This directory contains the sources of the Magic Lantern package.
Magic Lantern is a highly advanced graphical toolkit which is
especially suitable for the management of possibly distributed
systems.  At the heart of the Magic Lantern is a data base which stores
functions, and which retains a complete history of updates.  The data
base maintains the configuration of the system under management, sensor
values, and the contents of the windows on the screen.  The graphical
interface interacts directly with the data base.  Magic Lantern also
provides watches, communication mechanisms, and can be connected to
Meta for further functionality.  More on the system can be found in
doc/doc.n.  Format it using the command "pic doc.n | troff -ms".  A
PostScript version is available in the file doc/doc.ps.

Magic is not, strictly speaking, an ISIS or META application.  It
was developed while the author was visiting with the ISIS project
during 1989-1990 and can be set up to interface to ISIS and META if
desired, but it will also run standalone under X windows.  The ISIS
project is including Magic on its distribution tape to respond to
inquires from ISIS users concerning graphical interfaces to the Meta
subsystem.  Magic addresses this need to some extent.

To be able to run this package you need at least 10 more Megabytes of
disk space.  You can find out whether you have this much or not by
running the command "df .".  First edit the file "config" such that
ISIS and META are defined as their respective home directories.  To
compile the whole system, run bin/install.  It will automatically
create a subdirectory named after the architecture on which you run.
You can call the script from several architectures to get versions for
each one.  You can try the system out by calling bin/rundemo in this
directory.  Look in the document to see how you can operate it.  You'll
have to run X11 windows, preferable release 4.  Magic Lantern maintains
data base storage in the subdirectory db, which is why you have to call
the script from this directory.  For another cute demo, call
$arch/demo/sigpro, again from this top-level directory.

Documentation is underway, as can be seen in the doc directory.  However,
for the time being you may have to look in the sources to see what's
going on.  The system was developed on a sun4.  It should be portable
enough, but it might be very slow on architectures with less than 10 MIPS
and 10 Megabytes of memory.


			Robbert van Renesse
			May 2, 1990
			Revised June 8, 1990
