Cradle-5.2.1 Release

3SL is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Cradle-5.2.1, an update to Cradle-5.2 that we announced in August 2005. It is supplied as a full Cradle release, as a self-extracting executable called Cradle521_Setup.exe for Windows, and as a full set of UNIX filesets

Initially the update was to address issues brought to our attention by customers. But as we had a range of enhancements completed for various parts of Cradle, notably issues related to concurrent manipulation of models, we have decided to make these changes available now and not keep them for the Cradle-5.3 major release.

We hope that you agree with this decision!

The changes are summarised below, grouped by Cradle module. As this is a point update to Cradle-5.2, it is effectively still part of the Cradle-5.2 release, and so there are only minor documentation revisions specific to this update:

• New Cradle-5.2.1 Release Notes
• Updated What’s New guide
• New Cradle API Reference

All changes in this Cradle-5.2.1 release will, of course, be included in the Release Notes and user documentation for the Cradle-5.3 major release.

You can see the version number of your Cradle system by selecting Help → About which will display 5.2.1 if this update has been installed.

Our website has been updated to allow the download of Cradle-5.2.1 as well as the previous Cradle releases.

The major elements of the Cradle-5.2.1 release are:

1. Extensions to import options
2. API extensions
3. Concurrent modelling improvements
4. Several small changes and bug fixes

Database Compatibility

As this is an update to Cradle-5.2 it uses the same database format as Cradle-5.2. If you have upgraded to Cradle-5.2 and you then install Cradle-5.2.1, you do not need to convert your databases.

If you upgrade directly to Cradle-5.2.1 from Cradle-5.1 or Cradle-5 or an earlier version, then you must convert your databases to Cradle-5.2 format, just as you would have done if you had upgraded to Cradle-5.2 from the earlier version.

If you are upgrading directly to Cradle-5.2.1 from Cradle-5.1 or Cradle-5 or an earlier release, then you must use the converter supplied with Cradle-5.2.1. The need to run this converter is detected automatically by the Cradle-5.2.1 installers to ensure that the process is as smooth and transparent as possible.

Previously, it has also been possible to upgrade to a new release by creating a new Cradle installation with new project databases in new directories and using exports and imports to move data between the databases of the old and new versions. With this approach, you could use the new version and its databases, or you could revert to the old Cradle version and its databases. These sets of databases would have the same contents, but this would remain true for so long as data is not changed in one set that is not also changed in the other.

Users who adopted this approach used a procedure similar to:

• Export data from the databases in the previous release
• Install the new release
• Create new projects in the new release
• Import the data from the previous release projects into the new databases

If you have not used change histories (edit histories) in Cradle-5.1 (or any of its updates), then you can still use this approach, if you wish.

However, if you have used change histories (edit histories) in Cradle-5.1 (or its updates) then you must use the converter to upgrade to Cradle-5.2.1.

The reason for this is that at Cradle-5.2 we changed the way change histories (edit histories) are stored. Prior to version 5.2, they were stored as events in the project Configuration Log used in the Cradle Configuration Management System (CMS). From version 5.2 they are stored in CHANGE HISTORY frames of their database items. Therefore, simply exporting and importing will not convert the change history information from the Configuration Log to CHANGE HISTORY frames, and so you will lose your change history information when viewed through Cradle-5.2.1.

Toolset Fonts

As this is an update to Cradle-5.2 it uses the same fonts as Cradle-5.2. If you have upgraded to Cradle-5.2 and you then install Cradle-5.2.1, you do not need to install any new fonts.

If you upgrade directly to Cradle-5.2.1 from Cradle-5.1 or an earlier version, you must apply the new fonts supplied with Cradle-5.2.1, just as you would have done if you had upgraded to Cradle-5.2 from the earlier version.

Must I Install Cradle-5.2.1?

If you have already upgraded to Cradle-5.2, then install Cradle-5.2.1 only if it has in it something that is of interest to you.

If you have not yet upgraded to Cradle-5.2, then upgrade to Cradle-5.2.1 instead of the Cradle-5.2 release.

From 3SL’s perspective, we would like you to use Cradle-5.2.1 in preference to Cradle-5.2, and we would definitely like you to use it in preference to Cradle-5.1.3, Cradle-5.1 or any previous version. That is why we have released it!

Mixing Cradle-5.2 and Cradle-5.2.1

Our very strong recommendation is that if you install Cradle-5.2.1 anywhere, that you install it everywhere.

If you do not want to upgrade everywhere, you:

• Can run Cradle-5.2.1 and Cradle-5.2 clients simultaneously
• Can use Cradle-5.2.1 and Cradle-5.2 clients with Cradle-5.2 servers (CDS and CWS)
• Can use the Cradle-5.2.1 servers with Cradle-5.2.1 and Cradle-5.2 clients
• Cannot use Cradle-5.2.1 or Cradle-5.2 clients with Cradle-5.1.3 or earlier servers (CDS and CWS)
• Cannot use Cradle-5.2.1 or Cradle-5.2 servers with Cradle-5.1.3 or earlier clients

Downloading Cradle-5.2.1

All Cradle-5.2.1 download files for Windows and UNIX in our website were added to our website on 10 th October 2005.

For Windows, the file to download is: Cradle521_Setup.exe

For UNIX, download the boot and core.Z filesets, and also download the fileset for your architecture:

• hp700_10 or hp800_10 for HP HP-UX 10.20 or later
• ibm4 for IBM AIX 4.2
• ibm5 for IBM AIX 5.1 or later
• linux-ia32 for all compatible versions and types of Linux
• sparcs2 for Sun Solaris 2.5.1 or later
• win32pc for Windows executables hosted on a UNIX server

So if you are running on UNIX, you will need to download a minimum of 3 filesets.

If you are running a UNIX server that provides executables for multiple platforms, then you will need to download boot, core.Z and all the filesets for the platforms provided by your server.

If you are running a mixed UNIX and Windows environment, such as UNIX servers and Windows clients, then you will need to download the Windows self-extracting executable and all of the UNIX filesets.

3SL has a dedicated 2 Mbit/sec Internet connection which means that even the largest of these files can be downloaded in 15 minutes. However, we also provide a mirror site, which provides even faster downloads.