NetKernel 3.3 release is slated for October 2007.  This topic will track development progress and provide milestones for significant releases.

The latest build is available from:

http://1060.org/upload/alpha/1060-NetKernel-3.3-alpha-latest.jar

We have started our development process to get the NetKernel 3.3 product release ready. We are going to be more open this time with interim alpha releases. By alpha, we truly do mean a release that is not complete, has known bugs and problems and is not suitable for production use.

For each release we will list those items for which we seek feedback. If the items are about the documentation you can download and install the release and then provide feedback using the documentation feedback tool found on each page.

We have switched to a permanent link for alpha releases:

http://1060.org/upload/alpha/1060-NetKernel-3.3-alpha-latest.jar

When you run the installer it will still prompt you for a directory with the current alpha release number.

To bring everyone up to date I include notes from the last couple of releases:



Alpha 11

For review:

    * Solution Developer Guide structure.

      I have started a full-scale reworking of this guide. The current
      structure is looking good and won't change unless I get feedback.
      The content is under development and not ready for review.



Alpha 10

(private release)



Alpha 9

For review:

    * Getting Started Guide.

    * Ordering of documents on the document panel.

    * New Power Trace Tool and its documentation.

Please note:

    * There are many broken links in the documentation. This is expected as I am working on a massive reorganization and things are in flux.

Alpha 12

This is the last alpha release this week.

I have been focusing on the Solution Developer Guide since alpha 11.

It is starting to pull together as a much better guide. I would like this to be the guide that developers use to gain a fundamental understanding about how NetKernel applications are built. If you have any thoughts that can improve the book (from a high-level content perspective, please let me know).

The detailed content of the book is still in flux so browse it to get a general understanding of how it will flow but don't worry about the details just yet.

-- Randy

Alpha 15 was posted on the distribution server today.

For review and testing:

    * JRuby now at release level 1.0.1 and providing official support for the Ruby programming language. JRuby now appears to be 50% faster than the 0.99 experimental release in NetKernel 3.2.

    * Jython was updated to the new 2.2 release. No performance change was noted.

    * Getting Started Guide.

    * Ordering of documents on the document panel.

    * New Power Trace Tool and its documentation.

A support question arrived yesterday about exception handling in NetKernel and we realized that we have not fully described how this works. I have added this documentation to the Solution Developer Guide and several other areas where appropriate.

Alpha 16 was posted on the distribution server today.

The major change since alpha 15 is the new Image resource model.

In prior releases of NetKernel image processing was accomplished with fragmentors. In the simplified resource oriented computing model we are perfecting in NetKernel 4 we have dropped the concept of fragmentors.

In anticipation of this change, starting in NetKernel 3.3, we will migrate fragmentor functionality to accessor services starting with the image processing capabilities. In this alpha release we have moved all image processing information and services into a newly documented Image resource model.

Added for review in this alpha release:

    * Image resource model

    * Extension Developers Guide is now final
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Alpha 17 was posted on the distribution server today.

This will be the last alpha release this week.

Added for review in this alpha release:

    * Resource Model Guide is almost final. The XML resource model is not yet documented.

    * Bug fixes and enhancements:

      ^ SMTPServer and SMTPSync now accept a SMTPPort parameter
     
      ^ mod-db now supports timeout control on the connection to the database

      ^ Entity resolver fixed in xslt2

      ^ XUnit now supports setup and teardown

      ^ HTTP Bridge is fixed to pass parameters on DELETE

    * The Power Trace tool was renamed the "Request Visualizer"

Enjoy!

-- Randy

Alpha 20 was posted on the distribution server today.

Added for review in this alpha release:

    * Continuing to refine the Getting Started Guide. This is now still a draft. I expect to have a final version in the next alpha release.

    * Updates to almost all other documentation books.

    * Bug fixes and enhancements:

      ^ HTTP client has client library upgraded to version 3.1
     
      ^ various fixes to locking file problem in mod-lucene

Enjoy!

-- Randy

Alpha 26 was posted on the distribution server today. Download a copy at:

http://1060.org/upload/alpha/1060-NetKernel-3.3-alpha-latest.jar

This is a significant release with two major additions. We have worked very hard on the Getting Started with NetKernel guide to provide a smooth learning path for developers. We would appreciate feedback now specifically on this guide.

The second major addition are changes made to the HTTP transport. It is now supports eTags and if-modified. The results in our testing are encouraging. HTTP based NetKernel applications should feel "snappier" now - even NetKernel itself. Because this change results in fewer requests sent by browsers, the Visualizer Tool is easier to use as many of the requests for image files, etc. are handled by the new cache in the HTTP transport.

We have tested the new transport on a range of browsers but we would appreciate even more testing. Please run this alpha release of NetKernel with different browsers and let us know if you run into any difficulties.


Added for review in this alpha release:

    * The Getting Started with NetKernel guide is now finished and ready for full review.

    * HTTP Transport updated to support eTags and if-modified.


Enjoy!

-- Randy

Alpha 29 was posted on the distribution server today. Download a copy at:

http://1060.org/upload/alpha/1060-NetKernel-3.3-alpha-latest.jar

As of this release we have made all of the code changes planned for the NetKernel 3.3 product release. If you have any other requests, please let us know.

The graphics have been updated for the new documentation books and the splash screen images.

Also of note in this alpha release:

    * The Getting Started with NetKernel guide is now finished and ready for full review.

    * Solutions Guide is now finished and ready for review

    * Architect's Guide is now finished and ready for review

    * Resource Model Guide is almost complete.

    * Transport Guide has been renamed "Client Tools, Services and Transports". This is still in transition as is the Tutorial Book.

    * The PingPong example has been removed and will be made available through a download server. This removes it's polling requests from the Request Visualizer Tool.

    * XForms has been removed and is available from the download servers.

    * A general clean up of redundant code and libraries has reduced the JAR size.


Enjoy!

-- Randy

Alpha 30 was posted on the distribution server today. Download a copy at:

http://www.1060.org/upload/alpha/1060-NetKernel-3.3-alpha-latest.jar

Of note in this alpha release:

    * JDBC driver for HSQLDB updated to the latest.

    * Improvements to Client Tools, Services and Transport Guide.

Enjoy!

-- Randy