Latest version of Stunnix Advanced Web Server

New features in version 4.1

• Improved use of MySQL and SQLite from Tomcat server-side code.
• Greatly improved and streamlined import of MySQL databases from .sql files.
• Fixed issue with browsing MySQL databases using CDInspector.
• Various minor improvements and bug fixes have been made.

New features in version 4.0

• Added support for Apache2-based web server on Windows. This makes some PHP-based sites more stable on Windows. Also it brings support for ModPerl2 since ModPerl2 is available only for Apache2. It can be enabled on the main page of Site Settings in CDBuilder. Python is not supported by Apache2 though.
• Revolutionary improvement: added support for HTTP over Named Pipes on Windows - now server can be made listening only on named pipes; included modified version of Portable Firefox also does not use TCP sockets at all but connects to web server using named pipe. HTTP over Named Pipes solves all issues with firewalls that can be blocking server and browser operation. MySQL is run in named pipe-only mode too when HTTP over Named Pipes is used. Now users of products based on Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD won't see any firewall alerts, meaning that local web server-based applications are even more attractive for deployment.
• Problem with splash screen covering firewall alert message at first run of web server has been fixed.
• Various minor improvements and bug fixes have been made.

New features in version 3.7

• Added support for Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
• Greatly improved support for Mac OS X Leopard for PowerPC CPUs.
• Various minor improvements and bug fixes have been made.

New features in version 3.6

• Added full support for PHP 5.2.10 on all platforms. Zend and IonCube encoders supported on all platforms for this version of php. PHP 5.2.10 is now default version of PHP for new projects. Already-existing projects will still use 5.1.2, one needs to manuall change version of PHP used by the Prototype in CDBuilder, Project, "Site settings." PHP 5.3.x is not yet supported since Zend and IonCube haven't released loaders for PHP 5.3.x.
• Added startup debugging kit. If your prototype does not even start, run a startup in tracing mode by visiting site/stunnixwebsrv/debug/ directory and starting script corresponding to your platform.
• Various minor improvements and bug fixes have been made.

New features in version 3.5

• Added support for Portable Firefox on OSX. Use of Portable Firefox version 2.x as a browser on Mac OS X will insure you that your site will display correctly on any computer with Mac OS X of version 10.2 and above.
• Added support for Zend Optimizer (loader for php files encoded with Zend Guard/Encoder) to PHP 5 on Mac OS X for x86 CPUs. This change allows to use Zend-encoded php files with your CD-based websites since Zend Optimizer is now available for all platforms and all versions of PHP supported by SAWS.
• Added support for soap php extension for php5 on all platforms.
• Various minor improvements and bug fixes have been made.

New features in version 3.4

• CDBuilder has got wizard that helps to configure CD prototype. It's activated automatically once new project is created. One can recall it at any time using Project ⇒ "Re-run settings wizard" menu item.
• In CDBuilder, now it's possible to update files that are older, skipping database import. This greatly improves the speed of updating the prototype. This command affects only MySQL and only cases when MySQL data is imported from .sql files. This menuitem for this action is "Make Prototype" ⇒ "Update files that are older, skip import of .sql files"
• Runcd.exe - a program Windows users use to start web server now better handles cases when splash screen was not specified by the user.
• Various minor improvements.

New features in version 3.3

• CDBuilder has got support for skins. The default skin is now "silver", previous default skin is available as "red".
• Server configuration (i.e. whether MySQL is enabled; whether site is running from writeable media and so on) is now exported both to client-side scripts (as JavaScript object named "stunnix_web_server_status" defined by file with URL "/webserver-special-interface/status-all.js") and to server-side scripts (as info in JSON format, available in file $ENV['STUNNIXWS_TMPSTATEDIR']/status-all-json.js).
• Runcd.exe - a program Windows users use to start web server - got a proper icon and metadata, improving overall users' impression about the CD-based or usbdrive-based product.
• Video tutorials on using CDBuilder have been put online.
• Various minor improvements.

New features in version 3.2

• Rebuilt GD for php for Mac OS X PPC with TTF support (Mac OS X Intel already had support for TTF).
• Added support for mod_wsgi (an alternative for mod_python - Google people prefer mod_wsgi over mod_python).
• Various minor improvements.

New features in version 3.1

• Implemented tray icon for Mac OS X.
• Now php extension mysqli is supported on all platforms for php5.
• Web Server Inspector has been slightly improved - no more extra window is opened at web server startup.
• Now CDBuilder works even if SAWS is unpacked to a directory with long path name.
• Port number SAWS listens on is passed as first commandline argument of external programs run before or after browser. This is mainly for flash projectors that can't access environment variables.
• Added option to prevent copying Tomcat application to temporary directory in case Tomcat is running from HDD. This saves a lot of time on startup.
• Changed defaults for php interpreter to better suit more users.

New features in version 3.0

• Fixed support for building ISO images on OSX (dependency on external library removed).
• Fixed severe bug with tray icon behavior on Windows.
• Added workaround for OSX-specific sqlite bug
• Changed defaults for php to suit more developers
• File selector facility has been improved to work out of the box with any project (no copying of missing modules was required)
• Now non-trial version is distributed as a patcher - cross-platform utility with GUI that will patch trial into non-trial.

New features in version 2.6

• Added support for creating ISO cd images to CDBuilder (new menu item in Tools menu).
• Names of mysql tables are now treated case-insensitive. This makes it unnecessary to update code to make it working on Linux (in case table names of wrong case were used in the code).
• Executable for MySQL version 4 has been updated to support OSX Leopard better (mysql version 5 didn't have any problems at all).
• Minor improvements in Windows support have been made.
• CDBuilder GUI got much nicer look.

New features in version 2.5

• Added support for ASP.NET on Windows. Support for ASP.NET on Macs is planned.
• Now facility for choosing files works again on Windows.
• All warning messages on Windows are shown above all windows, even splash screen.
• More useful environment variables are exported to the scripts by web server.
• Minor useful improvements were made to CDBuilder GUI.

New features in version 2.4

• Added support for ASP on Windows.
• Added support for Portable Firefox for Windows.
• Fixed support for php5 on MacOSX (library was not being copied if cdbuilder was used).
• Fixed some small bugs and made a lot of small improvements.

New features in version 2.3

• Splash screen functionality of Windows has been greatly improved. Now it redraws the image once obscured, and allows to drag splash screen with the mouse.
• Implemented support for showing tray icon on Windows (that contols web site and lets reopen initial page and inspector window, if inspector was enabled for the site). User can easily add new menuitems to the menu displayed when user clicks on tray icon.
• Fixed issue with sqlite databases copied to permament directory on HDD.
• Fixed a lot of small bugs and made a lot of small improvements.

New features in version 2.2

• Added support for Firebird database (only for Windows for now)
• Fixed support for Windows Vista
• Disable Windows XP SP2 Firewall alerts for all servers started.
• Fixed a lot of bugs and made a lot of small improvements.

New features in version 2.1

• Added support for python and mod_python-powered web sites.
• Now facility for selecting file or folder paths in webpages using native GUI uses XMLHttpRequest instead of tricks with hidden iframe for loading user's choice. This fixes severe problems with history.

New features in version 2.0

• Added support for Java and Tomcat.
• CDBuilder now allows to install additional packages using Tools->Install packages to allow modular management of existing extensions. The list of all available extensions is on present on a dedicated page.
• Some polishing of CDBuilder was performed.

New features in version 1.9

• Added support for curl php extension on all platforms and both versions of php (php4 and php5);
• Added facility for selecting file or folder paths in webpages using native GUI;
• CDBuilder GUI updated to use newly-added facility for selecting file or folder paths in webpages using native GUI, also all paths can be entered as absolute everywhere where relative paths were required.
• Some polishing of CDBuilder was performed.

New features in version 1.8

• This version fixes showing splash screen at startup on MacOSX;
• Now CDBuilder (GUI to create CDs or DVDs with webserver on them) can import MySQL database data from .sql files;
• Now along user's web site a special web script called Stunnix Web Server Inspector is opened in a separate window at web server startup. This script allows to control the web server (restart, stop, browse all logs) and MySQL database server (inspect using PhpMyAdmin and stop it). Stunnix Web Server Inspector is also enabled on demo cd. This script can be disabled using CDBuilder.
• Ejection of media is not performed if run from device other than CD/DVD.
• Icons on the CD are layed out wisely in Finder now.

New features in version 1.7

• Now splash screen is shown at web server startup on MacOS X too.
• CDBuilder GUI now lets set environment variables, and lets set MySQL configuration file and siteinfo.pm pieces (per each platform, and common for all platforms).
• InnoDB is now better supported in MySQL of any version.

New features in version 1.6

• This version adds support for ionCube Encoder for PHP scripts on MacOSX on Intel (x86) CPUs now scripts encoded with ionCube Encoder are supported on all platforms SAWS can run on (Windows, MacOSX - on PPC and Intel CPUs, and Linux on x86 CPUs).

New features in version 1.5

• Added support for MySQL version 5.0. Now one can choose which version to use - 4.1 or 5.0. This is done in 'MySQL' section of project settings in CDBuilder - when specifying mysql access mode, one has 2 options for each access mode - with version 4.1 or version 5.0 of MySQL server. Support of MySQL 5.0 means ability to use databases that use features added to version 5.0 of MySQL with Stunnix Advanced Web Server.

New features in version 1.4

• Full support for Mac OS X on Intel CPUs has been added, because PowerPC version ran improperly on Mac OS X on Intel CPUs; Note that since working decoders for ZendOptimizer and IonCube for Mac OS X on Intel CPUs are still not available from corresponding vendors, support for these decoders is absent in this version of Stunnix Advanced Web Server. Note that all external programs (e.g. run before server is started or before browser is started) for MacOSX should be either wrapper scripts (that start version of program specific to the host CPU) or Universal binaries since we didn't fork all MacOSX settings into settings for MacOSX x86 only and settings and MacOSX PPC only.
• Various non-important corrections to the code and documentation have been made.

New features in version 1.3

• Fixed severe bug that prevented some database files to be copied to hard disk correctly on Windows. E.g. that bug prevented Joomla and Mambo from working.
• Now splash screen stays on screen until the browser was started.
• Added guide on installing Joomla from scratch; Joomla-powered section added to demo cd.
• Added means for distinguishing between trial and non-trial versions of web server.
• Added tooltips to CDBuilder interface.

New features in version 1.2

• Added CDBuilder - GUI tool that allows to configure all properties of CD or application without ever touching configuration files.
• Added support for PHP5. User now has a choice between PHP4 and PHP5.
• A lot of options were added for configuring window properies of browser on Windows platforms, when MSIE browser has to be used - whether to show scrollbars, menus,statusbar,toolbar, resizebar and so on, with names starting with win32_msie_prop__, making application look even more desktop-like.
• Added configuration option not to eject CD on exit of the server (CD is ejected by default).
• Added ability to run user-specified programs before starting web server, this is very useful if you wish to have animated logo for your product instead of a static image - just use flash projector as such program, using 'program_to_run_before_server_M' options.
• Perl interpreter for linux and all perl-related files for linux were updated to Perl version 5.8.5.
• Default template for autorun.inf supports the use CDROM icon (if it's specified in CDBuilder).
• Added ability to specify text of message that warns user about necessity to turn off firewalls win32_firewall_alert_message) - useful for translating it to other languages.
• Directory with php extension (the one where phpinfo.html is located) is now added to a list of directories where dynamic linker of the OS looks for shared libraries.
• Environment variable STUNNIXWS_STATEDIR is now calculated in a way compatible with Stunnix Perl Web Server.

New features in version 1.1

• Linux: fixed problems with non-existing group 'nobody' on Mandrake and other systems.
• Linux: dependancy on various libraries not present on RedHat 9 and Mandrake 10 removed, now SAWS works just fine there.
• Different configuration file for the core is used for stopping web server on Windows (important if some extensions like php or modperl are not used in the product based on SAWS).
• Properly extend path for searching dynamic libraries.

Improvements:

• Added ability to pass additional "-D SOMETHING" commandline options to httpd core, see /site/config/httpdmods.conf for example.
• Added ability to run programs from cdrom before and after starting the browser; those programs are stopped automatically along webserver; the names of the programs and time to wait after starting them are specified using keys (in /site/config/siteinfo.pm) 'program_to_run_N_browser_M', 'program_to_run_N_browser_M_sleep_seconds' where N can be 'before' and 'after', and M can be 1,2 or 3.
• Added support for MSIE in Kiosk mode (using option win32_prefer_ie_kiosk_mode)
• Added ability to specify inital port to start searching free ports from (using option port_to_start_scanning_from) - useful for people who wish server to listen at port 80.
• Added support for PHP extensions domxml, iconv and mbstring (note: MacOSX 10.2 is not supported by them! And those extensions must be enabled explicitly in php config files).
• Greatly extended tracing capabilities; now setting option '_debugtofile' to 1 will also collect log of apache-based core in 'c:/spws-stderr.txt' or '/tmp/spws-stderr.txt'.

New features in version 1.0