Release Notices for Cactus 4.0 beta 3
=====================================
Sunday October 24th 1999


Released modules:
================

      Cactus
      CactusBase
      CactusEinstein
      CactusElliptic
      CactusNet
      CactusPUGH
      CactusPUGHIO
      CactusWave
      external


Main Changes:
============
      Initial implementation of general dimension grid functions
                                             (CactusPUGH/PUGH)
      Dynamic courant condition (CactusBase/Time)
      Ghostzone generality (CactusPUGH/PUGH)
      Faster compilation times (Cactus)


CVS Tag: Cactus_4_0_Beta_3
=======


==============================================================================


CHANGES FOR BETA 3
==================

Utils
=====

1) The perl processing part of the compilation process
   now only replaces files which have actually changed,
   so that compilation times are now much quicker (after
   the first time).

2) The test suite checker doesn't report a failed test if 
   thorns needed are missing. 

Util Thorns
===========

1) The names of boundary condition routines in 
   CactusBase/Boundary have been standardised and 
   renamed to make a distinction between groups and
   variables. The old names remain, but will be removed
   in Beta 4. See the documentation in this thorn for
   details.

2) Thorn CactusBase/Time now contains a routine for 
   using a dynamic courant condition to set the timestep.
   This is implemented in CactusEinstein/Einstein for 
   the relativity thorns ... see the documentation in 
   Time for details.

3) The standard PUGH driver now supports different 
   numbers of ghostzones in different directions.
   Also, there is a now a parameter for setting 
   the number of grid points on each local processor.

4) The standard PUGH driver now supports 1D grid functions.

5) The IsoSurfacer now supports display from Linux machines.


Relativity Thorns
=================

1) Einstein now uses thorn CactusBase/Time to set the
   timestep (previously Einstein set it itself). This
   means that you now have to compile Time and add it 
   to your active thorns, and the parameter einstein::dtfac
   should be changed to time::dtfac in parameter files.

2) Bugs in misner data and Brill Lindquist data have
   been fixed


==============================================================================


KNOWN BUGS IN BETA 3 
====================
(See Cactus bug tracking system for a complete list)

1) thorns CactusNet/http, external/TCPXX and external/RemoteIO
   are not compiling under most platforms other than SGI or
   Intel Linux

2) Cactus fails to compile for thorns with many grid variables
   on the origin due to a problem with the C preprocessor.

3) There is a memory bug occuring occasionally in 1D ASCII IO

4) EllPETSc only compiles with MPI, but it doesn't tell you this

5) The testsuite checking technology isn't working under NT


==============================================================================


WHAT TO EXPECT IN BETA 4
========================

1) Fixes for all known bugs in Beta 3

2) A mechanism to get rid of all the warnings for unused
   variables seen with Irix 6.5

3) Fuller implementation of 1D and 2D grid functions

4) Initial implementation of 1D, 2D and 3D arrays

5) Generic implementation of parameter choices for
   elliptic slicings

6) Maximal slicing properly integrated into ADM

 
==============================================================================


TEST MACHINES NOTES
===================

           * Intel Linux
                o bifrost.aei-potsdam.mpg.de Redhat 6.0, Absoft
                  compiler, wo MPI
                     + Remove: CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5,
                       CactusElliptic/EllPETSc
                     + Notes: CactusElliptic/EllPETSc compiled with
                       MPICH
                o gullveig.aei-potsdam.mpg.de Redhat 6.0, Absoft
                  compiler, MPI LAM
                     + Remove: CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5,
                       CactusElliptic/EllPETSc
           * Dec Alpha
                o galar.aei-potsdam.mpg.de wo MPI
                     + Remove: CactusElliptic/EllPETSc,
                       CactusPUGHIO/HDF5, external/RemoteIO,
                       CactusNet/http
           * SGI 64 bit
                o origin.aei-potsdam.mpg.de Irix 6.5, w/wo native
                  MPI
                     + Remove: CactusElliptic/EllPETSc
                     + Configure: HDF5=yes
                       HDF5_DIR=/usr/local/apps/hdf5
           * SGI 32 bit
                o nott.aei-potsdam.mpg.de Irix 6.5 wo MPI
                     + Remove: CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5,
                       CactusElliptic/EllPETSc
                     + Notes: Problem with output for PsiKadelia
                       test
                o null.wustl.edu Irix 6.2 wo MPI
                     + Remove: CactusNet/http, CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5,
                       CactusElliptic/EllPETSc, external/TCPXX,
                       external/RemoteIO
                     + Notes: Gives a lot of warnings about data
                       alignment
           * T3E
                o pc.rzg.mpg.de w/wo native MPI
                     + Remove:
                       CactusElliptic/EllPETSc,CactusPUGHIO/IOHDF5,
                       CactusNet/http, external/RemoteIO
                     + Notes: dependencies went funny in IEEEIO,
                       problem with output for PsiKadelia test
           * Windows NT
                o saraband.aei-potsdam.mpg.de wo MPI
                     + Remove: CactusNet/http, external/RemoteIO,
                       CactusElliptic/PETSc,
                       CactusPUGHIO/IsoSurfacer, external/TCPXX,
                       CactusWave/IDScalarWaveCXX,
                       CactusWave/IDWaveToyCXX
	             + Notes: tested compilation only, problem with
                       perl testsuite runner
                o ntsc-ts1.ncsa.uiuc.edu w/wo HPVM MPI
                     + Remove: CactusNet/http, external/RemoteIO,
                       CactusElliptic/PETSc,
                       CactusPUGHIO/IsoSurfacer, external/TCPXX,
                       CactusWave/IDScalarWaveCXX,
                       CactusWave/IDWaveToyCXX
	             + Configure: MPI=CUSTOM MPI_LIBS="mpi.lib fm.lib
                       advapi32.lib kernel32.lib wsock32.lib" MPI_INC_DIRS
                       ="d:/apps/hpvm/include"
                     + Notes: tested compilation only, problem with
                       perl testsuite runner
           * HP
                o exemplar.npaci.edu wo MPI, HP-UX 10.01
                     + Remove: CactusNet/http, external/RemoteIO,
                       CactusPUGHIO/IsoSurfacer,
                       CactusElliptic/PETSc, external/TCPXX
                     + Notes: dependencies went funny in TCPXX