This file is maintained in parallel to
the CHANGES file. It should tell you in
short terms what changes in functionality
we made rather than what changes in source
code ...

09.08.03: RELEASE 0.98beta4

    see RELEASE_NOTES-0.98b4

15.04.02: RELEASE 0.98alpha2
	  ------------------

    fixed a few bugs and did the following:

    15.04.02: added %select directive to bb-display.cfg

    15.04.02: moved realhttp test over to new style monitor

    11.04.02: added %sort directive to bb-display.cfg

    11.04.02: added support for measuring time intervals <1s


20.03.02: RELEASE 0.98alpha
	  -----------------

    after November: too numerous changes. Many bug fixes,
    many optimizations of the new sensor code, etc. etc.

    24.11.01: introduced "who" test

    20.11.01: introduced new style sensors (see NEWAGENT)

    12.11.01: added mibcompile utility

    01.11.01: added "timeout" argument to the tripwire test

    26.09.01: replaced bb_start shell script by a perl script and added

    04.09.01: added portmapper program to "rpc" 

    04.09.01: added qmqueue monitor 

    04.09.01: better retry strategy if agent failed to send status messages

    26.08.01: added "upmail" variable in bs_evgen.pm

    20.08.01: added "StartOK" option in bb-display.cfg

    24.07.01: Add provider for shared library version of RRD support

    10.07.01: added "link" directive in display_map.cfg (Feature request #439650)

    03.07.01 only start bsmon if required

    03.07.01: added availability reporting tool

    30.06.01: stopped using -I option in the head of perl scripts


24.06.01: RELEASE 0.97
	  ------------

    24.06.01: the following bugs should be fixed in 0.97:

	 222784 Graphs for network statistics
	 406103 "make install" install error on HP-UX
	 417718 FreeBSD installation- 2 problems
	 429015 No Support for status+expiryTime messages
	 431610 diskfree test reporting nothing on Win32
	 431611 CPU performance on W2k systems
	 431618 IIS and "Page not found" problem
	 434082 log monitor reports ok if file inacc.
	 434281 *.rrd file doesn't exist
	 434408 logging does not report program name

    19.06.01: logfile monitor class: better support for 
  	      distributing logfile status to multiple columns
	      on display

    17.06.01: fixed perflib module

    09.06.01: use "InstanceName" for reporting Win32 CPU names
   	      to bsmon/Grapher 

    09.06.01: graphtemplates may now contain "internal" variables
  	      making configuration easier


24.05.01: RELEASE 0.96
	  ------------

    24.05.01: the following bugs should be fixed in 0.96:

		229080 daytime check does not adjust for daylight savings time
		230044 make install fails for 0.95 on Solaris 2.6
		230375 More timezone problems - postpone_to.
		231893 mount command needed for 'dumpdates' check
		231894 start script starts unwanted uxmon proc for adm/uxmon-net.*
		231896 uxmon crashes when SSL server monitor fails
		231906 tcp monitor mixes up "Session data"
		404157 Names with _ not handled well
		405624 Makefile not compliant with non-GNU make
		410222 Missing code in uxmon/Monitor/ping.pm
		411197 icmp ping on certain host always fail
		424049 changes made are removed after a refresh
		425635 Win32 needs CGIs to have file extensions
		425650 log_mail not working in Windows pre-buil
		425662 notify refuses to run *.bat under Win32

    20.05.01: added "imap" and "ftp" tests

    18.05.01: support other graph types than LINE (area, stacked graphs)

    04.05.01: added new syntax and support for percentage thresholds for 
	      "diskfree" check and 

    03.05.01: added additional graph definitions

    03.05.01: added "ups" check

    01.05.01: imported "ldap_mozilla" check

    01.05.01: added "command" check

    22.04.01: mrtg now supports percentage thresholds and is documented
	      in CONFIG

    21.04.01: added "remove" feature for wiping out status lights from
	      display

    21.04.01: "tcp" based monitors now accept "timeout=" argument

    21.04.01: accept "localhost" in adm/grouping file

    21.04.01: imported "ldap" monitor

    01.04.01: imported "oracle" and "tripwire" checks

    25.03.01: added "type=storage,linux snmp" snmp check type

    04.03.01: changed the way some tests report their verbose status
  	      messages in order to make them look a little nicer.

    23.02.01: PATH used by Big Sister components is now configured in
	      etc/resources and adm/resources. 

    05.02.01: added asxcpu test

    05.02.01: fixed memory leak

    05.02.01: report purple if an SNMP test does not apply rather than
	      reporting green

    04.02.01: server now supports addressing individual tables in skins,
 	      added "twocolumn" skin

    25.01.01: fixed syslog problem on Solaris

    14.01.01: added "maintenance" mode
 	      - white status ("in maintenance")
	      - set to maintenance in alarm web interface
    
05.01.01: RELEASE 0.95
	  ------------

    04.01.01: fixed the following bugs since November:

		123340 No Page found
		126298 phantom status lights on status page
		126299 "%table +GROUP" statement not working correctly
		123188 CGI paths in Windows binary version are wrong
		122782 bsgraph CGI not working
		122784 Graphs for network statistics
		122785 Config scripts using _evaluator not working
		123423 perfdata from Windows agent lost
		122781 Graph displaying: index file not updateing
		122886 %Autoconn feature not working any more
		122887 %Option statement only partially working
		122960 bswebadmin CGI missing in Windows binary package
		123318 Wrong mailadress is generated by monitor

	      probably fixed:

		125041 daemons are extensively creating zombies
		125042 daemons are extensively forking

    21.12.00: standard deviation checks in 'proto=fping ping' test

    11.11.00: all the %Option directives (bb-display.cfg working
	      again

    11.11.00: %Autoconn directive (bb-display.cfg) working again

29.10.00: RELEASE 0.94
	  ------------

    30.10.00: introduced 'pragma: no-cache' for dynamically
	      generated web pages

    29.10.00: fixed display map problems

    24.10.00: added Linux Meminfo monitor

    22.10.00: added performance data collection
	      and graphing

    12.10.00: fixed bsmon's creating bands of zombies under
	      certain circumstances

    08.10.00: added example config files (contrib/examples)

    08.10.00: fixed some bugs, brought some
	      documentation up to date

    08.10.00: added support for paging via Nortel
	      Meridian PBX

    07.10.00: fixed grouping functions in bswebadmin

    07.10.00: fixed rotation of var/status.log on
	      NT systems

    10.09.00: added support for SCO Openserver
	      (thanks to Tim Powell)

23.08.00: RELEASE 0.93
	  ------------

    **.**.**: many uxmon monitors now report
	      more verbosely

    **.**.**: many many bug fixes ...

    **.**.**: many many not so obvious changes

    26.07.00: The display map module now supports
	      creating PNG and JPEG images (with
	      new GD module). Backwards compatible
	      with old GD (GIF only) module.

    25.07.00: introduced 'DEFAULT' directive in
	      uxmon-net config file

    25.07.00: cleaned up config file reading.
	      Now every config file supports
	      the 'include' statement, comments
	      via '#' character

    13.07.00: group status summarizes to 'clear'
	      color if group is empty

    30.06.00: fixed rpc check persistently
	      failing after some error
	      conditions

    22.06.00: fixed bbd dying unexpectedly

    20.06.00: included MIBs for atmport and
	      software checks (J. Gooch)

    20.06.00: MRTG support: Use PNG instead of
	      GIF (J. Gooch)

    20.06.00: added bind_ip directive (uxmon-net
	      in conjunction with bsdisplay or
	      bbdisplay lines) for optionally
	      specifying source ip address on
	      multi homed hosts (J. Gooch)

    20.06.00: set QMAIL* environment variables
	      in log_mail.pl (J. Gooch)

    20.06.00: bb_start sets sane umask and uses
	      a login shell (su -) for starting
	      up Big Sister daemons (J. Gooch)

    18.06.00: fixed bbd not cleanly differentiating
	      between diferent agent connections
	      -> fixes problem where status
	      changes to 'purple' sometimes

    12.06.00: list performance variables in 
	      var/uxmon_variables if uxmon is run
	      in performance data collection mode

    12.06.00: scheduler altered in order to prevent
	      agents from working and sending their
	      status messages out too synchronously

    12.06.00: centralized conversion of status colors/
	      status codes to simplify addition of new
	      status colors (as suggested by Joseph
	      Gooch); added 'clear' and 'blue' status
	      codes

    04.06.00: added the feature_provider concept to
	      to the bsmon API

    17.04.00: accept 'localhost' in adm/grouping as
	      a synonym for the local host's name

    13.02.00: added 'realhttp' and 'radius' monitors
	      (contributed by Kevin O'Donell)

    11.02.00: added 'perf' access group (adm/permissions)

    05.02.00: introduced bsmon, the new extensible
	      server. New concept: bbd receives agent
	      messages and checks authorizations,
	      bsmon does all the rest including alarm
	      generation, HTML page building, logging,
	      rsync, performance data collection, etc.

    05.02.00: fixed log file rotating

    23.01.00: added performance data collecting to
	      uxmon

09.01.00: RELEASE 0.38
	  ------------

    08.01.00: moved files updated by Big Sister
	      during runtime to 'var' subdirectory

    08.01.00: SNMP MIB and Openview .fmt-File
	      added, use the newly registered
	      'graeff' SNMP OID

    27.12.99: Added basic trap monitoring (see
	      HOWTO)

    20.12.99: Some extensions concerning display:

		- Framed web pages may now display
		  status lights in the contents
		  frame

		- Tables rows are now sorted
		  alphabetically

		- some special keywords in the text
		  of status messages reported by agents
		  are now recognized if used in the HTML
		  log pages:

			&red/&green/... => status light
			&html => the following text is HTML

		- Agents may now officially send long
		  comments. Concept:

		    - monitors must log a short message
		      (such as "ntp OK")
		    - monitors may log a long descriptive
		      text message
		    - monitors may log a long descriptive
		      HTML message

		  The messages are always sorted short
		  message (by severity) then long text 
		  message then long HTML message (so that 
		  in alarm messages the short message
		  associated with the failed service
		  is always appearing first in line)

    20.12.99: Added a few new monitors (mostly contributed
	      by Joseph Gooch):

		- fping protocol in ping test
		- ntp
		- software
		- snmp_trap
		- mrtg

		- atmport, etherport
		  (snmp, not fully generic yet)

	      see CONFIG, section adm/uxmon-net

    05.12.99: Event Generator does now support sending
	      SNMP traps for each raised or cleared
	      alarm (see HOWTO)

    05.12.99: Event Generator: stop creating zombies


14.11.99: RELEASE 0.37
	  ------------

    14.11.99: fixed a few bugs:

		- uxmon: config scripts not working
		  properly

		- uxmon: support for multiple running
	          copies of uxmon per host not working
		  properly

		- bswebalarm: test being placed in the
		  ignore list were not really ignored

    14.11.99: added new logging mechanism: every
	      incoming message (bbd) is now logged
	      to www/logs/history/status.log

    03.11.99: added 'external' ping protocol (see CONFIG)
	      as contributed by Roland Roberts

16.10.99: RELEASE 0.36
	  ------------

    16.10.99: bb_start works on systems without
	      'grep -w' option

    16.10.99: added Webadmin interface (bswebadmin
	      CGI)

    16.10.99: new security model (adm/permissions
	      file) allowing more flexibility in
	      defining which client is permitted
	      to do what

    14.10.99: uxmon: procs check accepts '(' and ')' 
	      in process names

    10.10.99: uxmon: support monitoring frequencies
	      other than 'each 5 minutes'

    07.10.99: CGIs: support for POST Forms method

	
25.09.99: RELEASE 0.35
	  ------------
	
    25.09.99: work on Win32 systems also when not
	      installed in the default location
	      (binary release only)

    25.09.99: fixed uxmon signal handling: die on
	      TERM, ignore TSTP/INT (fixing strange
	      behaviour of Solaris /sbin/sh)

    25.07.99: fixed bbd bug making the daemon crash
	      if a client sent a bad leave command

18.07.99: RELEASE 0.34
	  ------------
	
    17.07.99: some work for the NT version: added
	      performance monitor support, added
	      install procedure (services ...),
	      etc.

26.06.99: RELEASE 0.33
	  ------------

    -26.06.99: fixed a few things reported during the
	      0.32 beta test

    20.06.99: added bbscript monitor: Run Big Brother
	      monitor scripts from within uxmon.

    20.06.99: added statusfile monitor allowing external
	      monitors to write their status information
	      to a file read by the statusfile monitor.

    20.06.99: added %Option statement (bb-display.cfg)
	      allowing to configure a few Status Collector
	      behaviours.

    19.06.99: added 'cpuload' (load as reported by
	      the uptime command) monitor (thanks to
	      Torben Sorensen)

    17.06.99: made Big Sister ready for a binary release.



12.06.99: RELEASE 0.32
	  ------------

    12.06.99: tested on NT 4.0 and fixed things working
	      in a flaky way or not working at all
	      (see README.win32)

    11.06.99: added enhanced history log file housekeeping
	      to bbd (See HOWTO)

    11.06.99: bbd will read altered bb-display.cfg config
	      files immediately after updateing pages instead
	      of immediately before. This will stop bbd from
	      creating empty pages after a configuration
	      change when running with dynamic grouping.

    11.06.99: bbd: now writes "check point" entries to the
	      display.history file so that it is possible to
	      find out when bbd was running and when not.

    10.06.99: Event Generator: include the time of the alarm
	      in the alarm and acknowledge messages

    08.06.99: display maps: display positions may now be given
	      names, lines (for e.g. network connections) now
	      supported

    08.06.99: bbd keeps track of which agent monitors which
	      host/check, logs changes to syslog and writes
	      the summary file adm/agents.log

    07.06.99: fixed bb_event_generator behaviour regarding
	      checks used in "check=": If bbd never received
	      a valid status for check assume it is up (=>
	      do not suppress alarm!)

    07.06.99: fixed internal bug in HTML creation code making
	      bbd corrupt messages containing "@" characters
	      and in some cases loop

    07.06.99: use EventLog logging on Win32 systems instead
	      of syslog

    05.06.99: added support for Win32 EventLog ("eventlog"
	      monitor) and Services ("procs" monitor)

    25.05.99: use syslog for logging Big Sister events

    15.05.99: added log file rotating to Status Collector.
	      See HOWTO ...

    15.05.99: added "bsadmin" command allowing to send bbd
	      commands from command line

    09.05.99: added "-c" option to uxmon in order to allow
	      the name of the "uxmon-net" file be passed.
	      Changed bb_start script so that it does run
	      multiple copies of uxmon if multiple uxmon-net
	      files exist (uxmon-net.*)

    09.05.99: uxmon-net procs check accepts now a
	      pscomm= argument (use e.g. pscomm="ps cax" procs)

    03.05.99: added alarm acknowledging

    24.04.99: CGI scripts now running as either CGI
	      or FastCGI (see Q+A)

    07.04.99: added a generic logfile check used for
	      both OV and syslog checks. So the advanced
	      features of OV are available for syslog
	      now too. Generic line based logs now may
	      be checked with the 'logfile' monitor

08.04.99: release 0.30
	  ------------

    07.04.99: fixed event generator bug: no
	      alarms send on Linux

    07.04.99: fixed event generator bug which caused
	      the event generator to send false
	      alarms

    30.03.99: the various programs should now
	      find the Big Sister root directory
	      without any problems

    28.03.99: the 'procs' check does now work
	      with SNMP queried hosts too
	      (uxmon-net: procs=... snmp)

    28.03.99: internal changes to 'uxmon':
	      does now support 'variables' and
	      a generic way of defining dependencies
	      between different checks
	      (actually used in SNMP monitor -
	       enhanced storage usage reporting)

    22.03.99: the Status Collector does now
	      create a HTML version of each
	      status file in 'logs' and places
	      it in 'html'. Use '%itemref html'
	      in bb-display.cfg ...

    20.03.99: added %include statement for
	      including static sections into
	      web pages (bb-display.cfg)

    20.03.99: re-designed skin parsing code -
	      now nested variables as well as
	      subroutines in skins are supported

    19.03.99: added bswebalarm.pl - the web frontend
	      to alarms

    16.03.99: allow and interpret quotes " and
	      ' in uxmon-net

    14.03.99: added notify.pl (notifier for
	      event_generator) contributed
	      by Roland Roberts

    13.03.99: Finally added documentation of
	      new event generator features to CONFIG

    08.03.99: added %Frameset statement (bb-display.cfg)
	      for generating HTML framesets

    08.03.99: introduced the 'skin' mechanism 
	      (%skin statement in bb-display.cfg)
	      for describing page layouts.

    07.03.99: kill processes by name rather than by
	      uid. Optionally start uxmon as root
	      (currently only the ping module will
	      insist on running as root when doing
	      ICMP pings) when file adm/uxmon-asroot
	      exists

    07.03.99: cleaned up FQDN support: now FQDN
	      supported can be configured for each
	      'bsdisplay'/'bbdisplay' individually.
	      In compatibility mode ',' is used as
	      the replacement for '.'.

04.01.99: release 0.28
	  ------------

    03.01.99: FQDN support: display '.', internal
	      representation '_', BB may use ','.

    02.01.99: sort messages by severity: red first
	      (so get the important messages first
	       on the web pages and in alarms)

    02.01.99: added support for multiline status messages
	      in the whole Big Sister package

    02.01.99: bug fixes: allow ',' in hostnames
	      (BB fully qualified domain names) and
	      translate them to '_', find prototype
	      files (%Page statement in bb-display.cfg)
	      in 'www' subdirectory

    25.12.98: when a host dynamically leaves
	      (leave statement) no "purple" status
	      is generated any more

    25.12.98: reload adm/uxmon-net and adm/grouping
	      automatically when altered - no need
	      to restart uxmon any more

    21.12.98: behave sane when unresolvable host
	      names appear in config files or
	      name resolution is temporarily
	      unavailable

19.12.98: release 0.27 (first non-beta release!)
	  ------------

    19.12.98: multiple diskfree tests with
	      different file system types
	      are now supported

    19.12.98: diskfree test does now work on
	      HP/UX too out of the box

    19.12.98: bb_start does now work if run as
	      the bsuser too

    19.12.98: install procedure does now work as
	      non-root user too

    19.12.98: "type=nt,storage,cpu snmp" check does
	      now work together with Windows NT
	      systems too 

    17.12.98: made a few Win32 specific changes (such
	      as adding a start script, run processes
	      in background, etc.)

    15.12.98: added FQDN / noFQDN option to uxmon (see
	      'CONFIG') to ease handling of hostnames

    15.12.98: fixed bb_start again so that it now should
	      definitely work when installed in 'exotic'
	      directories

12.12.98: release 0.26beta (first Disteli proof version - see credits in README)
	  ----------------

    06.12.98: removed the "dynamic" stuff from uxmon.
	      Configuration/Module modifications now
	      must be followed by a uxmon restart for
	      changes to become effective. The automatic
	      reload of perl code obviously was causing
	      different troubles with different versions
	      of perl on different platforms ...

    19.11.98: bb_event_generator does now remember
	      alarms even after restart

    14.11.98: Big Sister runs on win32 platforms
	      too now (alpha)

11.11.98: release 0.25beta
	  ----------------

    11.11.98: fixed "EXPIRES" time format in
	      generated web pages

    10.11.98: added HP Openview trap monitor
	      interface to uxmon (check "OV")

    10.11.98: fixed "dumpdates" check

    08.11.98: bb_event_generator rewritten from
	      scratch: quite more configurable
	      now, is aware of grouping and reacts
	      faster on status changes.

    07.11.98: fixed 'cmd' Monitor (used especially
	      for 'dns' check)

    07.11.98: famous "last fix" to bb_start

01.11.98: release 0.24beta
	  ----------------

    01.11.98: started to replace a few gifs.
	      Reason: make Big Sister look
	      more different from Big Brother
	      (seems to be what some people
	      want me to do)

    01.11.98: Added "Autoconn"-feature (see CONFIG,
	      bb-display.cfg) allowing bbd to
	      treat a connection to itself like a
	      successfull ping and set 'conn'
	      to green on client connects.

    01.11.98: Added '-c' bbd option, semantics:
	      "create web pages and quit" (e.g.
	      for running bbd out of original
	      Big Brother runbb.sh)

    01.11.98: Correctly delete old image files
	      (image maps)

    27.10.98: fixed some install problems

26.10.98: decided to release 0.23beta (looks like a good idea to me to still call it "beta")
	  ---------------------------

    26.10.98: fixed treatement of hosts.allow

    26.10.98: a few bugfixes that should ease
	      installation in an environment different
	      from Tom's ...

25.10.98: release 0.22beta
	  ----------------

    24.10.98: support for graphical status displays
	      (e.g. maps) and HTML image maps (%image
	      statement)

    24.10.98: the groups listed in a %table-statement
	      in the bbd config file may now be prefixed
	      by one or more "+" and the respective
	      tables will contain all the groups/hosts
	      found when recursing down the group tree.

    22.10.98: Added "%Autojoin"-Statement to the Status
	      Collector. This allows to define a group
	      where every host automatically appears in (e.g.
	      "ALL") as well as a group newly appearing
	      hosts should join.

18.10.98: release 0.21beta
	  ----------------

    18.10.98: Added "dns" check ("cheap" implementation
	      using nslookup rather than a full-hearted
	      implementation as a true Monitor)

    18.10.98: %Pager statement added to bb-display.cfg
	      so that pages sent from BB clients aren't
	      sent to the Big Blackhole anymore

    17.10.98: decided to start using this file
