Even as the release of the Express 1 MPE/iX 6.0 was slowing, HP rolled out beta test versions of new features scheduled for the next Express 2 release of 6.0. HP’s CSY division has Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), as a client C API, ready for beta testing. LDAP provides X.500 directory services for HP 3000s, so the 3000s can communicate across to other platforms with X.500 capabilities. The software can be downloaded from CSY’s 3000-based Jazz web server (jazz.external.hp.com/src/ldap/). The software package includes C API libraries, header files, command-line tools and sample LDAP client applications. Customers can register for the beta test and receive a set of files at the Web page. The beta test requires MPE/iX 5.5 and access to another LDAP server.

HP is also making the latest version of the Apache/iX Web server available for beta testing. Version 1.3.4 has some changes from previous versions of Apache, namely a prospective fix to the “Access denied” document error. Browsers that hit Apache/iX sometimes receive an access denied error for documents to which they should have access, an MPE fopen() defect that beta test patch MPEKXT3B purports to fix. Another Apache/iX problem with overwritten output from Pascal and COBOL CGI programs remains under investigation. Beta testers of Apache/iX 1.3.4 must agree to install patch MPEKXT3B, but HP promised the patch “will soon be available to all customers as a general release patch.” Customers can download the Apache beta software at jazz.external.hp.com/src/apache.