sample announcement for 10.2.1.6

[Rick Hillegas <Ri...@Sun.COM>]

Hello derby-dev,

I would like your feedback on the release announcement which I will post 
to various mailing lists. Step (21) of the release cookbook 
(http://wiki.apache.org/db-derby/DerbySnapshotOrRelease) recommends: 
"Every tech news blog remotely related to Java or databases will pick up 
the announcement and post it verbatim, so it's a good idea to spell 
check it, proofread it a couple of times, and/or get input from 
derby-dev on its content." I plan to post to the following mailing 
lists: derby-user, derby-dev, general@db.apache.org, and 
announce@apache.org. Please let me know what other mailing lists I 
should notify. Please also let me know how I can improve the following 
draft message.

Thanks,
-Rick

----------------------------------

The Apache Derby project is pleased to announce a new feature release
of Derby, 10.2.1.6.

Apache Derby is a subproject of the Apache DB project.
Derby is a pure Java relational database engine which conforms to the
ANSI SQL and JDBC standards. Derby aims to be easy for developers
and end-users to work with.

Derby 10.2.1.6 can be obtained from the Derby download site:

  http://db.apache.org/derby/derby_downloads.html.

Derby 10.2.1.6 introduces the following new featues:

* Tools
  o The ij sql interpreter now has command-line help
    and two new commands: show tables and describe.
  o The ij connect statement now works in the J2ME/CDC environment.
  o Tools can now be invoked without specifying a classpath
    just by typing java -jar derbyrun.jar toolName.

* Security
  o Databases can now be re-encrypted.
  o Secure connections can now be required.
  o Support has been added for DRDA userid/password substitution.
  o SQL Standard GRANT/REVOKE support has been added
    for authenticated users.

* Administration
  o New scripts have been added in the bin directory which
    follow Apache conventions.
  o System tables have been added for access to diagnostic information
    previously available only through non-standard VTIs.
  o Online backup is now available through new system procedures.
  o Various Net Servlet improvements have been made.
  o The network server now logs startup/shutdown messages to derby.log.

* JDBC
  o The network driver now supports statement timeouts.
  o Large object streaming has been improved in the network driver.
  o The FOR UPDATE clause is no longer required when declaring an 
updatable ResultSet.
  o Scrollable, updatable, insensitive ResultSets are now supported.
  o Network client messages have been internationalized.
  o Source-only JDBC 4 drivers are included, based on a proposed final draft
    of JSR-221 and beta build 99 of Java SE 6.

* SQL
  o Expressions are now allowed in the GROUP BY clause.
  o Identity columns can be reset to start at a new value.
  o XPath/XQuery support has been improved.
  o New builtin math functions have been added and wired-in as
    JDBC escape functions.
  o Unary +/- are now allowed for ? parameters.
  o Optimizer overrides have been added.
  o Triggers can now call Java procedures.
  o The nullability of a column can be changed now.

Re: sample announcement for 10.2.1.6

[David Van Couvering <da...@gmail.com>]

Oh, I missed this, I didn't look for it under JDBC.  Yes, I guess
that's where it belongs, thanks.

On 10/6/06, Rick Hillegas <Ri...@sun.com> wrote:
> David Van Couvering wrote:
>
> > Hi, Rick.  This looks good.  For some reason I noticed this :), but
> > you didn't mention that client messages are now internationalized.
> > That may be important to some folks...
> >
> > David
>
> Hi David,
>
> This is what I was trying to capture in the 5th bullet under JDBC.
> Should I re-word this?
>
> * JDBC
>   o The network driver now supports statement timeouts.
>   o Large object streaming has been improved in the network driver.
>   o The FOR UPDATE clause is no longer required when declaring an
> updatable ResultSet.
>   o Scrollable, updatable, insensitive ResultSets are now supported.
>   o Network client messages have been internationalized.
>   o Source-only JDBC 4 drivers are included, based on a proposed final draft
>     of JSR-221 and beta build 99 of Java SE 6.
>
>

Re: sample announcement for 10.2.1.6

[Rick Hillegas <Ri...@Sun.COM>]

David Van Couvering wrote:

> Hi, Rick.  This looks good.  For some reason I noticed this :), but
> you didn't mention that client messages are now internationalized.
> That may be important to some folks...
>
> David

Hi David,

This is what I was trying to capture in the 5th bullet under JDBC. 
Should I re-word this?

* JDBC
  o The network driver now supports statement timeouts.
  o Large object streaming has been improved in the network driver.
  o The FOR UPDATE clause is no longer required when declaring an 
updatable ResultSet.
  o Scrollable, updatable, insensitive ResultSets are now supported.
  o Network client messages have been internationalized.
  o Source-only JDBC 4 drivers are included, based on a proposed final draft
    of JSR-221 and beta build 99 of Java SE 6.

Re: sample announcement for 10.2.1.6

[David Van Couvering <da...@gmail.com>]

Hi, Rick.  This looks good.  For some reason I noticed this :), but
you didn't mention that client messages are now internationalized.
That may be important to some folks...

David

Re: sample announcement for 10.2.1.6

[Army <qo...@gmail.com>]

Daniel John Debrunner wrote:

> I would steer clear of terms like "officially supported" [...] So
> maybe the XML line should be something like:
> 
>  - XML datatype and operators for storing and querying XML data based 
> upon SQL/XML standard (version info?). Changes have been made from the 
> 10.1 XML features which were based upon a draft form of the SQL/XML 
> standard.

Sounds good to me.  SQL/XML version on which Derby XML is based on SQL/XML 2006.

Army

Re: sample announcement for 10.2.1.6

[Daniel John Debrunner <dj...@apache.org>]

Army wrote:
[snip XML discussion]

> that's too confusing for people ("Wasn't there already an XML type in 
> 10.1??"), we could perhaps add a short explanatory note, something like:
> 
>   o New XML datatype and operators for storing and querying XML data.
>     (not officially supported in earlier releases).

I would steer clear of terms like "officially supported", I don't think 
they really mean anything in an Apache open source project. All we 
should do is state what is included. The JDBC 4 support, for example, 
just says it is based upon a pfd/beta version of the spec/mustang. It's 
up to users to determine how/if they should use it. So maybe the XML 
line should be something like:

  - XML datatype and operators for storing and querying XML data based 
upon SQL/XML standard (version info?). Changes have been made from the 
10.1 XML features which were based upon a draft form of the SQL/XML 
standard.

Dan.

Re: sample announcement for 10.2.1.6

[Army <qo...@gmail.com>]

Rick Hillegas wrote:
> Hello derby-dev,
> 
> I would like your feedback on the release announcement which I will post 
> to various mailing lists.

Thanks for putting this together, Rick!  One minor comment:

>  o XPath/XQuery support has been improved.

Technically speaking, XPath/XQuery wasn't officially supported before 10.2. 
There was code in Derby 10.1 but the operators were unofficial/"experimental" 
because the SQL/XML spec that they are based on was still in flux at that time. 
  That's why the operators and datatype were not documented before now.

With 10.2 we're making support for an XML datatype and corresponding operators 
"official" by documenting it and claiming that, insofar as we know, the 
operators are now in line with SQL/XML and are ready for production use. 
Perhaps most importantly this means that future releases of Derby XML support 
should now pay attention to backward-compatibility concerns so that any apps 
that use XML with 10.2 will also work with XML in future releases.  (There was 
no such guarantee with XML in 10.1).

All of that to say that maybe instead of "has been improved", we could write 
something like:

   o New XML datatype and operators for storing and querying XML data.

If that's too confusing for people ("Wasn't there already an XML type in 
10.1??"), we could perhaps add a short explanatory note, something like:

   o New XML datatype and operators for storing and querying XML data.
     (not officially supported in earlier releases).

Army

Re: sample announcement for 10.2.1.6

["Dag H. Wanvik" <Da...@Sun.COM>]

Hi Rick,

Looks good, just some quick notes:

Rick Hillegas <Ri...@Sun.COM> writes:

> Derby 10.2.1.6 introduces the following new featues:
                                              ****

>  o The ij sql interpreter now has command-line help
            *** capitalize SQL

>    just by typing java -jar derbyrun.jar toolName.
                                           <toolName> or just toolname?

                                           With camelCase it looks
                                           like it's verbatim; not
                                           a meta-variable.
                                           
>  o The network server now logs startup/shutdown messages to derby.log.

I balked a little at "derby.log.". If you want to the the file name
without any quoting, the final period is a bit troublesome. Maybe we could
abstract it to "system history file" or some such.

Thanks,

Dag