GT.M V6.1-000A Release Notes

V6.1-000

Overview

In the major release V6.1-000, GT.M brings virtually unlimited global storage, TLS support for replication, the ability to ZLINK new versions of routines with prior versions on the stack, and more:

• Virtually unlimited global storage: With the ability to map global variables to database regions at the level of subscripts rather than an unsubscripted global variable name, GT.M global variable storage is now limited by factors external to GT.M - available storage, file system limits, memory, and so on. This has additional benefits. For example, if there are ranges of global variables within which there are patterns of sequential access, mapping each range to a different region can take advantage of one of many optimizations in the GT.M database engine for sequential access. See GTM-2168 below.
• Transport Layer Security (TLS/SSL) for replication: With enhancements to the architecture of the encryption plug-in, GT.M can replicate over a secure connection. The reference implementation of a plug-in included with GT.M is tested with OpenSSL. For database encryption, the reference implementation also provides an option to use libgcrypt (from GnuPG) and libcrypto (OpenSSL) in “FIPS mode,” removing a need to modify the plugin for sites that require certification for compliance with FIPS 140-2. Note: Achieving FIPS 140-2 certification requires actions and controls well beyond the purview of GT.M, including underlying cryptographic libraries that are certifiably FIPS compliant, administrative controls, and so on. FIS neither provides cryptographic libraries with GT.M nor recommends the use of any specific library - refer to the GT.M Administration and Operations Guide UNIX Edition for more details. See GTM-7743 below.
• Relink recursive: Processes can explicitly ZLINK new versions of routines even when they have prior versions of routines with the same name already associated with an active frame in the stack of the M virtual machine. When a process links a routine with the same name as an existing routine, future calls use the new routine. Prior versions of that routine referenced by the stack remain tied to the stack until they QUIT, at which point they become inaccessible. This enhancement provides a mechanism to patch long-running processes, one that allows a process to retain more state than previous techniques. See GTM-7551 below.

Other new features include:

• SOCKET device support for local sockets (also known as UNIX domain sockets). See GTM-7554 below.
• The ability for a parent process to pass a SOCKET device to a child process in a JOB command. See GTM-7322 below.
• A $ZCLOSE intrinsic special variable that provides the status of a CLOSE of a PIPE device. See GTM-6666 below.
• Faster database reads, especially when large numbers of processes (thousands) concurrently access a database file. See GTM-7865 below.
• Nanosecond timestamps to determine whether a source file is newer than an object file. See GTM-7750 below.
• Performance enhancements to databases on AIX that use the MM access method. See GTM-7756 below.

Support for IPv6 previously released in V6.0-003 as field-test grade functionality is considered production grade functionality in V6.1-000. There are numerous smaller enhancements, performance enhancements, robustness improvements and bug fixes, described below.

Conventions

This document uses the following conventions:

The following table summarizes the new and revised replication terminology and qualifiers.

Effective V6.0-000, GT.M documentation is adopting IEC standard Prefixes for binary multiples. This document therefore uses prefixes Ki, Mi and Ti (e.g., 1MiB for 1,048,576 bytes). All GT.M documentation will over time be updated to this standard.

denotes a new feature that requires updating the manuals.

denotes a new feature or an enhancement that may not be upward compatible and may affect an existing application.

denotes deprecated messages.

denotes revised messages.

denotes added messages.

Platforms

Over time, computing platforms evolve. Vendors obsolete hardware architectures. New versions of operating systems replace old ones. We at FIS continually evaluate platforms and versions of platforms that should be Supported for GT.M. In the table below, we document not only the ones that are currently Supported for this release, but also alert you to our future plans given the evolution of computing platforms. If you are an FIS customer, and these plans would cause you hardship, please contact your FIS account executive promptly to discuss your needs.

GT.M runs on a wide variety of UNIX/Linux implementations as well as OpenVMS. Consult FIS for currently supported versions. Each GT.M release is extensively tested by FIS on a set of specific versions of operating systems on specific hardware architectures (the combination of operating system and hardware architecture is referred to as a platform). This set of specific versions is considered Supported. There will be other versions of the same operating systems on which a GT.M release may not have been tested, but on which the FIS GT.M support team knows of no reason why GT.M would not work. This larger set of versions is considered Supportable. There is an even larger set of platforms on which GT.M may well run satisfactorily, but where the FIS GT.M team lacks the knowledge to determine whether GT.M is Supportable. These are considered Unsupported. Contact FIS GT.M Support with inquiries about your preferred platform.

As of the publication date, FIS supports this release on the hardware and operating system versions below. Contact FIS for a current list of Supported platforms. The reference implementation of the encryption plugin has its own additional requirements, should you opt to use it as included with GT.M.

Platform support lifecycle

FIS usually supports new operating system versions six months or so after stable releases are available and we usually support each version for a two year window. GT.M releases are also normally supported for two years after release. While FIS will attempt to provide support to customers in good standing for any GT.M release and operating system version, our ability to provide support is diminished after the two year window.

GT.M cannot be patched, and bugs are only fixed in new releases of software.

Migrating to 64-bit platforms

The same application code runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms. Please note that:

• You must compile the application code separately for each platform. Even though the M source code is exactly the same, the generated object modules are different even on the same hardware architecture - the object code differs between x86 and x86_64.
• Parameter-types that interface GT.M with non-M code using C calling conventions must match the data-types on their target platforms. Mostly, these parameters are for call-ins, external calls, internationalization (collation), and environment translation and are listed in the tables below. Note that most addresses on 64-bit platforms are 8 bytes long and require 8 byte alignment in structures whereas all addresses on 32-bit platforms are 4 bytes long and require 4-byte alignment in structures.

Call-ins and External Calls

Internationalization (Collation)

Environment Translation

Recompile

• Recompile all M and C source files.

Rebuild Shared Libraries or Images

• Rebuild all Shared Libraries (UNIX) or Shareable Executable Images (OpenVMS) after recompiling all M and C source files..

Additional Installation Instructions

To install GT.M, see the “Installing GT.M” section in the GT.M Administration and Operations Guide. For minimal down time, upgrade a current replicating instance and restart replication. Once that replicating instance is current, switch it to become the originating instance. Upgrade the prior originating instance to become a replicating instance, and perform a switchover when you want it again to resume an originating primary role.

UNIX

• FIS strongly recommends installing each version of GT.M in a separate (new) directory, rather than overwriting a previously installed version. If you have a legitimate need to overwrite an existing GT.M installation with a new version, you must first shut down all processes using the old version. FIS suggests installing GT.M V6.1-000 in a Filesystem Hierarchy Standard compliant location such as /usr/lib/fis-gtm/V6.1-000_arch (for example, /usr/lib/fis-gtm/V6.1-000_x86 on 32-bit Linux systems). A location such as /opt/fis-gtm/V6.1-000_arch would also be appropriate. Note that the arch suffix is especially important if you plan to install 32- and 64-bit versions of the same release of GT.M on the same system.
• Use the MUPIP RUNDOWN command of the old GT.M version to ensure all database files are cleanly closed.
• In UNIX editions, make sure gtmsecshr is not running. If gtmsecshr is running, first stop all GT.M processes including the DSE, LKE and MUPIP utilities and then perform a MUPIP STOP pid_of_gtmsecshr.

Additional Information for JFS1 on AIX

If you expect a database file or journal file to exceed 2GB with older versions of the JFS file system, then you must configure its file system to permit files larger than 2GB. Furthermore, should you choose to place journal files on file systems with a 2GB limit, since GT.M journal files can grow to a maximum size of 4GB, you must then set the journal auto switch limit to less than 2 GB.

OpenVMS

To upgrade from a GT.M version prior to V4.3-001, you must update any customized copy of GTM$DEFAULTS to include a definition for GTM$ZDATE_FORM.

You can ignore the following section if you choose the standard GT.M configuration or answer yes to the following question:

Do you want to define GT.M commands to the system

If you define GT.M commands locally with SET COMMAND GTM$DIST:GTMCOMMANDS.CLD in GTMLOGIN.COM or other command file for each process which uses GT.M, you must execute the same command after installing the new version of GT.M and before using it. If you define the GT.M commands to the system other than during the installation of GT.M, you must update the system DCLTABLES with the new GTMCOMMANDS.CLD provided with this version of GT.M. See the OpenVMS “Command Definition, Librarian, and Message Utilities Manual” section on “Adding a system command.” In both cases, all GT.M processes must match the proper GTMCOMMANDS.CLD with the version of GT.M they run..

Upgrading to GT.M V6.1-000

The GT.M database consists of four types of components- database files, journal files, global directories, and replication instance files. The format of some database components is different for 32-bit and 64-bit GT.M releases for the x86 GNU/Linux platform.

GT.M upgrade procedure for V6.1-000 consists of 5 stages:

• Stage 1: Global Directory Upgrade
• Stage 2: Database Files Upgrade
• Stage 3: Replication Instance File Upgrade
• Stage 4: Journal Files Upgrade
• Stage 5: Trigger Definitions Upgrade

Read the upgrade instructions of each stage carefully. Your upgrade procedure for GT.M V6.1-000 depends on your GT.M upgrade history and your current version.

Stage 1: Global Directory Upgrade

FIS strongly recommends you back up your Global Directory before upgrading. There is no single-step method for downgrading a Global Directory to an older format.

To upgrade from any previous version of GT.M:

• Open your Global Directory with the GDE utility program of GT.M V6.1-000.
• Execute the EXIT command. This command automatically upgrades the Global Directory.

To switch between 32- and 64-bit global directories on the x86 GNU/Linux platform:

1. Open your Global Directory with the GDE utility program on the 32-bit platform.
2. On GT.M versions that support SHOW -COMMAND, execute SHOW -COMMAND -FILE=file-name. This command stores the current Global Directory settings in file-name.
3. On GT.M versions that do not support GDE SHOW -COMMAND, execute the SHOW -ALL command. Use the information from the output to create an appropriate command file or use it as a guide to manually enter commands in GDE.
4. Open GDE on the 64-bit platform. If you have a command file from 2. or 3., execute @file-name and then run the EXIT command. These commands automatically create the Global Directory. Otherwise use the GDE output from the old Global Directory and apply the settings in the new environment.

An analogous procedure applies in the reverse direction.

If you inadvertently open a Global Directory of an old format with no intention of upgrading it, execute the QUIT command rather than the EXIT command.

If you inadvertently upgrade a global directory, perform the following steps to downgrade to an old GT.M release:

• Open the global directory with the GDE utility program of V6.1-000.
• Execute the SHOW -COMMAND -FILE=file-name command. This command stores the current Global Directory settings in the file-name command file. If the old version is significantly out of date, edit the command file to remove the commands that do not apply to the old format. Alternatively, you can use the output from SHOW -ALL or SHOW -COMMAND as a guide to manually enter equivalent GDE commands for the old version.

Stage 2: Database Files Upgrade

To upgrade from GT.M V5.0*/V5.1*/V5.2*/V5.3*/V5.4*/V5.5:

A V6 database file is a superset of a V5 database file and has potentially longer keys and records. Therefore, upgrading a database file requires no explicit procedure. After upgrading the Global Directory, opening a V5 database with a V6 process automatically upgrades fields in the database fileheader.

A V6 database supports global variable nodes up to 1 MiB and is not backward compatible. Use MUPIP DOWNGRADE -VERSION=V5 to downgrade a V6 database back to V5 format provided it meets the database downgrade requirements. For more information on downgrading a database, refer to Downgrading to V5 or V4.

If your database has any previously used but free blocks from an earlier upgrade cycle (V4 to V5), you may need to execute the MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE command. If you have already executed the MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE command in a version prior to V5.3-003 and if subsequent versions cannot determine whether MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE performed all required actions, it sends warnings to the operator log requesting another run of MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE. In that case, perform any one of the following steps:

• Execute the MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE command again, or
• Execute the DSE CHANGE -FILEHEADER -FULLY_UPGRADED=1 command to stop the warnings.

You do not need to run MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE on:

• A database that was created by a V5 MUPIP CREATE
• A database that has been completely processed by a MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE from V5.3-003 or later.

For additional upgrade considerations, refer to Database Compatibility Notes.

To upgrade from a GT.M version prior to V5.000:

You need to upgrade your database files only when there is a block format upgrade from V4 to V5. However, some versions, for example, database files which have been initially been created with V4 (and subsequently upgraded to a V5 format) may additionally need a MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE operation to upgrade previously used but free blocks that may have been missed by earlier upgrade tools.

• Upgrade your database files using in-place or traditional database upgrade procedure depending on your situation. For more information on in-place/traditional database upgrade, see Database Migration Technical Bulletin.
• Run the MUPIP REORG -UPGRADE command. This command upgrades all V4 blocks to V5 format.

Database Compatibility Notes

• Changes to the database file header may occur in any release. GT.M automatically upgrades database file headers as needed. Any changes to database file headers are upward and downward compatible within a major database release number, that is, although processes from only one GT.M release can access a database file at any given time, processes running different GT.M releases with the same major release number can access a database file at different times.
• Databases created with V5.3-004 through V5.5-000 can grow to a maximum size of 224Mi (234,881,024) blocks. This means, for example, that with an 8KiB block size, the maximum database file size is 1,792GiB; this is effectively the size of a single global variable that has a region to itself; a database consists of any number of global variables. A database created with GT.M versions V5.0-000 through V5.3-003 can be upgraded with MUPIP UPGRADE to increase the limit on database file size from 128Mi to 224Mi blocks.
• Databases created with V5.0-000 through V5.3-003 have a maximum size of 128Mi (134, 217,728) blocks. GT.M versions V5.0-000 through V5.3-003 can access databases created with V5.3-004 and later as long as they remain within a 128Mi block limit.
• Database created with V6.0-000 or above have a maximum size of 1,040,187,392(992Mi) blocks.
• For information on downgrading a database upgraded from V6 to V5, refer to: Downgrading to V5 or V4.

Stage 3: Replication Instance File Upgrade

V6.1-000 does not require new replication instance files if you are upgrading from V5.5-000. However, V6.1-000 requires new replication instance files if you are upgrading from any version prior to V5.5-000. Instructions for creating new replication instance files are in the Database Replication chapter of the UNIX Administration and Operations Guide. Shut down all Receiver Servers on other instances that are to receive updates from this instance, shut down this instance Source Server(s), recreate the instance file, restart the Source Server(s) and then restart any Receiver Server for this instance with the -UPDATERESYNC qualifier.

Stage 4: Journal Files Upgrade

On every GT.M upgrade:

• Create a fresh backup of your database.
• Generate new journal files (without back-links).

Stage 5: Trigger Definitions Upgrade

If you are upgrading from V5.4-002A/V5.4-002B/V5.5-000 to V6.1-000, you do not need to extract and reload triggers.

You need to extract and reload your trigger definitions only if you are upgrading from V5.4-000/V5.4-000A/V5.4-001 to V6.1-000. This is necessary because multi-line XECUTEs for triggers require a different internal storage format for triggers which makes triggers created in V5.4-000/V5.4-000A/V5.4-001 incompatible with V5.4-002/V5.4-002A/V5.4-002B/V5.5-000/V6.0-000/V6.0-001/V6.1-000.

To extract and reapply the trigger definitions on V6.1-000 using MUPIP TRIGGER:

1. Using the old version, execute a command like mupip trigger -select="*" trigger_defs.trg. Now, the output file trigger_defs.trg contains all trigger definitions.
2. Place -* at the beginning of the trigger_defs.trg file to remove the old trigger definitions.
3. Using V6.1-000, run mupip trigger -triggerfile=trigger_defs.trg to reload your trigger definitions.

To extract and reload trigger definitions on a V6.1-000 replicating instance using $ZTRIGGER():

1. Shut down the instance using the old version of GT.M.
2. Execute a command like mumps -run %XCMD 'i $ztrigger("select")' > trigger_defs.trg . Now, the output file trigger_defs.trg contains all trigger definitions.
3. Turn off replication on all regions.
4. Run mumps -run %XCMD 'i $ztrigger("item","-*") to remove the old trigger definitions.
5. Perform the upgrade procedure applicable for V6.1-000.
6. Run mumps -run %XCMD 'if $ztrigger("file","trigger_defs.trg")' to reapply your trigger definitions.
7. Turn replication on.
8. Connect to the originating instance.

Downgrading to V5 or V4

You can downgrade a GT.M V6 database to V5 or V4 format using MUPIP DOWNGRADE.

Starting with V6.0-000, MUPIP DOWNGRADE supports the -VERSION qualifier with the following format:

MUPIP DOWNGRADE -VERSION=[V5|V4]

-VERSION specifies the desired version for the database header.

To qualify for a downgrade from V6 to V5, your database must meet the following requirements:

1. The database was created with a major version no greater than the target version.
2. The database does not contain any records that exceed the block size (spanning nodes).
3. The sizes of all the keys in database are less than 256 bytes.
4. There are no keys present in database with size greater than the Maximum-Key-Size specification the database header, that is, Maximum-Key-Size is assured.
5. The maximum Record size is small enough to accommodate key, overhead, and value within a block.

If your database meets all the above requirements, MUPIP DOWNGRADE -VERSION=V5 resets the database header to V5 elements which makes it compatible with V5 versions.

To qualify for a downgrade from V6 to V4, your database must meet the same downgrade requirements that are there for downgrading from V6 to V5.

If your database meets the downgrade requirements, perform the following steps to downgrade to V4:

1. In a GT.M V6.1-000 environment:

   1. Execute MUPIP SET -VERSION=v4 so that GT.M writes updates blocks in V4 format.
   2. Execute MUPIP REORG -DOWNGRADE to convert all blocks from V6 format to V4 format.

2. Bring down all V6 GT.M processes and execute MUPIP RUNDOWN -FILE on each database file to ensure that there are no processes accessing the database files.

3. Execute MUPIP DOWNGRADE -VERSION=V4 to change the database file header from V6 to V4.

4. Restore or recreate all the V4 global directory files.

5. Your database is now successfully downgraded to V4.

Managing M mode and UTF-8 mode

On selected platforms, with International Components for Unicode (ICU) version 3.6 or later installed, GT.M’s UTF-8 mode provides support for Unicode (ISO/IEC-10646) character strings. On other platforms, or on a system that does not have ICU 3.6 or later installed, GT.M only supports M mode.

On a system that has ICU installed, GT.M optionally installs support for both M mode and UTF-8 mode, including a utf8 subdirectory of the directory where GT.M is installed. From the same source file, depending upon the value of the environment variable gtm_chset, the GT.M compiler generates an object file either for M mode or UTF-8 mode. GT.M generates a new object file when it finds both a source and an object file, and the object predates the source file and was generated with the same setting of $gtm_chset/$ZCHset. A GT.M process generates an error if it encounters an object file generated with a different setting of $gtm_chset/$ZCHset than that processes’ current value.

Always generate an M object module with a value of $gtm_chset/$ZCHset matching the value processes executing that module will have. As the GT.M installation itself contains utility programs written in M, their object files also conform to this rule. In order to use utility programs in both M mode and UTF-8 mode, the GT.M installation ensures that both M and UTF-8 versions of object modules exist, the latter in the utf8 subdirectory. This technique of segregating the object modules by their compilation mode prevents both frequent recompiles and errors in installations where both modes are in use. If your installation uses both modes, consider a similar pattern for structuring application object code repositories.

GT.M is installed in a parent directory and a utf8 subdirectory as follows:

• Actual files for GT.M executable programs (mumps, mupip, dse, lke, and so on) are in the parent directory, that is, the location specified for installation.

• Object files for programs written in M (GDE, utilities) have two versions - one compiled with support for Unicode in the utf8 subdirectory, and one compiled without support for Unicode in the parent directory. Installing GT.M generates both versions of object files, as long as ICU 3.6 or greater is installed and visible to GT.M when GT.M is installed, and you choose the option to install Unicode support.

• The utf8 subdirectory has files called mumps, mupip, dse, lke, and so on, which are relative symbolic links to the executables in the parent directory (for example, mumps is the symbolic link ../mumps).

• When a shell process sources the file gtmprofile, the behavior is as follows:

  • If $gtm_chset is “m”, “M” or undefined, there is no change from the previous GT.M versions to the value of the environment variable $gtmroutines.

  • If $gtm_chset is “UTF-8” (the check is case-insensitive),

    • $gtm_dist is set to the utf8 subdirectory (that is, if GT.M is installed in /usr/lib/fis-gtm/gtm_V6.1-000_i686, then gtmprofile and gtmcshrc set $gtm_dist to /usr/lib/fis-gtm/gtm_V6.1-000_i686/utf8).
    • On platforms where the object files have not been placed in a libgtmutil.so shared library, the last element of $gtmroutines is $gtm_dist($gtm_dist/..) so that the source files in the parent directory for utility programs are matched with object files in the utf8 subdirectory. On platforms where the object files are in libgtmutil.so, that shared library is the one with the object files compiled in the mode for the process.

For more information on gtmprofile and gtmcshrc, refer to the Basic Operations chapter of UNIX Administration and Operations Guide.

Compiling ICU

GT.M versions prior to V5.3-004 require exactly ICU 3.6, however, V5.3-004 (or later) accept ICU 3.6 or later. For sample instructions to download ICU, configure it not to use multi-threading, and compile it for various platforms, refer to Appendix C: Compiling ICU on GT.M supported platforms of the UNIX Administration and Operations Guide.

Although GT.M uses ICU, ICU is not FIS software and FIS does not support ICU. The sample instructions for installing and configuring ICU are merely provided as a convenience to you.

Also, note that download sites, versions of compilers, and milli and micro releases of ICU may have changed since the dates when these instructions were tested rendering them out-of-date. Therefore, these instructions must be considered examples, not a cookbook.

Setting the environment variable TERM

The environment variable TERM must specify a terminfo entry that accurately matches the terminal (or terminal emulator) settings. Refer to the terminfo man pages for more information on the terminal settings of the platform where GT.M needs to run.

• Some terminfo entries may seem to work properly but fail to recognize function key sequences or fail to position the cursor properly in response to escape sequences from GT.M. GT.M itself does not have any knowledge of specific terminal control characteristics. Therefore, it is important to specify the right terminfo entry to let GT.M communicate correctly with the terminal. You may need to add new terminfo entries depending on your specific platform and implementation. The terminal (emulator) vendor may also be able to help.

• GT.M uses the following terminfo capabilities. The full variable name is followed by the capname in parenthesis:

  auto_right_margin(am), clr_eos(ed), clr_eol(el), columns(cols), cursor_address(cup), cursor_down(cud1), cursor_left(cub1), cursor_right(cuf1), cursor_up(cuu1), eat_newline_glitch(xenl), key_backspace(kbs), key_dc(kdch1),key_down(kcud1), key_left(kcub1), key_right(kcuf1), key_up(kcuu1), key_insert(kich1), keypad_local(rmkx),keypad_xmit(smkx), lines(lines).

GT.M sends keypad_xmit before terminal reads for direct mode and READs (other than READ *) if EDITING is enabled. GT.M sends keypad_local after these terminal reads.

Installing Compression Libraries

If you plan to use the optional compression facility for replication, you must provide the compression library. The GT.M interface for compression libraries accepts the zlib compression libraries without any need for adaptation. These libraries are included in many UNIX distributions and are downloadable from the zlib home page. If you prefer to use other compression libraries, you need to configure or adapt them to provide the same API provided by zlib. Simple instructions for compiling zlib on a number of platforms follow. Although GT.M can use zlib, zlib is not FIS software and FIS does not support zlib. These instructions are merely provided as a convenience to you.

If a package for zlib is available with your operating system, FIS suggests that you use it rather than building your own.

Solaris/cc compiler from Sun Studio:

./configure --sharedmake CFLAGS="-KPIC -m64"

HP-UX(IA64)/HP C compiler:

./configure --sharedmake CFLAGS="+DD64"

AIX/XL compiler:

./configure --sharedAdd -q64 to the LDFLAGS line of the Makefilemake CFLAGS="-q64"

Linux/gcc:

./configure --sharedmake CFLAGS="-m64"

By default, GT.M searches for the libz.so shared library (libz.sl on HPUX PA-RISC) in the standard system library directories (for example, /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib, /usr/local/lib64). If the shared library is installed in a non-standard location, before starting replication, you must ensure that the environment variable LIBPATH (AIX) or LD_LIBRARY_PATH (other UNIX platforms) includes the directory containing the library. The Source and Receiver Server link the shared library at runtime. If this fails for any reason (such as file not found, or insufficient authorization), the replication logic logs a DLLNOOPEN error and continues with no compression.