Big Sister - RELEASE NOTES-0.98a

- Big Sister 0.98alpha Release Notes

## Big Sister 0.98alpha Release Notes

    0.98alpha introduces quite a number of new features -
    most of them behind the scenes:

      - new monitor concept (see NEWAGENT document). Basic
        effects:

    	- do perf data collection without mocking around
    	  with etc/perf and graphtemplates

    	- many implementations hidden behind the same
    	  test name (the "procs" test for instance uses
    	  SNMP for remote monitoring, various flavours
    	  of "ps" command for local Unix monitoring, etc.)

    	- slightly more consistent

    	- live documentation - use bin/testers command
    	  to get information about single tests

        most of the existing tests have not yet been moved
        over into the new structure - they are still supported
        but do not benefit from the new concept.

      - plugin mechanism:

    	- introduced the bin/bsmodule command that will
    	  enable you to download/add Big Sister plugins
    	  once they are available ...

      - the installation procedure now uses GNU autoconf and
        therefore resembles the installation procedure of other
        software packages (see INSTALL document)

      - the alarm mechanism has been altered. The alarm message
        format is now using the skin mechanism and thus can be
        customized. The "notify" program is now deprecated. Please
        have a look at CONFIG and HOWTO - it explains in short
        how things are meant to work now.

      - of course, many bugs have been fixed, many new bugs have
        been introduced, many tiny little features have been added

    March 20, 2002
    Tom Aeby