure', for example:

     $> ../strutil-0.9.2.6/configure CC='gcc-3.4'

Installation

The following commands will download, configure, build, check, install, validate, uninstall and remove the package:

     $> wget http://www.openss7.org/tarballs/strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2
     $> tar -xjvf strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2
     $> mkdir build
     $> pushd build
     $> ../strutil-0.9.2.6/configure --enable-autotest
     $> make
     $> make check
     $> sudo make install
     $> sudo make installcheck
     $> sudo make uninstall
     $> popd
     $> sudo rm -rf build
     $> rm -rf strutil-0.9.2.6
     $> rm -f strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2

If you have problems, try building with the logging targets instead. If the make of a logging target fails, an automatic problem report will be generated that can be mailed to The OpenSS7 Project.⁶ Installation steps using the logging targets proceed as follows:

     $> wget http://www.openss7.org/tarballs/strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2
     $> tar -xjvf strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2
     $> mkdir build
     $> pushd build
     $> ../strutil-0.9.2.6/configure --enable-autotest
     $> make compile.log
     $> make check.log
     $> sudo make install.log
     $> sudo make installcheck.log
     $> sudo make uninstall.log
     $> popd
     $> sudo rm -rf build
     $> rm -rf strutil-0.9.2.6
     $> rm -f strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2

See README-make for additional specialized make targets.

For custom applications, see the INSTALL and INSTALL-strutil files or the see Installation, as listed below. If you encounter troubles, see Troubleshooting, before issuing a bug report.

Brief Installation Instructions

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is available from the downloads area of The OpenSS7 Project website using a command such as:

     $> wget http://www.openss7.org/tarballs/strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2

Unpack the tarball using a command such as:

     $> tar -xjvf strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2

The tarball will unpack into the relative subdirectory named after the package name: strutil-0.9.2.6.

The package builds using the GNU autoconf utilities and the configure script. To build the package, we recommend using a separate build directory as follows:

     $> mkdir build
     $> cd build
     $> ../strutil-0.9.2.6/configure

In general, the package configures and builds without adding any special options to the configure script. For general options to the configure script, see the GNU INSTALL file in the distribution:

     $> less ../strutil-0.9.2.6/INSTALL

For specific options to the configure script, see the INSTALL-strutil file in the distribution, or simply execute the configure script with the --help option like so:

     $> ../strutil-0.9.2.6/configure --help

After configuring the package, the package can be compiled simply by issuing the `make' command:

     $> make

Some specialized makefile targets exists, see the README-make file in the distribution or simply invoke the `help' target like so:

     $> make help | less

After successfully building the package, the package can be checked by invoking the `check' make target like so:

     $> make check

After successfully checking the package, the package can be installed by invoking the `install' make target (as root) like so:

     $> sudo make install

The test suites that ship with the package can be invoked after the package has been installed by invoking the `installcheck' target. This target can either be invoked as root, or as a normal user, like so:

     $> make installcheck

(Note: you must add the --enable-autotest flag to configure, above for the test suites to be invoked with `make installcheck'.)

The package can be cleanly removed by invoking the `uninstall' target (as root):

     $> sudo make uninstall

Then the build directory and tarball can be simply removed:

     $> cd ..
     $> rm -rf build
     $> rm -rf strutil-0.9.2.6
     $> rm -f strutil-0.9.2.6.tar.bz2

Detailed Installation Instructions

More detailed installation instructions can be found in the Installation, contained in the distribution in `text', `info', `html' and `pdf' formats:

     $> cd ../strutil-0.9.2.6
     $> less doc/manual/strutil.txt
     $> lynx doc/manual/strutil.html
     $> info doc/manual/strutil.info
     $> xpdf doc/manual/strutil.pdf

The `text' version of the manual is always available in the MANUAL file in the release.

The current manual is also always available online from The OpenSS7 Project website at:

     $> lynx http://www.openss7.org/strutil_manual.html

1 Introduction

This manual documents the design, implementation, installation, operation and future development schedule of the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package.

1.1 Overview

This manual documents the design, implementation, installation, operation and future development of the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package.

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is an implementation of standard SVR 4.2 and otherwise commonly implemented STREAMS utilities that can be used with Linux Fast-STREAMS⁷ or Linux STREAMS⁸. It includes development tools, header files and manual pages for OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities.

1.2 Organization of this Manual

This manual is organized (loosely) into several sections as follows:

1.3 Conventions and Definitions

This manual uses texinfo typographic conventions.

2 Objective

The objective of the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is to provide a number of STREAMS Utilities that are somewhat independent of STREAMS implementation in a separate package. These STREAMS utilities were originally part of the Linux Fast-STREAMS package, but have been split off so that, (heaven forbid), they can be used with LiS.⁹

3 Reference

3.1 Files

3.2 Drivers

3.3 Modules

3.4 Libraries

3.5 Utilities

3.6 Development

4 Conformance

5 Releases

This is the OpenSS7 Release of the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities tools, drivers and modules used with the Linux Fast-STREAMS or Linux STREAMS¹⁰ SVR 4.2 STREAMS releases.

The purpose of providing a separate release of this package was to separate the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities tools, headers, drivers and modules from the Linux STREAMS¹¹ package for use with both Linux STREAMS¹² and Linux Fast-STREAMS in preparation for replacement of the former by the later.

The following sections provide information on OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities releases as well as compatibility information of OpenSS7 release to mainstream UNIX releases of the core, modules and drivers, as well as Linux kernel compatibility.

5.1 Prerequisites

The quickest and easiest way to ensure that all prerequisites are met is to download and install this package from within the OpenSS7 Master Package, openss7-0.9.2.F, instead of separately.

Prerequisites for the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package are as follows:

1. Linux distribution, somewhat Linux Standards Base compliant, with a 2.4 or 2.6 kernel and the appropriate tool chain for compiling out-of-tree kernel modules. Most recent Linux distributions are usable out of the box, but some development packages must be installed. For more information, see Compatibility.

   	− A fairly LSB compliant GNU/Linux distribution.13
   	− Linux 2.4 kernel (2.4.10 - 2.4.27), or
   	− Linux 2.6 kernel (2.6.3 - 2.6.21);
   	− glibc2 or better.
   	− GNU info (for info files).
   	− GNU groff (for man pages).14

(Note: If you acquired strutil a part of the OpenSS7 Master Package, then the dependencies listed below will already have been met by unpacking the master package.)

2. OpenSS7 Linux Fast-STREAMS, streams-0.9.2.3. ¹⁵
3. OpenSS7 STREAMS Compatibility Modules, strcompat-0.9.2.6.

If you need to rebuild the package from sources with modifications, you will need a larger GNU tool chain as described in See Downloading from CVS.

5.2 Compatibility

This section discusses compatibility with major prerequisites.

5.2.1 GNU/Linux Distributions

OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities is compatible with the following Linux distributions:¹⁶

• CentOS Enterprise Linux 3.4 (centos34)
• CentOS Enterprise Linux 4.0 (centos4)
• CentOS Enterprise Linux 4.92 (centos48)
• CentOS Enterprise Linux 5.0 (centos5)
• Debian 3.0r2 Woody (deb3.0) – TBD
• Debian 3.1r0a Sarge (deb3.1)
• Debian 4.0r1 Etch (deb4.0) (untested)
• Fedora Core 1 (FC1) – TBD
• Fedora Core 2 (FC2) – TBD
• Fedora Core 3 (FC3) – TBD
• Fedora Core 4 (FC4) – TBD
• Fedora Core 5 (FC5)
• Fedora Core 6 (FC6)
• Fedora 7 (FC7)
• Gentoo 2006.1 (untested)
• Lineox 4.026 (LEL4) – TBD
• Lineox 4.053 (LEL4)
• Mandrakelinux 9.2 (MDK92) – TBD
• Mandrakelinux 10.0 (MDK100) – TBD
• Mandrakelinux 10.1 (MDK101) – TBD
• Mandriva Linux LE2005 (MDK102) – TBD
• Mandriva Linux LE2006 (MDK103)
• Mandriva One (untested)
• Performance Technlogies NexusWare24 – TBD
• Performance Technologies NexusWare 8.0
• RedHat Linux 7.2 (RH7)
• RedHat Linux 7.3 (RH7)
• RedHat Linux 8.0 (RH8) – TBD
• RedHat Linux 9 (RH9) – TBD
• RedHat Enterprise Linux 3.0 (EL3)
• RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 (EL4)
• RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 (EL5)
• SuSE 8.0 Professional (SuSE8.0) – TBD
• SuSE 9.1 Personal (SuSE9.1) – TBD
• SuSE 9.2 Professional (SuSE9.2) – TBD
• SuSE OpenSuSE (SuSEOSS)
• SuSE 10.0 (SuSE10.0)
• SuSE 10.1 (SuSE10.1)
• SuSE 10.2 (SuSE10.2)
• SLES 9 (SLES9)
• SLES 9 SP2 (SLES9)
• SLES 9 SP3 (SLES9)
• SLES 10 (SLES10)
• Ubuntu 5.10 (ubu5.10)
• Ubuntu 6.03 LTS (ubu6.03)
• Ubuntu 6.10 (ubu6.10)
• Ubuntu 7.04 (ubu7.04)
• WhiteBox Enterprise Linux 3.0 (WBEL3)
• WhiteBox Enterprise Linux 4 (WBEL4)

When installing from the tarball (see Installing the Tar Ball), this distribution is probably compatible with a much broader array of distributions than those listed above. These are the distributions against which the current maintainer creates and tests builds.

5.2.2 Kernel

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package compiles as a Linux kernel module. It is not necessary to patch the Linux kernel to build or use the package.¹⁷ Nor do you have to recompile your kernel to build or use the package. OpenSS7 packages use autoconf scripts to adapt the package source to your existing kernel. The package builds and runs nicely against production kernels from the distributions listed above. Rather than relying on kernel versions, the autoconf scripts interrogate the kernel for specific features and variants to better adapt to distribution production kernels that have had patches applied over the official kernel.org sources.

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is compatible with 2.4 kernel series after 2.4.10 and has been tested up to and including 2.4.27. It has been tested from 2.6.3 up to and including 2.6.21 (with Fedora 7 patchsets). Please note that your mileage may vary if you use a kernel more recent than 2.6.21: it is difficult to anticipate changes that kernel developers will make in the future. Many kernels in the 2.6 series now vary widely by release version and if you encounter problems, try a kernel within the supported series.

UP validation testing for kernels is performed on all supported architectures. SMP validation testing is performed on UP machines, as well as on an Intel 3.0GHz Pentium IV 630 with HyperThreading enabled. Because HyperThreading is not as independent as multiple CPUs, SMP validation testing is limited.

5.2.3 Architectures

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package compiles and installs on a wide range of architectures. Although it is believed that the package will work on all architectures supported by the Linux kernel being used, validation testing has only been performed with the following architectures:

• ix86
• x86_64
• ppc (MPC 860)
• ppc64

32-bit compatibility validation testing is performed on all 64-bit architectures supporting 32-bit compatibility. If you would like to validate an OpenSS7 package on a specific machine architecture, you are welcome to sponsor the project with a test machine.

5.2.4 Linux STREAMS

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is currently compatible with Linux STREAMS,¹⁸ however, to use the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package with LiS requires use of the OpenSS7 release packages of LiS. The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is compatible with the OpenSS7 LiS-2.18.6 release that is available from the The OpenSS7 Project Downloads Page. But, do not use LiS: it is buggy, unsupported and deprecated. Use Linux Fast-STREAMS instead.

5.2.5 Linux Fast-STREAMS

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is currently compatible with Linux Fast-STREAMS (LfS). The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package is compatible with the OpenSS7 streams-0.9.2.3 release that is available from the The OpenSS7 Project Downloads Page.

5.3 Release Notes

The sections that follow provide information on OpenSS7 releases of the
OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package.

Major changes for release strutil-0.9.2.6

This is an internal alpha release of the package.

Major features since the last internal release are as follows:

• Support build on openSUSE 10.2.
• Support build on Fedora 7 with 2.6.21 kernel.
• Support build on CentOS 5.0 (RHEL5).
• Support build on Ubuntu 7.04.
• Updated to gettext 0.16.1.
• Changes to support build on 2.6.20-1.2307.fc5 and 2.6.20-1.2933.fc6 kernel.
• Supports build on Fedora Core 6.
• Support for recent distributions and tool chains.

Major changes for release strutil-0.9.2.4

This is an internal alpha release of the package.

Major features since the last internal release are as follows:

• Added versions to all exported symbols. Made OpenSS7 unique functions GPL export.
• Improvements to the common build environment with better support for standalone package builds on 2.4 kernels.
• Support for autoconf 2.61, automake 1.10 and gettext 0.16.
• Support for Ubuntu 6.10 distribution and bug fixes for i386 kernels.
• The package now looks for other subpackages with a version number as unpacked by separate tarball.

Major changes for release strutil-0.9.2.3

This is an internal alpha release of the package.

• Support for most recent 2.6.18 kernels (including Fedora Core 5 with inode diet patchset).

Major changes for release strutil-0.9.2.3.rc3

• Now builds 32-bit compatibility libraries and tests them against 64-bit kernel modules and drivers. The `make installcheck' target will now automatically test both 64-bit native and 32-bit compatibility versions, one after the other, on 64-bit platforms.
• Added versions to all library symbols.
• Many documentation updates for all OpenSS7 packages. Automated release file generation making for vastly improved and timely text documentation present in the release directory.
• Dropped support for LiS.
• Updated init scripts for proper addition and removal of modules.
• Start assigning majors at major device number 231 instead of major device number 230. Assign major device number 230 explicitly to the clone device. Package will now support extended ranges of minor devices on 2.6 kernels under Linux Fast-STREAMS only. strutil now supports expanded addressable minor device numbers, permitting 2^16 addressable minor devices per major device number on 2.6 kernels: LiS cannot support this change.
• Better detection of SUSE distributions, release numbers and SLES distributions: support for additional SuSE distributions on ix86 as well as x86_64. Added distribution support includes SLES 9, SLES 9 SP2, SLES 9 SP3, SLES 10, SuSE 10.1.
• Improved compiler flag generation and optimizations for recent gcc compilers and some idiosyncratic behaviour for some distributions (primarily SUSE).
• Optimized compilation is now available also for user level programs in addition to kernel programs. Added new --with-optimize option to configure to accomplish this.
• Added --disable-devel configure option to suppress building and installing development environment. This feature is for embedded or pure runtime targets that do not need the development environment (static libraries, manual pages, documentation).
• Added send-pr script for automatic problem report generation.

This was an internal alpha release.

Major changes for release strutil-0.9.2.3.rc2

Corrections for and testing of 64-bit clean compile and test runs on x86_64 architecture. Some bug corrections resulting from gcc 4.0.2 compiler warnings.

Corrected build flags for Gentoo and 2.6.15 kernels as reported on mailing list.

This was an internal alpha release.

Major changes for release strutil-0.9.2.2

The previous release was experimental and was an Alpha release. This package represent a stripping off of utilities from Linux Fast-STREAMS that could also be used for Linux STREAMS (LiS). This release is the result of further development and testing on this utilities package.

Initial release strutil-0.9.2.1

Initial autoconf/RPM packaging of the strutil release.

This is the initial release of the OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package for Linux Fast-STREAMS (and LiS). These STREAMS utilities were formerly part of the Linux Fast-STREAMS package (streams-0.7a.3), however, as they were also applicable to LiS, they have been removed into a separate package. Once Linux Fast-STREAMS is production grade, these compatibility modules will be rolled back into the streams package as LiS becomes deprecated.

5.4 Maturity

The OpenSS7 Project adheres to the following release philosophy:

• pre-alpha release
• alpha release
• beta release
• gamma release
• production release
• unstable release

5.4.1 Pre-Alpha Releases

Pre-alpha releases are releases that have received no testing whatsoever. Code in the release is not even known to configure or compile. The purpose of a pre-alpha release is to make code and documentation available for inspection only, and to solicit comments on the design approach or other characteristics of the software package.

Pre-alpha release packages ship containing warnings recommending that the user not even execute the contained code.

5.4.2 Alpha Releases

Alpha releases are releases that have received little to no testing, or that have been tested and contains known bugs or defects that make the package unsuitable even for testing. The purpose for an alpha release are the same as for the pre-alpha release, with the additional purpose that it is an early release of partially functional code that has problems that an external developer might be willing to fix themselves and contribute back to the project.

Alpha release packages ship containing warnings that executing the code can crash machines and might possibly do damage to systems upon which it is executed.

5.4.3 Beta Releases

Beta releases are releases that have received some testing, but the testing to date is not exhaustive. Beta release packages do not ship with known defects. All known defects are resolved before distribution; however, as exhaustive testing has not been performed, unknown defects may exist. The purpose for a beta release is to provide a baseline for other organizations to participate in the rigorous testing of the package.

Beta release packages ship containing warnings that the package has not been exhaustively tested and that the package may cause systems to crash. Suitability of software in this category for production use is not advised by the project; however, as always, is at the discretion of the user of the software.

5.4.4 Gamma Releases

Gamma releases are releases that have received exhaustive testing within the project, but external testing has been minimal. Gamma release packages do not ship with known defects. As exhaustive internal testing has been performed, unknown defects should be few. Please remember that there is NO WARRANTY on public release packages.

Gamma release packages typically resolve problems in previous beta releases, and might not have had full regression testing performed. Suitability of software in this category for production use is at the discretion of the user of the software. The OpenSS7 Project recommends that the complete validation test suites provided with the package be performed and pass on target systems before considering production use.

5.4.5 Production Releases

Production releases are releases that have received exhaustive testing within the project and validated on specific distributions and architectures. Production release packages do not ship with known defects. Please remember that there is NO WARRANTY on public release packages.

Production packages ship containing a list of validated distributions and architectures. Full regression testing of any maintenance changes is performed. Suitability of software in this category for production use on the specified target distributions and architectures is at the discretion of the user. It should not be necessary to preform validation tests on the set of supported target systems before considering production use.

5.4.6 Unstable Releases

Unstable releases are releases that have received extensive testing within the project and validated on a a wide range of distributions and architectures; however, is has tested unstable and found to be suffering from critical problems and issues that cannot be resolved. Maintenance of the package has proved impossible. Unstable release packages ship with known defects (and loud warnings). Suitability of software in this category for production use is at the discretion of the user of the software. The OpenSS7 Project recommends that the problems and issues be closely examined before this software is used even in a non-production environment. Each failing test scenario should be completely avoided by the application. OpenSS7 beta software is more stable that software in this category.

5.5 Bugs

5.5.1 Defect Notices

OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities has known and unknown defects. This is a pre-alpha release. Some defects might be harmful. No validation testing whatsoever has been performed by the OpenSS7 Project on this software. The software might not even configure or compile. The OpenSS7 Project recommends that you do not use this software. Use at your own risk. Remember that there is NO WARRANTY.¹⁹

This software is pre-alpha software. As such, it will crash your kernel. Installation of the software will irreparably mangle your header files or Linux distribution in such a way as to make it unusable. Crashes will lock your system and rebooting the system will not repair the problem. You will lose all the data on your system. Because this software will crash your kernel, the resulting unstable system can destroy computer hardware or peripherals making them unusable. You will void the warranty on any system on which you run this software. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

5.5.2 Known Defects

With the exception of packages not originally created by the OpenSS7 Project, the OpenSS7 Project software does not ship with known bugs in any release stage except pre-alpha. OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities had no known bugs at the time of release.

5.5.3 Defect History

This section contains historical bugs that were encountered during development and their resolutions. This list serves two purposes:

1. It captures bugs encountered between releases during development that could possibly reoccur (and the Moon is made of blue cheese). It therefore provides a place for users to look if they encounter a problem.
2. It provides a low overhead bug list between releases for developers to use as a TODO list.

Bugs

(no items)

5.6 Schedule

Current Plan

The strutil package is currently incomplete. The purpose of the package was to move STREAMS utility programs and modules outside of the STREAMS release package so as to allow them to be used with both LiS and Linux Fast-STREAMS. As Linux Fast-STREAMS has already shown superior to LiS in terms of both performance and conformance, it is no longer necessary to keep these packages separate and they can be combined once again (or still) with Linux Fast-STREAMS.

The current plan is to maintain this package for current distributions, kernels and tool chains utill such time as LiS is kicked out of the CVS archive tree completely. It is not necessary for Linux Fast-STREAMS as all of its facilities are includes in the base Linux Fast-STREAMS package.

Things to Do

• The strutil package is currently incomplete. The purpose of the package was to move STREAMS utility programs and modules outside of the STREAMS release package so as to allow them to be used with both LiS and Linux Fast-STREAMS. As Linux Fast-STREAMS has already shown superior to LiS in terms of both performance and conformance, it is no longer necessary to keep these packages separate and they can be combined once again (or still) with Linux Fast-STREAMS.

5.7 History

For the latest developments with regard to history of changes, please see the ChangeLog file in the release package.

6 Installation

6.1 Downloading

The OpenSS7 STREAMS Utilities package releases can be downloaded from the downloads page of The OpenSS7 Project. The package is available as a binary RPM (for popular architectures) a source RPM, Debian binary DEB and source DSC, or as a tar ball. If you are using a browsable viewer, you can obtain the OpenSS7 release of strutil from the links in the sections that follow.

By far the easiest (most repeatable and manageable) form for installing and using OpenSS7 packages is to download and install individual packages from binary RPM or DEB. If binary RPMs or DEBs are not available for your distribution, but your distribution supports rpm(1) or dpkg(1), the next best method for installing and using OpenSS7 packages is to download and rebuild the source RPMs or DSCs.

If your architecture does not support rpm(1) or dpkg(1) at all, or you have special needs (such as cross-compiling for embedded targets), the final resort method is to download, configure, build and install from tarball. In this later case, the easiest way to build and install OpenSS7 packages from tarball is to use the tarball for the OpenSS7 Master Package, openss7-0.9.2.F.

6.1.1 Downloading the Binary RPM

To install from binary RPM, you will need several of the RPM for a complete installation. Binary RPM fall into several categories. To download and install a complete package requires the appropriate RPM from each of the several categories below, as applicable. Some release packages do not provide RPMs in each of the several categories.

To install from Binary RPM, you will need all of the following kernel independent packages for your architecture, and one of the kernel-dependent packages from the next section.

Independent RPM

Independent RPM are dependent on neither the Linux kernel version, nor the STREAMS package. For example, the source package `strutil-source-0.9.2.6-1.7.2.noarch.rpm', is not dependent on kernel nor STREAMS package.