Migration and Compatibility

This section describes the considerations for migrating to newer releases of SmartSockets or using a mixed environment where not all RTservers or RTclients are at the same version level. This section also covers the changes you need to make to existing SmartSockets applications to convert them to work with newer releases.

Upgrading Your TIBCO SmartSockets Installation

If you currently have only SmartSockets installed, and are upgrading to the newest version, you can simply follow the instructions in the installation chapters, Chapter 3, Installing on UNIX or Chapter 4, Installing on Windows. On UNIX, you must install into a new directory, with the default name being ss68. On Windows, you must un-install your current SmartSockets product before you install this new version. By default, the new version is installed into a program folder called ss68.

If you have other SmartSockets products also installed, such as SmartSockets RTgateway, and you want to use them with this new SmartSockets Version 6.8 installation, you must re-install them into the new ss68 directory after you have completed your SmartSockets Version 6.8 install. First, check that the version and revision of your existing products are compatible with SmartSockets Version 6.8. Use the Compatibility Matrix provided with your online documentation or contact TIBCO Product Support to find out. In some cases, you might need to upgrade your other SmartSockets products.

TIBCO SmartSockets RTgateway

Normally, you can install SmartSockets Software Release 6.8 and then install RTgateway into your ss68 directory, and everything should work correctly. However, if you are building your own MSLs with RTgateway, you must do an extra step.

Building MSLs requires the latest spss.h and spsspr.h header files included with SmartSockets Software Release 6.8. These are overlaid when you install RTgateway. To avoid this, follow these steps:

That should ensure the latest versions of the spss.h and spsspr.h header files are installed.

Upgrading C++ Applications

If you are upgrading from version 6.2.x or earlier of the sscpp SmartSockets C++ class library, you must recompile and link.

SmartSockets 6.8 includes new monitoring functions that break compatibility. However, the C++ class library remains source compatible. You do not need to make any changes to your application: simply recompile and link.

T_ENTRY Macro and Source Code Portability

For cross-platform portability and to correctly specify function calling conventions under Windows, a T_ENTRY declaration specifier is required in the definition of all callback and thread functions as well as in their prototypes. This is done using the T_ENTRY macro.

Here is a process callback example:

void T_ENTRY my_num_data_cb 
( 
  IPC_CONN conn, 
  T_IPC_CONN_PROCESS_CB_DATA data, 
  T_CB_ARG arg 
) 

Existing SmartSockets Version 5.0 application source code that does not use the T_ENTRY macro should be updated to do so.

Converting Version 5.x Applications

SmartSockets Versions 5.2 and 5.5 clients are source-compatible with SmartSockets Version 6.8 code. There are no API changes, so no conversion script is needed. However, clients below Version 6.1 cannot handle messages that use a delivery mode of ORDERED because that is a Version 6.1 feature and older clients do not recognize it.

The default behavior of RTclient was changed in Version 5.2 so that it no longer automatically starts RTserver. If existing applications depend on the behavior from Version 5.1 and earlier, the new default behavior can easily be changed by setting the start prefix of the Server_Names option.

The default behavior of RTserver was modified in Version 5.2 so that it automatically connects only to the other RTservers listed in the Server_Names option, not to the RTservers they are connected to. If existing applications depend on the behavior from Version 5.1 and earlier, the new default behavior can be changed by setting the connect prefix of the Server_Names option.

RTserver Compatibility

In SmartSockets Version 6.0 Revision 2, the way RTservers support GMD messages changed. These changes improve GMD reliability when all RTservers involved in a GMD transaction are SmartSockets Version 6.0 Revision 2 or higher. RTservers at a Version 6.0 Revision 2 level work with RTservers at a Version 5.5 level, but the GMD enhancements do not apply and you might experience missed GMD messages during warm disconnects. If you are using GMD, we recommend you upgrade all the RTservers involved in GMD to at least Version 6.0 Revision 2.

If you installed the SmartSockets Version 6.0 Revision 1 limited availability release, we recommend you upgrade all your RTservers to a generally available version, such as Version 6.0 Revision 2.

SmartSockets RTservers Version 6.0 and above are not compatible with RTservers below Version 5.5.

RTservers below Version 6.1 cannot handle messages that use the delivery mode ORDERED.