New OpenSim release supports groups, export perms

A new official release of the OpenSimulator server software was released yesterday, version 0.7.6, with out-of-the-box support for groups and profiles, many scripting improvements, better teleports, better voice, materials, and the new hypergrid export permission.

A Diva Distro version of the new release is also out but, as of this writing, Sim-on-a-Stick and New World Studio have not yet been updated.

“Despite having a minor point release number, it actually contains a very large number of features and fixes with many improvements,” said OpenSim core developer Justin Clark-Casey in an announcement yesterday. “Moreover, this is the first release that incorporates all the major performance improvements that were made to host the recent OpenSimulator Community Conference.”

Stress test for the OpenSimulator Community Conference.
Stress test for the OpenSimulator Community Conference.

As hypergrid inventor and OpenSim core developer Crista Lopes wrote on her blog this summer, getting ready for the conference spurred developers to make dramatic improvements in performance and stability.

Big-ticket improvements

The single biggest change for many users will be the out-of-the-box support for groups and associated functionality.

Previously, this was available to users of the Diva Distro and packages based on it, such as Sim-on-a-Stick and New World Studio. In fact, Lopes added groups support to the Diva Distro back in February.

But users of the standard OpenSim distribution had to download and install the groups functionality separately, which was a complicated process involving an external Apache server to run the groups service.

The new groups functionality is built right in and doesn’t require any additional components. It also works in both standalone mode for single regions and mini-grids, and in grid mode for full grids.

The upgrade also supports hypergrid functionality, so groups members could be residents of other grids who teleport in.

As an added bonus, offline messages are also included.

Better hypergrid security

Tired of seeing your content be carried to other grids via hypergrid teleport? This new version of OpenSim supports export permissions, first developed by Avination and Singularity back in March.

In addition to the three permission settings content creators already know and love — copy, modify, and transfer — there is now a fourth “export” permission. By enabling exports, buyers will be able to take their purchases to other grids. Disallowing exports means that the content stays on the grid.

Since it’s the grid server that decides whether to allow content to leave the grid or not, it doesn’t matter which viewer the user has.

However, creators who want to change the export settings — or users who want to know whether the setting is enabled or not — need to use a viewer that supports it, such as Singularity.

Since this functionality is new, I would not yet recommend deploying it for a large-scale commercial grid project. There might yet be bugs and security holes that need to be patched. And, of course, the export permission setting provides no security against copybot viewers, so content creators would still need to be vigilant and monitor the largest marketplaces to ensure that their content isn’t being resold by pirates.

Other hypergrid improvements include the ability to set a different default starting region for hypergrid visitors as opposed to local residents logging in.

Performance and stability

Over the four months leading up to September’s OpenSim Community Conference, developers made almost 1,000 different code fixes allowing regions to hold up to 60 avatars each, with little or no chat lag or freezing.

In addition, developers completely rewrote the teleport functionality to be more in line with what occurs on Second Life — and is therefore expected by the viewers.

In the new release, avatars will lose their appearance after teleporting less often, for example.

The conference also led to increased communication with viewer developers, as a result of which the biggest OpenSim teleport problem, the 4096 bug, has been fixed.

The fix, while mostly on the viewer side, also requires a change to OpenSim configuration files, and is now included in the standard OpenSim distribution.

Scripting

Lots of new changes here, including many behind-the-scenes improvements designed to increase stability and performance.

In addition, a number of new script commands have been implemented, including:

  • llSetSoundQueueing()
  • llSetKeyframedMotion()
  • llSetContentType()
  • llTransferLindenDollars() — this requires a third-party money module, however

For more information, see 0.7.6 Release Notes.

Maria Korolov