Developer CD Series 1998 June: Technology Seed/June 98 ADC Seed.toast/Mac OS 8.5a8/a7-developer-seed-notes.txt

Text File | 1998-06-19 | 16.0 KB | 449 lines | [TEXT/????]

======================================================================
 The information contained in this message is under non-disclosure.
======================================================================

Mac OS Developers,


Allegro a8 is one of the biggest advances in bug reduction and
advances toward completeness we've produced to date for this next
release of the OS.

As we move closer to declaring beta it becomes more important that we
hear of any difficulties, incompatibilities, or just flat-out bugs
that you encounter.

Please check all bugs reported to date to see if we've fixed them,
report any and all bugs which you were holding, and do a thorough test
of all your products to check for incompatibilities. If we don't hear
about problems now, the chances of them being fixed in the release is
significantly lower from here on out.



Seed Download Tips
------------------

Here are some tips and information we hope will ease the burden of the
process of downloading the seed. In addition, please remember that
downloading in off hours will alleviate connection problems and
increase the speed of such a large download.

    --  Be sure to use an FTP client (not a web browser) which
        is set to bypass any firewall you may be behind and
        which allows only one login session at a time. Also
        beware that your FTP client may time out your connection
        if inactive for more than a minute, thereby forcing you
        to get a new password and start over.

    --  Be sure to enter your current developer information in
        the fields.





Digital signature
-----------------

The Allegro seed archive has been digitally signed, allowing you to
verify if the software has been corrupted during download or been
modified or replace in any way. PGP will report that the signature is
bad in any of these cases. The most likely culprit is corruption
during download. Please attempt to download the file(s) again.

It is not necessary to verify the file to use the software. The
signature is merely a precaution against tampering. To verify the
file's integrity, perform the following steps:

    --  Obtain PGP 5 or later, commercial and freeware versions
        are available:

        <http://www.nai.com/products/security/security.asp>

        For information about or support for PGP, consult PGP as
        this is not an Apple product.

    --  Obtain the public key for Tim Holmes (key ID 0x9E22EA50)

    --  Verify the disk image file by opening the signature file





On behalf of Apple's Worldwide Developer Relations and the Allegro
team, thank you for your efforts.


Tim Holmes
Mac OS Developer Relations
Apple Computer, Inc.





=======================================================================



 ***
 ***    Allegro a7 Seed Developer Release Notes
 ***    Copyright 1998 Apple Computer, Inc.
 ***    (This work is unpublished.)
 ***



 Table of Contents:
-------------------------------------------------------------
 A Note on Confidentiality
 A Note on Participation
 Allegro Fundamentals
 Allegro a7 Fundamentals                    [revised for a7]
 A Note on Component Versions
 Known Problems                             [revised for a7]
 Significant Bug Fixes and Changes          [revised for a7]
 Top Testing and Compatibility "Gotchas"    [revised for a7]
 Contact Information
 Allegro Seed Release Notes Errata          [revised for a7]
-------------------------------------------------------------



A Note on Confidentiality
-------------------------

The vast majority of developers seeded abide by their non-disclosure
agreements, and for that we thank you; however, some continue to
violate this trust.

These violations reduce the amount of time Apple is able to spend on
the very things developers most need: better software and better
support. In addition, these violations may have a severely negative
effect on our ability to continue these seeds.

We appreciate any help in tracking down violations and appreciate the
help we have received to date. Please see the contact information
below to report infractions.



A Note on Participation
-----------------------

Early seeding is important to developers and Apple alike; however, in
the past, we haven't received the level of feedback we'd expect for
something you've told us is so important.

To ensure compatibility with Allegro, developers should not assume
Apple will test each of their products internally. It's important that
every developer continue to test their products with this pre-release
software and provide feedback on problems they encounter.

Two important guidelines:

    --  Provide feedback. It's become apparent that many
        developers perceive Apple as a sufficiently large
        organization that either will be able to find all
        compatibility problems or will get swamped with
        duplicate bug reports. Neither of these perceptions is
        accurate. Only reported bugs have a chance to be fixed.

    --  Provide feedback as early as possible. The pattern of
        feedback we receive is generally a "spike" following the
        earliest seeds, and then traffic drops off until the
        final candidate stage, at which time we get a second
        "spike". This second spike occurs too late in the
        process for us to incorporate the requested changes. The
        earlier you report a problem, the more likely it is
        we'll be able to achieve a resolution satisfactory to
        everyone. Don't wait to test for or to report bugs!



Allegro Fundamentals
--------------------

Allegro is the next in a series of regular Mac OS reference releases.
Allegro supports all PowerPC Mac OS compatible computers but does not
support systems in which the PowerPC processor is on an upgrade card.

WARNING:

    It is still possible there are significant bugs in this build of
    Allegro. Do not risk critical data by exposing it to this
    software. Do not install this software on a machine which is
    critical to your business.



Allegro a7 Fundamentals
-----------------------

This is the fourth seeded build. We expect the next alpha build
to be the beta candidate.

At this time (post-alpha), we are not considering new features for
Allegro. Bug fixes and compatibility issues are expected to be the
focus of development.

NOTE: these release notes contain details about Allegro a7. We realize
that we are seeding a8 with notes regarding a7. The notes for a7 are
still valid, of course. They are simply not the entire story. We will
be sending out a separate email containing the a8 release notes as
soon as we can.


A Note on Component Versions
----------------------------

Some of the components in Allegro may be earlier versions than those
shipping at the time of the release of Allegro. This is due to
extensive, time-consuming integration quality assurance that is
required to achieve the quality goals for such a large project.
Integrating later versions of components impacts testing and could
compromise the quality of the Allegro release.

In Apple's OS release strategy, the latest version possible of any
given component will integrate into the next OS update or release, but
those components will continue to improve and be distributed as
appropriate in parallel to the OS releases.



Known Problems
--------------

There will, of course, be bugs in early builds of Allegro. In this
section, rather than attempt to list all known bugs, we will attempt
to alert you to entire components which are not functional or major
functionality within a component which you should avoid.

NOTE: ther are indeed known problems with Allegro a8. We will describe
them in the Allegro a8 seed release notes. Known problems in a7 were
addressed in a8 (forthcoming -- see above).




Significant Bug Fixes and Changes
---------------------------------

Allegro is a huge effort involving many engineers and thousands of bug
reports. We cannot catalog them all on a build-by-build basis.
However, we will attempt to keep you informed of fixes for critical
bugs and other significant changes such as the addition or removal of
a component or a feature of a component. Also, if a bug appears to be
a user-level issue only, we'll spare you from having to read about it,
and we'll omit reports about the installer script unless there seems
to be a developer-related reason to include them.

    --  It is now once again possible for an application to
        specify 'alis' as a file type in its bundle resources
        and have unresolved alias files sent to its "open
        documents" Apple event handler. [1673623]

    --  ARA: 68K code has been removed from the installer;
        Apple/GV 56K and USR Universal CCL scripts added.

    --  PlainTalk speech recognition has returned to Mac OS;
        in fact it has been present since the first seed; we
        chose not to mention it here until now.

    --  Fonts: All 9 Fonts which contain 'NFNT' data (Chicago,
        Geneva, Monaco, New York, Courier, Helvetica, Palatino,
        Symbol, Times) were converted to 'sbit'. High-bit glyphs
        of New York's 'NFNT' have been added to comply with
        outline. The truncated missing character glyph in Times'
        NFNT has been fixed. The Unicode 'cmap' for the Euro
        glyph in Geneva, Times, and Sand have been fixed. The
        design inconsistency in 'y' in the Geneva 10 bitmap has
        been fixed. The keyboard glyphs in Chicago 12 have been
        changed to match its 'cmap' encoding and outlines.

    --  A component called Multilingual Internet Access has
        been present in Allegro since the first seed; we chose
        not to mention it here until now.

    --  Network Setup: significant changes to Applescript
        syntax.

    --  ATI QuickDraw acceleration is once again present.

    --  Themes are not installed by default. They are,
        however, on the disk image in a folder in the root
        directory. You can drop the enclosed theme files on the
        System Folder and they will go to the right place.

    --  UTTrashBlocks now returns a reasonable OSErr value and
        no longer crashes when passed a bad file reference
        number. [2239395]

    --  Multi-byte characters are no longer cut in half if
        pasted into Standard File beyond the end of the filename
        limit. [2235130]

    --  No longer crashes on boot after failing to create a
        sufficiently large VM backing store file on a machine
        with 16M physical RAM. [2235342, 2236211]

    --  Hand cursor images have been updated. [2235713]

    --  FindFolder selectors for Speakable Items, Recent
        Applications, Recent Documents, Recent Servers, Launcher
        Items. [2238486]

    --  Now boots on Performa 6220. [2238723]

    --  You can now put a type 'STR ' resource with ID -16397
        (the "application-missing message") in any file and
        Finder will display it if the file cannot be opened.
        (For example, a shared library can now override the
        default message.) [2227816]

    --  List box control now erases the cell area before
        drawing. [2212467]

    --  Folder Manager data for positions of some folders has
        been corrected: Voices, Speakable Items, Modem Scripts.
        [2240971]

    --  Finder now routes modem scripts to the Modem Scripts
        folder. [2241116]

    --  Before unmounting the default volume, UnmountVol now
        correctly sets the default volume to the boot volume.
        This was a problem only in the retail/update version of
        Mac OS 8.1 (and not, for example, the system software
        for the Macintosh PowerBook G3 Series). [2226560]

    --  SCSI Manager wakes up without crashing. [2231233,
        2235480]

    --  PatRgnBlit no longer puts garbage on monitors
        maintained by PC card video when the source was not on
        the accelerated device. [2238021]

    --  More resources moved out of the system file so that
        installing lots of Multilingual Internet Access no
        longer prevents the system from booting. [2239123]

    --  DAV audio hardware interrupt is no longer deferred.
        [2241620]

    --  PrimeTime will no longer prime a Time Manager task
        after it has been removed with RmvTime. After RmvTime is
        called on a Time Manager task, the task must be
        reinstalled with InsTime or InsXTime before it may be
        primed again. When VM is on, this ensures that Time
        Manager tasks are properly deferred. [2207338]

    --  Process Manager change reverted to avoid breaking
        Talking Alerts. [2235526]

    --  Extensions Manager sets have been updated [2232539,
        2240099]

    --  QuickDraw accelerator skips copies when colorizing and
        destination depth is 16 or 32. [2210848]

    --  improper shutdown dialog no longer initializes toolbox
        [2231290]

Top Testing and Compatibility "Gotchas"
---------------------------------------

There are many changes in Allegro. There are some specific areas we
know have a relatively high potential of causing trouble for a
significant number of programs. Here are some testing recommendations
which we believe should be part of your testing regimen:

    --  Use the Appearance control panel to choose the Gizmo
        theme and Capitals font for the system font. Exercise as
        much of your human interface as possible. Look for text
        wrapping and clipping problems. Make sure your controls
        track the way they're meant to. Switch themes and see if
        your windows all redraw as you would expect. (Note: you
        should always design your interfaces using Capitals as
        the system font. YES, this is a change in policy.)

    --  Create a document which exercises your printing code as
        extensively as possible. Print the document and look for
        text wrapping and clipping and placement problems.

    --  As with Mac OS 8, Allegro streamlines and simplifies the
        layout of the System Folder. Make sure your program
        places files in the appropriate places; if not, be sure
        you are making proper use of FindFolder.

    --  If your program reads and writes Open Transport
        preferences files directly, make sure it still works the
        way you expect it to and start thinking about
        re-architecting your program to use the
        soon-to-be-documented OT Configuration APIs.

    --  If your program ships with AppleScripts, make sure they
        do what they are meant to do.

    --  If your program gets icons or cursors from the system
        (as opposed to its own resource fork), make sure these
        icons and/or cursors display properly.

    --  If you have a Control Strip plug-in which assumes that,
        on entry, 68K register A0 points to the head of the code
        resource, you are likely to crash, because this was
        never part of the Control Strip API definition, and this
        implementation detail is no longer present.

We may add items to this list as time goes by. If you discover a
"gotcha" from which you think other people might benefit, please feel
free to send it in. (Indicate whether you'd like us to credit you for
your "gotcha".)



Contact Information
-------------------

    Downloading and Decoding

        Before contacting Apple for assistance with the seeding
        process or obtaining this seed, please consult the
        Seeding Frequently Asked Questions web page:

            <http://developer.apple.com/faq/faqseed.html>

        If this page does not help you resolve the problem,

            <mailto:[e-mail]>

    Bug Reports

        For bug reports (but not Allegro enhancement requests):

            <http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter>

    Security Breaches ("Leaks")

        We encourage you to report anyone you know to have
        distributed Allegro, in whole or in part, or information
        about Allegro (including but not limited to screen dumps)
        to anyone who is not under non-disclosure with Apple.

            <mailto:[e-mail]>



Allegro Seed Release Notes Errata
---------------------------------

Clarifications:

    (none)

Corrections:

    (none)