OpenADS Release Notes

Complete history of releases with categorized improvements.

Unreleased (main, 2026-09-29)

Bug Fixes

  • xBase writes to MariaDB/MySQL: numeric and logical setters now reach the staging buffer - AdsSetDouble, AdsSetLong, AdsSetLongLong and AdsSetLogical had no MariaDB branch and fell through to the native-DBF table lookup, failing with 5000 unknown table on mariadb:// tables. They now stage through MariaConnection::set_field, like AdsSetString already did: doubles are formatted with "%.17g" and logicals as "1"/"0", which MariaDB coerces into both numeric and CHAR(1) columns. Append and REPLACE of character/date fields already worked; this completes the xBase write path. Covered by a new live test (numeric/logical INSERT and UPDATE round-trip).

  • Record locks are idempotent per handle, and lock introspection reports the caller’s own state (Pritpal Bedi) - locking the same record twice on one handle used to stack: a repeated AdsLockRecord bumped an internal count and the record stayed locked until every lock was undone. A repeated lock is now a no-op and a single AdsUnlockRecord releases it, matching ADS. AdsIsRecordLocked and DBRI_LOCKED now answer whether the calling handle holds the lock instead of any connection’s, and remote clients get real cross-connection introspection: the server answers the IsRecordLocked wire query against the engine table lock and the session’s record locks. The lock suite was reworked (116 tests), including a new test that observes a lock through a real second connection.

Unreleased (main, 2026-09-25)

New Features

  • Inter-process .ntx index lock, Harbour DBFNTX-compatible — the NTX driver now locks the .ntx file itself at byte 1,000,000,000, the same scheme Harbour’s DBFNTX uses, so OpenADS, Harbour and xHarbour/Clipper applications can share NTX indexes across processes safely: reads take a shared lock, writes an exclusive one held until flush(), and a version counter lets other processes notice the change and reload the index. Before this, only DBF record locks were aligned across processes and concurrent writers could corrupt an .ntx. Covered by new inter-process unit tests, including a two-process concurrent writer test.

v1.8.98 — 2026-08-21

Bug Fixes

  • openads_serverd ignores remote_only_access from its own ini (Pritpal Bedi) — the client guard fired inside the daemon too: the session ABI twin’s legitimate local opens were logged as LOCALACCESS noise, and deny mode would have broken them. The daemon now force-disables the guard unless the env var is set explicitly.

v1.8.97 — 2026-08-21

Bug Fixes

  • openads.ini client keys: dash style + exe-dir lookup (Pritpal Bedi) — keys in the serverd dash style (remote-only-access, like http-port / legacy-paths) were not recognized, and an openads.ini next to the application .exe was not found. Keys are now normalized (- = _, case-insensitive) and the search order is $OPENADS_INI → DLL dir → app exe dir → cwd.

v1.8.96 — 2026-08-21

New Features

  • remote_only_access = log audit mode (Pritpal Bedi) — deny mode (1) raises the RTE wherever the first local open happens, and an app whose error handler itself opens tables via ADSCDX dies from Harbour error-handler recursion (“recursive call” error). The new log (or 2) mode writes a LOCALACCESS="OPEN|CREATE" ASKED="..." VIA=LOCAL line to the audit console / log_file and lets the access proceed, so the full inventory of legacy local paths is collected in one run before switching to deny mode.

v1.8.95 — 2026-08-20

New Features

  • Client settings in openads.ini (Pritpal Bedi) — every OPENADS_* client setting now also reads from openads.ini (env var wins): remote_only_access, resolve_verbose, log, log_file, trace, wire_trace, arc_trace, tls_insecure, adi_v2, adt_cdx_index. The client DLL looks for the file next to itself, then in the app working directory; OPENADS_INI points at an explicit path. The file is re-read when it changes. See openads.ini.sample.

v1.8.94 — 2026-08-20

New Features

  • OPENADS_REMOTE_ONLY_ACCESS=1 client guard (Pritpal Bedi) — remote-only deployments can now forbid legacy local-path access through ACE. With the env var set on the client process, a local AdsOpenTable / AdsCreateTable fails with AE_ACCESS_DENIED (rddads raises a Harbour runtime error) instead of silently reading/writing a .dbf next to the app. Remote and SQL-backend connections are unaffected, as is local I/O through another RDD. See Migrating from ADS.

v1.8.93 — 2026-08-19

New Features

  • OAds_Mutex* Harbour wrappers — the server-side distributed mutex service (v1.8.92, remote connections only) is now callable from Harbour PRG code without RDDADS via contrib/oads_hb/oads_hb.c: OAds_MutexCreate( [hConn], cName ), OAds_MutexLock( [hConn], cName, nTimeoutMs ), OAds_MutexTryLock( [hConn], cName ), OAds_MutexUnlock( [hConn], cName ), OAds_MutexDestroy( [hConn], cName ). Omitting hConn uses the default connection set with OAds_SetConnection() (Pritpal Bedi).

Documentation

  • API reference — new section 26 “Distributed Mutex (server-side, remote only)” with the Harbour signatures; last_updated timestamp added to the front matter.

v1.8.89 — 2026-08-17

New Features

  • Process-wide audit sequence — each RESOLVED line is now CONN ENTRY SEQ TIMESTAMP …. ENTRY still restarts per connection; SEQ is a single incrementing number for the process so two connections no longer look like a repeated counter (Pritpal Bedi).

v1.8.88 — 2026-08-17

Bug Fixes

  • oads_hb.c includes "ace.h" — Harbour drop-in glue now uses the same header as contrib/rddads, so it compiles in a consumer project without editing the file each time (Pritpal Bedi).

Packaging

  • Windows ZIP names — only openads-<ver>-windows-x64.zip / windows-x86.zip. The parallel *-win-*.zip slim kit is no longer published (it was a different ace64.dll and confused downloads).

v1.8.87 — 2026-08-17

New Features

  • Resolve audit trail — every table-path resolve is a fixed-width line (CONN6 ENTRY8 TIMESTAMP RESOLVED=... asked=... via=local|remote). Console default is only RESOLVED. Set OPENADS_RESOLVE_VERBOSE=1 for detail lines; OPENADS_LOG_FILE stores only RESOLVED (Pritpal Bedi).

Bug Fixes

  • Remote is safe storage — a remote-server connection no longer opens a leftover host-absolute path. --legacy-paths remounts under --data; otherwise the open fails with the normal RDD error (Pritpal Bedi).

v1.8.79 — 2026-08-15

New Features

  • Connection switching + optional hConn for OAds_F* — OAds_SetConnection( hConn ) sets the thread-local default connection; OAds_GetConnection() retrieves it. All OAds_F* Harbour functions (OAds_FOpen, OAds_FCreate, OAds_CheckExistence, OAds_DeleteFile, OAds_RenameFile, OAds_GetFileSize, OAds_GetFileDate, OAds_GetFileTime, OAds_DirMake, OAds_DirRemove, OAds_DirExist, OAds_Directory, OAds_FExist) now accept hConn as optional. When omitted, the thread-local default is used. Backward compatible — existing code passing hConn continues to work.

    Use case: single-connection apps set the default once; multi-connection apps switch via OAds_SetConnection(hConn) before each call — handy for transparent backup across two endpoints.

Bug Fixes

  • macOS build — arc2_stamp() now uses localtime_r on POSIX (was Windows-only localtime_s); trace log uses /tmp/ace_calls.log on POSIX. AE_NO_MATCHING_FILE (5059) added to the error enum.

v1.8.78 — 2026-08-15

New Features

  • Multi-port server — A single openads_serverd instance can now listen on multiple TCP ports, each with its own data directory. Configure additional ports with [port:NNNN] sections in openads.ini, each specifying a data path. Matches LetoDB’s Port= / DataPath= capability: one process, one config file, multiple logical servers.

Bug Fixes

  • CDX index corruption on record update (macOS) — sync_all_indexes_() silently discarded the B-tree erase result when updating a record, so the old index entry stayed in the tree and the new entry was inserted on top — creating duplicate/stale keys that corrupted B-tree separators. The erase error is now propagated so the caller can abort before inserting. For fresh appends, the blank-key snapshot (fields not yet set) is tolerated because those keys were never inserted. (Commit df9c2cc.)

Tests

  • abi_alternating_append_test: 4 cases — alternating local/remote appends maintain all CDX tag keys.
  • abi_adt_scope_validation_test: M5 stress append + index order + memo round-trip.
  • Full unit suite: 524/524 on Windows, same on macOS.

v1.8.77 — 2026-08-14

Bug Fixes

  • Remote ordListClear() + ordListAdd() left the workarea without an order — The client-side remote AdsCloseAllIndexes closed the indexes on the server but never invalidated the cached tag/handle map in the ACE client DLL. The next AdsOpenIndex / SET ORDER TO reused dead server wire-ids (SetOrder 5000 on run 2) or found no order at all (ADSCDX/301 “Workarea not indexed” on dbSeek on run 1). The client cache is now dropped on close-all. (Reported by Pritpal Bedi — Harbour 32-bit TestIndexes().)
  • OrdCount() stale after OrdCreate() without reopen — The remote create path never registered the new tag in the client’s index handle list, so AdsGetNumIndexes / AdsGetIndexHandle lagged until close+reopen. After a successful create_index the client now refreshes the whole bag from the server (ADS semantics: creating a tag opens every tag in the bag), in bag order. (Reported by Pritpal Bedi.)
  • x86 openads_serverd crashed at startup — dll_probe_ace called AdsGetVersion through a mismatched calling convention whenever an ace32.dll/openace32.dll sat next to the exe. The probe now identifies OpenADS builds via the OpenADS-only oads_* exports before calling anything, and calls __cdecl. (Reported by Pritpal Bedi: “Server does not launch”.)
  • x86 undecorated exports restored to the __cdecl implementations (v1.8.74 behavior) — The stdcall rework had aliased the plain AdsXxx export names to the __stdcall wrappers, so __cdecl callers (FWH apps such as B_BIG.exe, GetProcAddress probes, Xbase++) crashed with ACCESS_VIOLATION on the first ACE call (ADS_GETFUNCTABLE). The plain names now target the __cdecl implementations again; _AdsXxx@N remains on the __stdcall wrappers. (Reported by Pritpal Bedi.)
  • Release CI unblocked — C4100 in AdsFindNextTable/AdsFindClose (MSVC /WX), UUID buffer worst-case %llx sizing (clang -Wformat-truncation), and sign-conversion casts in session.cpp transaction dispatch (clang -Wsign-conversion).

Tests

  • abi_remote_index_reopen_test: 2 cases — remote ordListClear + ordListAdd leaves a usable order (created bag and auto-opened bag variants).
  • Fixed iterator-of-two-temporaries UB in abi_server_fs_test / abi_remote_index_reopen_test (flaky vector too long).
  • Import libraries under dist/import-libs regenerated from the current DLLs.

v1.8.75 — 2026-08-13

New Features

  • ADS-compatible replication (Phase 1) — One-way async replication between OpenADS servers via publications, articles, and subscriptions. The DataDict now supports Publication, Article, and Subscription object types with full CRUD and round-trip persistence. A durable CRC-32C queue (ReplQueue) captures INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE mutations through best-effort capture hooks, and repl_apply_once() drains the queue to apply changes to a local target table. 35 unit tests (464 assertions).
  • M12.33 remote FindTables — AdsOpenTable and the server OpenTable dispatcher now strip tcp://host:port/ URI prefixes that legacy Delphi TAdsTable components embed in table names.

Tests

  • repl_queue_test: 10 cases — append, read_from, CRC corruption, empty file
  • repl_catalog_test: 8 cases — DD round-trip, table_is_published, cascade, rejects
  • abi_repl_capture_test: 1 case — capture hooks fire on INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE
  • repl_apply_test: 23 cases — subscription resolution, INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE apply, mixed batches, idempotency, last_lsn persistence, error paths

v1.8.74 — 2026-08-12

Bug Fixes

  • INDEX ON bag remounted through table’s connection — AdsCreateIndex61 / AdsCreateIndex / AdsOpenIndex now remount the index bag through the table’s connection the same way as the .dbf. Fixes INDEX ON writing .z01 next to the app while the .dbf remounted under --legacy-paths.
  • Explicit local Connection handle no longer hijacked — An explicit local Connection handle is no longer hijacked by “any live RemoteConnection” (in-process server ABI twin + mixed local/remote apps).

Tests

  • AdsCreateIndex61 remounts client-absolute .z01 under legacy_paths
  • remote INDEX ON remounts client-absolute .z01 under legacy-paths jail

v1.8.73 — 2026-08-12

Bug Fixes

  • --legacy-paths now remounts every client-absolute path under --data — Previously, host files that already existed outside --data could still be opened. Every client-absolute open/create now remounts under --data first; the host-absolute OPEN/CREATE exceptions apply only in strict mode.

Documentation

  • Documented the --data / URI / --legacy-paths contract (forward slashes recommended) in cookbook/docs/local-and-remote.md and connection-strings.md.

Tests

  • session_connection_test: host-absolute file outside the jail must not win when legacy_paths is on.
  • abi_mt_create_vs_dbfcdx_test: Harbour helpers are Windows-only so clang -Werror (Linux/macOS) does not fail on unused stubs.

v1.8.72 — 2026-08-11

Performance

  • ADSCDX multi-thread create ~30x faster than Harbour DBFCDX — Measured on 40 tables / 4 threads, 10 rows + 3-tag CDX each:
    • Harbour DBFCDX: ~4 s (baseline)
    • OpenADS ADSCDX: ~0.13 s (~30x faster)
    • Harbour ADSCDX (rddads): ~0.15 s (~27x faster)
  • No per-op FlushFileBuffers — Default is page-write only; set OPENADS_FSYNC=1 to restore the old power-fail-safe path.
  • AdsCreateIndex61 no longer holds state().mu across bulk build — Only index_bindings_mu around map mutations, so multi-thread INDEX ON scales.
  • CDX write-lock wait uses a condition variable — Not 100 us poll; always releases the batch join on flush error paths.

Tests

  • abi_mt_create_vs_dbfcdx_test.cpp — every ADSCDX speed run paired with a Harbour DBFCDX baseline.
  • Build harness: tests/unit/build_mt_create_bench.bat.

v1.8.68 — 2026-08-09

Bug Fixes

  • clang -Werror build breaks in new test files — Two unused-code warnings (lambda capture, helper functions) failed macOS/Linux CI builds. No product code changes beyond the warning fixes; supersedes v1.8.67 on POSIX.

v1.8.67 — 2026-08-09

Bug Fixes

  • CDX B+tree Harbour-exact (key, recno) ordering — Insert descent now compares full (key, recno) pairs. Separators are refreshed on every max-pair change, on insert and on erase.
  • Two multithreading defects fixed — CDX write-lock batch now has an owner thread; remote AdsOpenIndex handle array overflow fixed.
  • DBF headers now byte-identical with Harbour DBFCDX — Header length 32 + 32*n + 2 with 2-byte terminator. Production-index flag set when CDX bag shares table’s basename.

Tests

  • cdx_dup_key_split_test: independent raw-page decoder asserting parent-separator == child-max.
  • abi_alternating_append_test: two local connections and a remote server + local client alternating duplicate-key bursts.

v1.8.66 — 2026-08-08

Bug Fixes

  • Multi-tag CDX bags: creation and binding — Legacy AdsCreateIndex no longer truncates the bag when adding a second tag. AdsOpenIndex now binds all tags regardless of handle array size.
  • DBF record-count race under concurrent mixed writers — refresh_record_count_ now takes the max of header and size-derived counts.

v1.8.65 — 2026-08-07

Bug Fixes (POSIX)

  • SIGPIPE guard — sock_send() with MSG_NOSIGNAL on Linux; SO_NOSIGPIPE on macOS.
  • ADT byte-lock offset wrap — Offsets ≥ 2^63 folded into positive range.
  • CDX write-lock registry per-file mutex — Each .cdx path serialises on its own entry mutex.

v1.8.64 — 2026-08-07

Bug Fixes

  • Harbour DBFCDX interop: shared-index visibility — Peer CDX updates now detected via file-header version counter.
  • Physical write guard (GoHot) — Shared-mode writes require RLock / FLock / exclusive.
  • Index corruption under mixed ADS/DBFCDX writers — Lock offsets aligned with Harbour DBFCDX VFP scheme.

v1.8.63 — 2026-08-07

Bug Fixes

  • Remote keyno stale after APPEND/WRITE/DELETE/RECALL — keyno_valid and prefetch/BOF-EOF flags now cleared.

v1.8.62 — 2026-08-07

Performance

  • Server-side GetKeyNum via CDX O(1) cache — New wire opcodes GetKeyNum / GetKeyNumAck (0x03/0x04).
  • Same-record GotoRecord preserves keyno — TXBrowse:Refresh() after remote APPEND stays O(1).

v1.8.61 — 2026-08-07

Bug Fixes

  • CDX tag-header update counter endianness — Now big-endian to match Harbour DBFCDX.

v1.8.60 — 2026-08-06

Bug Fixes

  • CDX page allocator tail reset after recreate — Prevents ~10x sparse-file bloat.

v1.8.59 — 2026-08-05

Performance

  • Legacy ADI CREATE INDEX bottom-up bulk pack — Index ~49% smaller (73,216 → 37,376 bytes for 10,000 keys).

v1.8.58 — 2026-08-05

Documentation

  • Error log vs transaction journal paths — Documented ads_err.dbf location and relocation options.

v1.8.57 — 2026-08-05

New Features

  • ADI v2 tags — Compound/computed/FOR on ADT tables.
  • AdsGetKeyCount memoise — Performance improvement.
  • ADT read-ahead — Prefetch optimization.
  • PACK truncate — Efficient table compaction.

v1.8.56 — 2026-08-05

Bug Fixes

  • CDX numeric leaves type-dependent trail byte — NUL for FoxNumeric, matching DBFCDX density.

v1.8.55 — 2026-08-04

New Features

  • SAP date display format — AdsGetField formatted vs AdsGetString raw.
  • Join/union/aggregate temps are ADT — Temporary tables use ADT format.

v1.8.54 — 2026-08-04

Bug Fixes

  • Connect no longer fails when data root is not writable — e.g. --data "C:\".

v1.8.53 — 2026-08-03

Bug Fixes

  • legacy_paths remote create/reindex — Fixed un-flagged ABI twin usage.
  • Drive-letter routing for whole-filesystem servers — --data "C:\;D:\;E:\".

v1.8.52 — 2026-08-03

New Features

  • legacy_paths server mode — Zero-change ERP ports with absolute path remapping.

v1.8.51 — 2026-08-02

Bug Fixes

  • x86 ace32.dll exports cdecl aliases — For MinGW rddads compatibility.

v1.8.50 — 2026-08-01

Bug Fixes

  • Empty AOF visible-set returns Limbo — AdsSeekLast positions correctly.
  • AOF index selection — Fixed.
  • ADI keycount fix — Fixed.

v1.8.49 — 2026-08-01

Bug Fixes

  • Write coalescing broke rollback/CDX/AFTER triggers — Fixed.
  • Remote ADT numeric round-trip encoding — Fixed.

v1.8.48 — 2026-08-01

Bug Fixes

  • 32-bit toolchain: ace.h __stdcall on MSVC x86 — All in-tree tools link against exported stdcall names.

v1.8.47 — 2026-08-01

Bug Fixes

  • Remote AtBOF/AtEOF answered from wrong cursor — Fixed.
  • Row trailer at BOF fixed phantom duplicate row — Fixed.

v1.8.46 — 2026-08-01

Bug Fixes

  • DbSetOrder(0) restores natural order — Fixed.
  • ace32.dll exports stdcall @N names — Fixed.
  • ADSHANDLE 32-bit — Fixed.

v1.8.45 — 2026-07-31

Bug Fixes

  • Remote KeyNo/RelKeyPos clamps to scope-aware key count — Eliminates phantom rows in xBrowse.

For the full commit-by-commit history see the CHANGELOG.

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