[etch-users] Etch 3.6 release

[Jason H. <jh...@ap...>]

Etch 3.6 has been released:

Add client authentication.  See
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/etch/wiki/ClientAuthentication

Add support for local requests.  See
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/etch/wiki/LocalRequests

Add etch_to_trunk utility.  In combination with controlled deployment
(see https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/etch/wiki/ControlledDeployment)
this allows you to temporarily bump clients to your subversion "trunk"
or CVS "HEAD" or equivalent so that they pick up the latest
configuration until their controlled deployment tag catches up.  This
helps provide immediate resolution for shoulder-taps or other urgent
requests without otherwise disrupting your controlled deployment system.
The included script is written to talk to nVentory but could be modified
to talk to a different operations database.

Upgrade from Rails 2.1.1 to Rails 2.3.4.  This doesn't get us anything
particular that etch requires, but Rails does change over time and
keeping reasonably current reduces the pain of catching up if there is a
new feature or security fix that is important.

Add timeout to output capturing so that ill-behaved daemons don't cause
etch to hang around forever.

Modify repo_update to update repo directories atomically.  We don't want
clients getting a partial or partially updated copy of the repository

Add RESTful controllers for etch configs, facts and originals. Populate
remaining RESTful methods for results and clients controllers.

Clean up the handling of find and paginate calls in the results and
client controllers, reducing code duplication.  Add support for XML
formatting of results in same.

(These last two should make it easier to write automation tools that
manipulate the etch database.  This will particularly be necessary for
maintenance operations regarding clients and their keys for the just
added client authentication.)

Made the client a little more more tolerant of the server URL syntax, so
you no longer have to remember whether etch wants it with or without the
trailing slash.