Welcome to the Apple Shared Library Manager release 2.0. The ASLM allows you create and use dynamically linkable and loadable shared libraries. The ASLM 2.0 supports system 6.0.5 and higher including running under single Finder. It also support native PowerPC shared libraries and clients.
Help and Documentation
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Details on what the ASLM is and how to use it are located in the ASLM Documentation folder. The ASLM Developer's Guide documents ASLM 1.1.2 and the ASLM 2.0 Supplement documents changes since ASLM 1.1.2. The "Change History" document contains a summary of changes and bug fixes made since ASLM 1.1.2.
What's New in ASLM 2.0
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ASLM 2.0 contains two parts. The first is simply a continuation of ASLM 1.1.2 for 68K. It contains bug fixes and some minor feature enhancements. It is binary comptible with ASLM 1.1 clients and shared libraries. Please see the "Change History" document for a list of changes and bug fixes.
ASLM 2.0 also contains tools and runtime support for native PowerPC shared libraries. The runtime support is provided by a 2nd extension called Shared Library Manager PPC. See next section for more details.
Native PowerPC vs. 68K ASLM
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ASLM 2.0 supports both native PowerPC and 68k shared libraries and clients. The 68K runtime support is still contained in the Shared Library Manager extension and will also support emulated shared libraries and clients on the PowerPC, just like ASLM 1.1.2 does. The Shared Library Manager PPC extension is a new extension that provides support of native PowerPC shared libraries and clients. Both of these extensions must be installed on PowerPC machines to support both native and emulated shared libraries and clients. If you are only doing 68k shared libraries then you only need the Shared Library Manager extension and if you are only doing native PowerPC development then you only need the Shared Library Manager PPC extension.
There is currently no mixed mode solution for ASLM 2.0. What this means is that native clients can only use native shared libraries and 68k clients can only use 68k shared libraries. The two ASLM extensions intentionally know nothing about each other. For example, a shared library known to the 68k ASLM would not even be seen by the native ASLM. It is possible to write your own mixed mode code to "interface" between the native and 68k ASLM worlds.
More information on how to use the native PowerPC ASLM can be found in the ASLM 2.0 Supplement document.
Folder Contents
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The ASLM Installer folder installs the 68K ASLM into your system. If you are installing on a PowerPC machine then it will also install the native PowerPC ASLM.
The ASLM Developer Tools folder contains development tools, header files, and MPW libraries that developers will need to develop shared libraries and ASLM clients. The Installer does not install anything from the ASLM Developer Tools folder. This needs to be done manually. See the Read Me! file in the ASLM Developer Tools folder for more details.
The ASLM Debugging Tools folder contains a number of things that are useful when debugging ASLM libraries and clients. See the Read Me! file in the ASLM Debugging Tools folder for more details.
The ASLM Examples folder contains a number of examples. See the Read Me! file in the ASLM Examples folder for more details.
Bugs, Warnings, and Limitiations
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RUN THE INSTALLER!!! Don't try to drag install ASLM 2.0 over any previous release of ASLM. The resource that was installed into the System file by earlier versions may not be compatible with version 2.0.
You might have problems installing ASLM from a CD-ROM drive. If so, then make a floppy out of the the "ASLM Installer.image" file and use this as the installer disk. You can also create a floppy by copying the CONTENTS of the "ASLM Installer" folder to floppy and naming it "ASLM Installer". The same is true of "ASLM Installer for PPC.image" and the "ASLM Installer for PPC" folder.
Installing any version of System 7 when ASLM is already installed will cause ASLM to no longer load. You will need to re-install ASLM in this case.
ASLM will not load under System 7.0.1 with tuneup 1.1.1 installed and AppleTalk turned off. Users should either turn AppleTalk on or upgrade to System 7.1 to avoid this problem.
A more complete list of bugs can be found in the ASLM 2.0 Supplement document.
The examples will not build with the latest MPW. You will need to make some changes to the Makefiles. The main change is to link with different MPW libraries (for example, MacRuntime.o instead of Runtime.o). Also 68k applications will require that you declare the qd global like you do for PowerPC code.
Send Questions and Bug Reports to...
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If you have any questions please AppleLink Gary Hornbuckle, the Apple Shared Library Manager Product Marketing Manager, at HORNBUCKLE1. Technical questions and bug reports should be sent to DEVSUPPORT. Please cc: HORNBUCKLE1 in this case.
