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		      Flick --- Flexible IDL Compiler Kit

		     Eric Eide, James Simister, Tim Stack,
		      Kevin Frei, Eric Pabst, Bryan Ford,
			  Jay Lepreau, Gary Lindstrom

			       flick@cs.utah.edu

		     The Flux Project, University of Utah
			 http://www.cs.utah.edu/flux/
				+1-801-585-3271

				 November 1999


This is Flick version 2.1, an interface definition language (IDL) compiler
(``stub generator'') that generates optimized code and supports a variety of
IDLs and message transport mechanisms.  The Flick compiler is distributed under
the GNU General Public License; see the file named `COPYING' for details.  The
Flick runtime headers and libraries are distributed under a separate license
(BSD-style without the advertising clause); see the file `runtime/COPYING' for
details.  Additional support files, if needed (in the `support' directory), are
distributed under various licenses; see the file `COPYRIGHT' for details.

The text of the Flick 2.1 announcement is in the file `doc/announce.text'; see
that file for additional details such as the list of tested platforms.  For
help building Flick, see the `INSTALL' file.  The `doc/usersguide/user.ps' file
is the Flick user's manual, complete with code examples.  The `doc/BUGS' file
describes known defects and as-yet-unimplemented features.

For an introduction to Flick's overall design and internals, please read our
PLDI '97 paper, ``Flick: A Flexible, Optimizing IDL Compiler,'' available from
the Flick Web pages at <http://www.cs.utah.edu/flux/flick/>.  To learn about
Flick's internals in gory detail, refer to the `doc/guts/guts.ps' manual.

We welcome comments, technical discussion, and collaborators.  If you start
using Flick, please let us know; send mail to <flick-users-request@cs.utah.edu>
with the message body containing the line

	subscribe flick-users

to get on the mailing list.  Send bugs and fixes to <flick-bugs@cs.utah.edu>.


			    CHANGES SINCE FLICK 2.0

Flick 2.1 incorporates several new features, bug fixes, and a major new
document on Flick's internals.  Most notably:

  + Flick now generates optimized C++ stubs that work with TAO version 1.0, the
    real-time, open source ORB from Washington University in St. Louis.  (The
    previous release of Flick supported TAO 0.3.23.)  You will need to acquire
    a copy of TAO 1.0 in order to make use of Flick's C++ stubs.  For
    information about TAO, see <http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/TAO.html>.

  + Flick's generated C and C++ files are now smaller --- often much smaller!
    Flick now eliminates unnecessary functions (internal marshal and unmarshal
    functions) from generated code.

  + The Flick Programmer's Manual (a.k.a. ``The Guts Manual'') has been
    completely rewritten and expanded.  This manual is essential reading for
    anyone who wants to hack on Flick or create new Flick compiler components.

  + Lots and lots of miscellaneous bug fixes.


				    STATUS

Flick 2.1 is quite robust, but this is not to say that it is bug-free.  Current
and past projects that use Flick include:

  + QuOIN, the Quorum Distributed Object Integration Project, led by BBN.  This
    DARPA-funded project is combining technology from many researchers in order
    to create a unified, flexible, and quality-of-service aware framework for
    distributed object computing.

  + The Fluke Operating System.  Flick is the IDL compiler for Fluke, a new
    operating system being developed by the Flux Project at the University of
    Utah.  See <http://www.cs.utah.edu/flux/> for information about Fluke (and
    Flick, too).

  + L4.  The Dresden Real-Time Operating Systems Project (DROPS) extended Flick
    to generate optimized stubs based on the L4 microkernel API.  For more
    information, see <http://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/drops/>.

  + Porcupine 1.  Porcupine is a scalable SMTP/IMAP server designed for
    high-volume mail exchange --- up to one billion messages per day.  See
    <http://porcupine.cs.washington.edu/porc1/index.html> for more information.

  + The CS 453 `TICS' Group.  A group of students in our Department's senior
    software lab used Flick to implement RPC for distributed robot control
    systems.  Flick itself is run on a Unix machine, and the generated IIOP
    stubs are compiled for both Unix and Windows NT, enabling cross-platform
    communication and development.

A list of known bugs and caveats can be found in `doc/BUGS'.  In brief:

  + There are some minor shortcomings with Flick's CORBA components (e.g., no
    `wchar' or `wstring' types, missing support for `any's in the C language
    IIOP runtime, etc.).

  + There are still some dependencies between the front ends and the
    presentation generators.  This means that one cannot ``mix and match'' IDLs
    and presentation generators.  For example, you can't start with a Sun RPC
    (a.k.a. ONC RPC) IDL file and get CORBA-like stubs.

  + In principle one can ``mix and match'' different presentations and back
    ends, e.g., Sun IDL and presentation could talk IIOP to a similarly
    specified system.  However, the only unusual combinations that have been
    tested recently are CORBA-on-Mach, CORBA-on-Trapeze, and ONC-on-Trapeze.
    Other unusual combinations are unlikely to work.


		       TESTING FLICK / EXAMPLE PROGRAMS

Flick comes with a set of test inputs and example programs in the `test'
subdirectory of the distribution.  See the `test/README' file for instructions.
Note that, *except* for the `test/examples/phone' application, the example
programs in `test/examples' are not up to date and may not compile.

You will need 100--200MB of free disk space in order to run the Flick tests.

Refer to the user's manual and the `test/examples/phone' sample application to
learn how to use Flick's IIOP and ONC RPC runtime libraries in your own
programs.

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