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 ...


    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


16.10.99: 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