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
