C O C O O N @version@ ************************************************************************** * Please read the file INSTALLING, it contains important information * ************************************************************************** Contents * What is it? * Where is it? * Requirements * Release Notes for Cocoon 1.8.2 and previous versions * Licensing and Legal Issues What is it? ----------- Cocoon is a 100% pure Java publishing framework that relies on new W3C technologies (such as XML and XSL) to provide web content. The Cocoon project aims to change the way web information is created, rendered and delivered. This new paradigm is based on fact that document content, style and logic are often created by different individuals or working groups. Cocoon aims to a complete separation of the three layers, allowing the three layers to be indipendently designed, created and managed, reducing management overhead, increasing work reuse and reducing time to market. Where is it? ------------ The home page for the Cocoon project can be found in the Apache XML Project web site (http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/). There you also find information on how to download the latest release as well as all the other information you might need regarding this project. Requirements ------------ Cocoon is implemented both as a Java servlet and a Java command line application. The following requirements exist for installing it: o A Java 1.1 or later compatible virtual machine for your operating system. o Server API 2.x Servlet Engine (optional for command line operation). Installation Instructions and Documentation ------------------------------------------- The documentation available as of the date of this release is included in the "docs/" directory (unless you got this from CVS, in which case you need to run build docs, which generates documentation in the build/docs directory). Look for the most updated documentation on the Cocoon web site under the Apache XML Project (http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/). Release Notes for Cocoon 1.8.2 ------------------------------ This is a minor bugfix release. Among other things, Cocoon works on JDK1.1 again, as it should, and the XInclude processor should work correctly at any stage in the pipeline (previously it would do nothing if invoked after certain processors). Also, in the last two versions, optional connectors for XT, JNDI etc. were left out by mistake from the build. This has now been fixed. Release Notes for Cocoon 1.8.1 ------------------------------ This is mainly a bugfix release - a large number of fixes and updates have been made. As usual, changes since previous releases are documented in docs/changes.html Major improvements include: * First official release of the esql logicsheet for database access in Cocoon. Esql, which was previously an undocumented experimental feature, supports features like integration with other logicsheets, prepared statements, and multiple encodings. Esql now supercedes both the sql taglib and the sql processor. IMPORTANT NOTE: Although the esql syntax has changed since Cocoon 1.8 (see the documentation), it is now expected to be fairly stable. * The much-maligned Internet Explorer PDF bug, which caused so much gnashing of teeth, has finally been "fixed" in Cocoon! (We think.) See the FAQ for full details - see also samples/fo for practical examples. * Updated installation instructions for a number of servlet engines, including Tomcat. Cocoon now comes with walk-through installation instructions for a greater range of platforms than ever before! This is very useful because Cocoon is a complex servlet and therefore quite complicated to install. * Support for FOP 0.15 (though not later versions). Unfortunately this is rather inefficient - Cocoon 2 will address this. FOP is an XML-to-PDF converter based at xml.apache.org. FOP 0.15 supports more features and fixes many bugs, but it is based on a newer XSL:FO specification than FOP 0.13, so some pages may need changing. FOP Samples have been updated accordingly. Other highlights include: * New LinkEncodingProcessor to encode all links on a page - no more messing about with response.encodeUrl all over the place or unportable XSLT extensions! * sax-bugfix.jar that allows you to see line numbers in parsing errors. See Installing. * Documentation has been tweaked and improved in many places. * Of interest to JServ users - You can now override options in cocoon.properties, in web.xml or zone.properties. * User-agent support for command-line mode. * Slightly better encoding and CLASSPATH support for XSP. * More informative error information in places. * Numerous other bugfixes, including a workaround for a Websphere bug that prevented Cocoon from working. Also new since the last release is a Bug Database and a Patch Queue on the Cocoon website. If you've posted us a bugfix and it hasn't been acted on yet, please feel free to file a bug report - it helps us keep track! (To file a report you need to first register, and then login.) Of course, we would like to see as much information as possible in bug reports, as this aids in tracking down bugs and testing bugfixes. As usual, if upgrading from an earlier release, you need to replace your cocoon.properties file with the one supplied in src/org/apache/cocoon/cocoon.properties, (then make any site-specific adjustments if you have any), or Cocoon will very likely not work at all. Again, it may cause errors if you use old samples with a new Cocoon. If you use the ESQL taglib, the syntax has changed between Cocoon 1.8 and Cocoon 1.8.1. See the documentation for more details. Release Notes for Cocoon 1.8 ---------------------------- There are no reported major issues with this release. As usual, if upgrading from an earlier release, you need to replace your cocoon.properties file with the one supplied in src/org/apache/cocoon/cocoon.properties, (then make any site-specific adjustments if you have any), or Cocoon will very likely not work at all. *** IMPORTANT *** If you get an error message about ProducerFromRequest, this means that you forgot to do the above. See the FAQ for more details. Note also that you need an additional library, new to 1.8, turbine-pool.jar, which is in the /lib directory, to be visible to the servlet engine. See the installation instructions. As usual, changes since previous releases are documented in docs/changes.html Highlights include: * Database connection pooling * Numerous bugfixes, including better Servlet 2.0 compatibility * Increased performance for heavy load conditions * Also increased speed for some XSP pages which include complex Nodes * New ESQL logicsheet allowing easy post-processing of resultsets in XSP * Improved documentation, with new expanded FAQ * More installation instructions for more different servlet engines * Experimental FP taglib for form-handling and other tasks * Jikes support for faster XSP page compilation Licensing and legal issues -------------------------- For legal and licensing issues, please read the LICENSE file. Thanks for using Cocoon. The Apache XML Project http://xml.apache.org/