Skip to content

CHANGELOG.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
1593 lines (944 loc) · 48 KB

CHANGELOG.md

File metadata and controls

1593 lines (944 loc) · 48 KB
Raw

Version 12.1.1

FIXED:

  • Fixed an issue with unintentional "broadcasting" of numpy arrays in certain 'expression' questions.

  • Fixed an issue that prevented datetime and timedelta objects from being logged.

Version 12.1.0

ADDED:

  • Added questions' types and grading modes to the 'question_info' cache.

  • datetime and timedelta objects (from the datetime module) are now allowed in log entries.

CHANGED:

  • The automatic source code download no longer saves cached copies, to avoid accidentally filling small disks.

  • Upgraded KaTeX to version 0.9.0.

  • Upgraded SweetAlert2 to version 7.15.1.

  • Upgraded MathJax to version 2.7.3.

  • Upgraded PLY to version 3.11.

REMOVED:

  • 'questions' is no longer a valid key for tutor.compute_page_stats, as it is redundant with 'question_info'.

FIXED:

  • Fixed an issue where invalid question names were failing silently.

  • Prevented scroll bars from showing up in the CAT-SOOP logo at the bottom of the page.

  • The 'question_info' cache is now checked/updated after the pre_handle plugin is executed, rather than after.

  • 'expression' questions now support implicit multiplication by j (the imaginary unit).

  • Fixed an issue that caused scores in the 'problemstate' log to be overwritten with None when the "check" button was used.

  • Entering an empty expression and entering an invalid expression to a 'pythonic' question now produce the same error message.

  • Fixed a bug where API token was not being properly set when impersonating a user.

  • In the default handler, ensure handle_check creates all problemstate fields if they don't already exist.

  • The checker script is now aware of the cs_now variable.

  • Fixed an issue that caused a misleading error message when the remote Python sandbox couldn't be reached.

  • Fixed a misleading error message about how to install jose when using the 'openid_connect' authentication type.

  • Fixed a broken link after an error message when using the 'openid_connect' authentication type.

SECURITY:

  • Prevented as_role from affecting the 'role' field in cs_user_info if the user does not have the 'impersonate' permission.

Version 12.0.0

ADDED:

  • Added a cache of question information, to avoid having to fake a page load to get question information in tutor.compute_page_stats.

CHANGED:

  • CAT-SOOP can optionally be configured to use uWSGI, and the options for configuring the WSGI server have changed.

  • Logs are now stored in plain-text files, as opposed to binary log file.

  • Page views are no longer logged in the 'problemactions' log.

  • Updated KaTeX to 0.9.0-beta1.

  • 'question_points' is no longer a valid key in tutor.compute_page_stats. 'question_info' should be used instead.

FIXED:

  • Fixed a bug with rendering of scores when manual grades are submitted.

Version 11.1.2

ADDED:

  • Added "Log In" / "Log Out" to top menu by default, and gave authentication types the ability to populate that menu.

CHANGED:

  • Separated WSGI server into separate process, and allow cs_wsgi_server_port to be a list to start multiple servers (for load balancing).

  • Updated wsgi.py so that it can be used by an external WSGI server (such as uWSGI).

  • csq_nosubmit_message is now sent only on an actual submission (not when viewing the page), so that the submit button still appears when loading pages with cs_nosubmit_message set.

  • Buttons are now always created under 'view' mode in the default handler.

  • cs_nosubmit_message was replaced with csq_nosubmit_message (specific to each question).

FIXED:

  • Fixed an issue where checker results were stored in an invalid location in the case of some errors.

  • Fixed an issue with the checker updating scores for problems that don't yet have a 'problemstate' log.

  • Added CSS to prevent scrollbars from appearing on the CAT-SOOP logo in page footers.

  • Fixed key generation for AES encryption in 'login' authentication mode.

  • Fixed a bug with changing password in 'login' authentication mode.

  • Fixed a bug with client-side password hashing so that the hash is now a proper PBKDF2 hash of the given password.

  • The 'last_submit_time' and 'last_submit_times' entries in the problemstate log are now only updated if the submission was successful.

  • Fixed a bug whereby some compound expressions were treated as literals in the 'pythonliteral' question type.

  • Fixed a bug with rendering of < and > in the 'richtext' question type.

  • Fixed an issue with empty <python> tags.

  • Fixed a broken link in the OpenID Connect login page.

Version 11.1.1

ADDED:

  • Added the 'legacy' grading mode, which does not use the asynchronous checker.

CHANGED:

  • Separated checker results into subdirectories to prevent a single directory growing too large.

  • Helper scripts are now launched using sys.executable, rather than a hard-coded "python3".

  • Checks run through the asynchronous checker now cache their results in the problemstate directory, to avoid having to do a double-lookup.

  • Attempts at improved error reporting throughout CAT-SOOP.

REMOVED:

  • Removed the PKiller class, which is no longer used anywhere.

FIXED:

  • Temporary workaround for automatic scrolling to location of anchor.

  • Fixed a bug with username/password-based access to the get_user_information API endpoint.

  • Fixed a bug with the name of uploaded files.

SECURITY:

  • The current session ID and API token are now filtered from error messages.

DOCUMENTATION:

  • Added (hopefully) meaningful docstrings to almost everything in the codebase.

Version 11.1.0

ADDED:

CHANGED:

  • cheroot is now used instead of uWSGI.

  • File names for uploaded files now include the csq_name of the question they were uploaded for.

FIXED:

  • Fixed an issue whereby the Python sandbox could leave handles to deleted files open (eventually leading to an error from having too many files open).

  • Changed the Python sandbox to use sys.executable (instead of hard-coded path to an assumed location of a Python interpreter) when csq_python_interpreter is not set.

SECURITY:

  • File names for uploaded files now include a hash of their contents to limit the feasibility of a brute-force attack to grab a different user's files.

Version 11.0.5

ADDED:

  • Added the get_upload utility for downloading uploaded files.

  • Added 'extra_data' field to checker results.

  • Added tutor.read_checker_result for quickly reading checker results.

  • Added csq_npoints as an option to the 'pythoncode' question type. If specified, it overrides any point values assigned to the individual test cases.

CHANGED:

  • Changed the default checker used for multiple-choice-multiple-answer problems.

  • The 'fileupload' question type now uses get_upload to download user files, rather than a data URI.

  • Made changes to make sure that files are always closed after being opened.

FIXED:

  • Fixed a potential race condition in the 'pythoncode' question type.

  • Fixed an issue with the 'expression' question type, where overzealous type checking led to some correct answers being marked as incorrect.

  • Fixed issues with the circuit simulator question type that prevented an AC analysis from being run interactively, and that caused incorrect AC results to be sent to the checker.

  • Changes to make sure that reasonable fonts are used (particularly in <pre>, <code>, and <tt>) even if our fonts are not loaded.

  • Some small temporary fixes to AC analysis in the circuit simulator for the 'circuit' question type.

SECURITY:

  • Fixed an issue whereby get_upload could be used to read arbitrary files from disk via a carefully constructed request.

Version 11.0.4

FIXED:

  • Fixed issue with matrix comparison in expression question type.

  • Fixed typo (SyntaxError) in handout handler.

Version 11.0.3

FIXED:

REMOVED:

  • Removed the included simple websockets implementation.

  • Remove more traces of the abandoned queue.

Version 11.0.2

FIXED:

  • Moving a file from 'running' to 'results' in the checker is now implemented as an atomic operation, to avoid the potential for corrupted results files.

Version 11.0.1

FIXED:

  • Changes to the way the 'reporter' process handles websocket connections.

Version 11.0.0

ADDED:

  • Added script to migrate SQLite logs (and checker) to new format.

CHANGED:

  • Logs are now, once again, stored in catsoopdb format. No other options.

  • The checker's state is now stored via the filesystem, rather than through SQLite.

  • File upload paths are now stored relative to cs_data_root to make moving between systems easier. Old (absolute) paths still work, but the system will now store relative paths.

  • Results from completed checks are now loaded in a way that avoids requiring a websocket connection.

  • The checker and reporter are now two separate processes.

FIXED:

  • Fixed serious bug (deadlock) with checker script / logging.

  • Fixed HTML rendering of pythoncode question type.

Version 10.4.0

ADDED:

  • Added a means of viewing a page with different (lower) permissions by spoofing your role (the as_role query string argument).

  • Added a 'dummy' auth type to make authentication on local testing setups easier.

  • Added preliminary support for running on MacOS and Windows (Cygwin) hosts by fixing a number of Mac-specific issues.

  • The 'score' display can now be changed on a per-problem basis via csq_score_message.

CHANGED:

  • pycs compiled files are now stored in <cs_data_root>/_cached, to avoid polluting the course itself.

  • The body of the CAT-SOOP default template is now slightly wider.

  • Local Python sandboxes now write their stdout and stderr to files instead of relying on low-level hacks involving pipes.

  • Updated KaTeX to version 0.8.2.

  • Updated python-markdown to version 2.6.9.

  • The magic variable controlling the checker's location is now cs_checker_websocket instead of cs_websocket_location (which is now ambiguous).

  • Added more options to modify the styling of the "login required" page.

  • Cross/check images are now preceded by a newline.

DEPRECATED:

  • cs_score_message has been deprecated, in favor of csq_score_message. cs_score_message will be removed in a future version.

REMOVED:

  • Removed lots of unused imports, unused local variables, etc, courtesy of pyflakes.

FIXED:

  • Fixed a race condition related to clearing expired session data.

  • Fixed serious bug (deadlock) with checker script / logging.

  • Modified the way PKiller kills processes to avoid a potential race condition.

  • Fixed several breaking issues with the grouping mechanism related to the version 10 changes.

  • Fixed a bug that prevented WHDW from loading students' scores.

  • Fixed a bug that caused some <showhide> tags' buttons to affect other showhide elements on the page instead of themselves.

  • Fixed an issue with error reporting in the 'openid_connect' auth type.

  • Fixed an issue with the ``'login' authentication type that caused false negatives when checking passwords from different browsers.

  • Fixed an issue with broken loading of uploaded files from the database.

  • Fixed an issue that caused an error message not to be shown when cs_form was not defined.

  • Replaced a lingering instance of xrange.

  • Questions with the 'checkoff' question type now render as totally empty if the description and name are empty, rather than as a single colon.

SECURITY:

  • nohup.out files are now ignored when generating the .zip files of the CAT-SOOP source.

Version 10.3.0

CHANGED:

  • Moved all logs to one central location to make backups easier.

Version 10.2.2

REMOVED:

  • Removed several calls to the deprecated cs_print from the default "main" page.

  • Removed "Acknowledgments" section from the default "main" page.

FIXED:

  • Removed an extraneous print statement from the default handler.

  • Remove HTML formatting from course name in source.zip downloads.

Version 10.2.1

CHANGED:

  • Prevented the creation of extra directories when reading nonexistent logs.

REMOVED:

  • Removed the defunct checker_reporter.js script.

FIXED:

  • Fixed a number of issues with sessions.

  • Fixed an issue with serializing Python sets for logging.

Version 10.2.0

ADDED:

  • Added more options to modify the styling of the "login required" box.

CHANGED:

  • Submission IDs are no longer visible by default, though they can be made visible with cs_show_submission_id.

  • Logs once again use SQLite instead of RethinkDB.

REMOVED:

  • Removed RethinkDB completely.

FIXED:

  • Updated the location of the default remote sandbox.

Version 10.1.0

ADDED:

  • cs_user_info and cs_username are now always defined, even on pages that don't require authentication

CHANGED:

  • The built-in print function can now be used instead of cs_print to inject page content from within <python> tags.

DEPRECATED:

  • print should now be used instead of cs_print to inject page content from within <python> tags. cs_print will be removed in a future version.

FIXED:

  • Fixed issue with clearing session data.

  • Fixed an issue with QTYPEs' "init" functions being called with incorrect arguments.

Version 10.0.1

CHANGED:

  • RethinkDB is now used to store session data, as opposed to the file-based storage used in the past.

  • Slight changes to the way version numbers are displayed in the default template.

FIXED:

  • Fixed multiple large issues with manually-graded submissions.

  • Fixed multiple large issues with the 'fileupload' question type.

Version 10.0.0

ADDED:

  • Added the dot product operator to expression question type.

  • Added process.py, containing some common operations relating to process management.

  • Added support for storing uploaded files on disk rather than in the database directly.

CHANGED:

  • RethinkDB is now a hard dependency.

  • The API for logging functions was changed, to avoid a special character as a separator.

  • Submissions are now handled asynchronously, and results are retrieved via web sockets.

  • Markdown no longer outputs <em> or <strong>, preferring <i> and <b> to improve browser compatibility.

  • Many images are now included in pages as data URI's rather than being loaded from a separate request.

  • Replaced the CSS-based loading spinner with an image.

  • Changed the password hashing scheme for the login authentication type to one based on https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2016/09/how-dropbox-securely-stores-your-passwords/

  • Re-styled buttons throughout the system.

REMOVED:

  • Removed CSS-only spinner, replaced with data URI for image in the base context.

  • Removed images for check/cross/favicon, replaced with data URI's in the base context.

  • Removed SQLite and catsoopdb as backends for logging.

FIXED:

  • Improved the Javascript code responsible for making sure the top menu doesn't block text when moving around a page.

  • Errors in the registration form now prevent submitting the form.

Version 9.4.3

ADDED:

  • Added the 'circuit' question type.

  • Added support for nonscalar values in 'expression' questions.

CHANGED:

  • Changed exponentiation to be right-associative in the 'expression' question type.

FIXED:

  • Fixed a bug with rendering implicit multiplication in 'expression' questions.

  • Fixed a bug with rendering of chained exponentiation in 'expression' questions.

  • Fixed a bug with order of operations when using the Python syntax in 'expression' questions.

Version 9.4.2

ADDED:

  • Added the <section*> family of tags, for unnumbered sections.

  • Added the <include> tag, to include the contents of another file.

  • Added the ability to add an additional message to the default page, via cs_main_page_text.

FIXED:

  • Fixed an issue whereby expressions utilizing binary subtraction were not properly parenthesized in the "Check Syntax" rendering of expression questions.

Version 9.4.1

FIXED:

  • Fixed an issue with rendering of certain test cases in the 'pythoncode' question type.

  • Modified the handling of streams in the Python sandbox to avoid buffers filling up.

  • Modified error message handling in the Python sandbox to avoid long-running regex searches.

Version 9.4.0

ADDED:

  • Added support for custom "submissions not allowed" messages via cs_nosubmit_message.

  • Added the cs_now variable to page load contexts.

  • Added the code_pre option to tests in the pythoncode question type, for code to be run before submitted code.

CHANGED:

  • Code is now licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, v3+. Footer text has been updated to reflect this change.

  • cs_nsubmits_message was replaced by csq_nsubmits_message.

  • Updated MathJax to version 2.7.1, and updated it to use a future-proof renderer.

  • Updated PLY to version 3.10.

  • Updated Markdown to version 2.6.8.

  • Updated BeautifulSoup to version 4.6.0.

  • Fixed several issues with rendering of 'pythoncode' question types.

  • Updated the "Formatting Help" page of the 'richtext' question type.

REMOVED:

  • Removed large pieces of the default MathJax install because they will not be used.

FIXED:

  • Fixed broken "home" link for pages in the cs_util "pseudo-course."

  • Fixed issue with HTML tags not rendering inside of <section> tags.

  • Fixed error messages for expressions that can't be parsed in the expression question type.

  • Fixed a crash when the <cs_data_root>/courses directory did not exist or was not writeable by the web server.

  • Fixed a bug with HTML tags being ignored inside <ref> tags.

Version 9.3.0

ADDED:

  • Default handler now logs scores of all questions in the 'problemactions' log on 'submit' actions.

  • Added the csq_always_show_tests option to 'pythoncode' questions, to enable/disable the "Show/Hide Detailed Results" button.

  • New plugin infrastructure.

  • catsoop.ajaxrequest now accepts a callback function that can be executed once the request has completed.

  • More options for rendering pages ('content_only' and 'raw_html').

CHANGED:

  • Code is now released under version 2 of the Soopycat License.

  • Math expressions are now rerendered in all responses to AJAX calls.

  • Updated KaTeX to version 0.7.0

  • Updated MathJax to version 2.7.0

  • Python syntax highlighting updated.

  • Several improvements to WHDW and stats displays.

REMOVED:

  • Errors related to evaluating the expression are no longer displayed in the 'pythonic' question type.

FIXED:

  • Allowed 'pythonic' question type to accept tuples without parentheses.

  • Fixed issue with 'expression' question type, with csq_ratio_check = True and csq_soln = 0.

  • Switched to different CDN for loading Ace editor code.

  • Fixed an issue related to automatic locking when no answers have been viewed.

  • Fixed a regression related to rendering the answers to 'multiplechoice' questions using the 'checkbox' renderer.

  • Fixed a regression related to answer checking in 'multiplechoice' questions.

  • Fixed issue related to handling empty <python> or <question> tags.

  • Fixed issue related to incorrectly filtering user information when generating API tokens.

  • Fixed issues with type errors from decoding data URI's in the 'pythoncode' and 'fileupload' question types.

  • Fixed several issues related to invalid HTML output in response to 'pythoncode' submission.

  • Fixed source.zip generation to be more pedantic about when to re-build the file.

  • Fixed rendering of questions via 'rerender' in the default handler.

  • Fixed problem with trying to render a template from a context where not all variables are defined.

  • Fixed rendering of check/cross images in expression question type.

  • Manual grading interface now displays more relevant feedback to the grader after submission (exactly the score and comments as the student will see them).

  • Fixed the display of answers to 'pythoncode' questions so that syntax highlights properly.

  • Fixed issue with processes not being properly closed with the Python sandbox.

SECURITY:

  • Fixed a regression that opened a XSS vulnerability in 'pythoncode' questions.

DOCUMENTATION:

  • Use American spelling in documentation.

Version 9.2.0

ADDED:

  • Added render_single_question to the default handler, for rendering a single question's contents.

  • Added ability to customize how e-mail address is created from available information when using OpenID Connect.

  • Added the ability to override get_group's section lookup and instead use the specified section.

  • Added 'stats' and 'whdw' (Who Has Done What) actions to the default handler.

CHANGED:

  • Better checks and display for 'checkoff' question type.

  • Improved error handling in the 'pythonic' question type.

  • Improved the formatting of HTML in the 'pythoncode' question type to prevent Beautiful Soup from modifying it too much.

  • None is now a special category that is skipped when assigning groups.

  • Improved formatting of answers to 'pythoncode' questions.

  • Cells in HTML tables are no longer automatically center-aligned.

  • Removed confusing answer display from 'checkoff' question type.

FIXED:

  • Fixed a bug with cs_path_info not being defined in certain situations.

  • Fixed the stylesheet so that pages can be printed again.

  • Fixed a bug with reporting error messages related to malformed questions.

  • Fixed a type error in list_groups that prevented students' sections from being determined correctly.

  • Brought the 'richtext' question type up to speed with current CAT-SOOP.

  • Brought the 'multiplechoice' question type up to speed with current CAT-SOOP.

  • Brought the handout handler up to speed with current CAT-SOOP and improved its error reporting.

  • Fixed a regression that rendered 'pythonliteral' questions unusable.

  • Fixed a typo in dispatch that broke proper 404 handling of handouts.

  • Fixed a regression with the permissions check for the "Save" button.

  • Several fixes for the 'fileupload', 'richtext', and 'pythoncode' question types.

  • Prevented a misleading error message from being displayed when automatically viewing answers on a timed exercise.

  • Several fixes for catsoop.tools.data_uri

  • Fixed a bug that prevented per-user randomness from functioning as expected.

  • Updated automatic source downloader to use spoof_early_load, fixing a bug.

  • Fixed a typo in the 'checkoff' question type.

Version 9.1.0

ADDED:

  • Added catsoop.path_info added to javascript (for groups).

  • Added cs_pre_handle for normal use and pre_handle.py for plugins.

  • The state of the context is now stored after every preload.py file in the chain has been executed (in cs_loader_states), to allow, e.g., looking up parents' names.

  • Added "breadcrumbs" to the default theme.

  • Fleshed out the interactive group management page.

CHANGED:

  • Navigational menu entries can now optionally be specified in a more straightforward (Pythonic) manner.

  • csq_names are now automatically assigned as part of the XML parsing step, rather than in the default handler.

  • Changed "Are you sure you want to view the answer" dialog to use SweetAlert2 (https://limonte.github.io/sweetalert2/).

  • Nicer-looking tables in default theme.

  • Added a more complete message to the "log in" box for OpenID Connect.

FIXED:

  • Fixed bug with cs_view_without_auth flag.

  • Fixed bug with listing groups.

  • Fixed bug with file locking stemming from a change in 9.0.0.

  • cs_post_load and plugins' post-load hooks now fire at the right time (after <python> tags are evaluated).

  • Fixed bug with additional files in the Python sandbox.

  • Fixed several bugs related to HTML parsing/display.

  • Internal Server Errors in AJAX callbacks now display an error message.

  • Fixed a bug that prevented saving entries to questions.

  • Fixed a bug that prevented reading user information from the __USERS__ directory from catsoop.util.read_user_file.

SECURITY:

  • Logins are no longer carried over between courses (user must log in to each course separately).

Version 9.0.0

ADDED:

  • Added back the catsoopdb format (last seen in version 4.0.1), with improvements to prevent collisions and a few bugfixes.

  • Added Beautiful Soup to the distribution. (https://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/)

  • Included Bootstrap (http://getbootstrap.com/) in the distribution, and updated the default theme to use it (also moved main.template and base.css to old.template and old.css, respectively, to make room for new style).

  • Added the cs_base_color variable, for switching the main color of the default theme.

  • Added syntax highlighting to code blocks, via highlight.js. (https://highlightjs.org/). If no language is explicitly specified for syntax highlighting, the value stored in cs_default_code_language will be used (default is no syntax highlighting; explicitly setting that value to None will cause highlight.js to guess the appropriate language for each block).

  • Added support for authentication via OpenID Connect. (http://openid.net/connect/)

  • Added support for default courses via cs_default_course.

  • Added the list_questions and get_state API endpoints to the default handler.

  • Added an easier way to spoof context loading with loader.spoof_early_load.

  • Added cslog.modify_most_recent, which updates the most recent log entry atomically.

  • Added method for sending e-mail to a CAT-SOOP user from the API without knowing their e-mail address.

  • Added support for input checks and ratio checking (rather than absolute error checking) to the 'expression' question type.

  • Added 'number' question type for single numbers (or simple fractions).

  • Added __PLUGINS__ directory for plugins which work in ways other than defining a new QTYPE or handler (ability to affect the context before or after preload, before or after content load, and after handler is invoked).

CHANGED:

  • CAT-SOOP is now only compatible with Python version 3.5+. Python 2 compatibility was dropped intentionally, but versions 3.0.0 <= x < 3.5 are not supported because CAT-SOOP does some strange things with imports.

  • CAT-SOOP no longer runs on Windows hosts.

  • Drastically improved inheritance for question types (requiring far less manual work) via tutor.qtype_inherit.

  • CAT-SOOP XML parsing is now largely handled by Beautiful Soup instead of by regular expressions.

  • Renamed gb.py -> base_context.py to more accurately reflect its usage.

  • Modified the login authentication type to use Python's built-in implementation of PBKDF2.

  • Changed the way authentication is handled in AJAX requests, in preparation for including the public-facing API.

  • Themes are now run through a pre-processor that handles <python> and <printf> tags (including @{...} syntax).

  • Passwords (in all forms) are now hashed both before and after being sent to the server (passwords are now never sent in plain-text).

  • Navigation links should now be held in cs_top_menu instead of cs_navigation.

  • <ref> tags can now take the relevant label as label="x" in addition to just as x.

  • Improved error pages shown on 404 File Not Found.

  • Default permissions now include the 'view' permission.

  • Modified the default "loading" spinner to use CSS instead of an image

  • csq_check_function can now return a dictionary mapping 'score' to the score and 'msg' to a message to be returned, eliminating the need for csq_msg_function when it is more convenent to compute the score and message at the same time. Alternatively, it can return a tuple (score, message). The old form is still supported.

  • csq_msg_function, if used, can now optionally take a second argument representing the solution (the message doe not need to be computed from the submission alone).

  • Replaced "response" field with "message" in JSON returned by the default handler's AJAX calls, to avoid duplicate use of "response".

  • The CAT-SOOP cat changes when displaying a 404 or 500 error message.

  • Improved error reporting in 'pythonic' question type.

FIXED:

  • Tracebacks in CAT-SOOP error messages now actually show useful information.

  • Pre-compiled CAT-SOOP (.pycs) files' names now include the Python implementation's cache tag, so that the same course can be migrated to a CAT-SOOP instance running on a different version of Python without issue.

  • Fixed a bug whereby an empty entry in a 'multiplechoice' question (--) was interpreted as being the last element in the csq_options list.

  • Missing files/directories are now always handled as 404 errors, rather than 500.

  • Fixed a bug resulting from a nonexistent courses directory.

  • The cs_post_load hook is now invoked at a time when cs_content is still relevant.

  • Fixed bug with expression question type erroring when using multiple values for a variable.

  • Prevented PLY from writing its parsing tables to disk.

SECURITY:

  • Included the option to tune the number of iterations used with PBKDF2, and increased the default number of iterations from 50,000 to 250,000.

  • Minimum password length in the login authentication type is now 8 instead of 5 (per the NIST recommendation at https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-3/sp800-63b.html)

Version 8.0.0

ADDED:

  • <label> and <ref> tags are now available, for easier referencing of sections within a CAT-SOOP page.

  • Answers and explanations can now be automatically viewed in certain situations (running out of submissions, earning 100% score).

  • Added a check for non-ASCII characters in input, and an error message to be displayed in this case.

  • Most CAT-SOOP options related to the default handler can now be specified as functions that return the appropriate value, rather than the value itself, which allows them to be set in a way that depends on the current context.

  • Added a way to compute stats about a particular page (for use in making gradebooks).

  • Question types can now have multiple form fields by having names starting with __QNAME_, where QNAME is the name of the question.

  • The 'multiplechoice' question type has two new modes which allow for arbitrary formatting (including math) in the options: 'checkbox', which allows multiple answers to be selected; and 'radio', which allows only one answer to be selected.

  • Added the cs_debug function, which can be used to log arbitrary information to a file during execution of a preload or content file.

  • Resources can now be loaded from arbitrarily-named files (e.g., <root>/path/to/foo.md instead of <root>/path/to/foo/content.md)

  • In the 'pythoncode' question type, it is now possible to hide the code associated with test cases.

  • Added data_uri module from https://gist.github.com/zacharyvoase/5538178 for better handling of file uploads

  • Users can now log in with their e-mail addresses instead of their usernames when using the 'login' authentication type.

  • Permissions can now be specified directly via cs_permissions, instead of exclusively via roles.

  • The 'pythoncode' question type can now handle Python 3 code.

  • Handlers and question types can now have viewable pages inside them, viewable at <url_root>/__HANDLER__/default/page_name

  • Every page footer now links to both the terms of the license, and also to the "download source" link.

  • Added a module for sending e-mails, primarily for use in the 'login' authentication type.

  • MathJax is now included directly, rather than loaded from their CDN.

CHANGED:

  • Functions inside of question types no longer need to manually load default values; values from the defaults variable are automatically used when not specified inside the <question> tag.

  • The 'login' authentication type was much improved, including the option to send confirmation e-mails, change passwords, and recover lost passwords; and to customize the types of e-mail addresses that are accepted.

  • Improved error reporting in the 'login' auth type.

  • The cs_post_load hook now executes before the page's handler is invoked, and a new hook cs_post_handle was introduced, which is called after the handler is invoked.

  • CAT-SOOP's handling of HTML tags is now case-insensitive.

  • The "view as" page was updated to show more accurately what the user in question would see.

  • Many options related to the default handler (primarily related to which actions should be allowed) are now specified on a per-question basis rather than a per-page basis.

  • Locking a user out of a problem has been separated from viewing the answer to that question.

  • Improved rendering in the 'expression' question type.

  • name_map is now stored as an ordered dictionary.

  • Results from the 'pythonic' question type are now evaluated in the question's scope, rather than in the question type's scope.

  • The number of rows to be displayed in the ACE interface for coding questions is now customizable.

  • Answers in the 'smallbox' and 'bigbox' question types are no longer wrapped in <tt></tt>.

  • Markdown and/or custom XML, depending on the source type used, is now interpreted inside of answers and explanations (including math rendering).

  • All CAT-SOOP modules are now available inside of the source files for handlers and question types.

  • The cs_scripts string is now injected into the template after jQuery, katex, MathJax, and cs_math have been loaded.

  • Modified the generation of per-user random seeds to (eventually) allow for re-generating of random seeds.

  • Moved much of the Javascript code from the default handler to separate files.

  • Moved WSGI file and changed the way imports are handled in order to make sure everything can access the CAT-SOOP modules/subpackages.

  • Moved handling of csq_prompt out of individual question types and into the default handler to avoid duplicating code.

  • Removed logo image from main page.

  • cs_source_format is now inferred (rather than specified explicitly).

  • In question type specifications, handle_submission now returns a dictionary instead of a tuple.

  • Restructured authentication types to make adding more types in the future easier.

  • Section labels are now rendered as id's of the associated headers.

FIXED:

  • Fixed a bug whereby $ characters could not be escaped with backslash.

  • Fixed issues with certain tags' internals being parsed as Markdown (script, pre, question, etc).

  • Trying to access a resource that doesn't exist on disk now gives a 404 error instead of crashing.

  • Fixed several bugs related to uploading multiple files in a single submission

  • Spaces are now allowed in question names.

  • CAT-SOOP no longer crashes on a malformed <question>, but rather displays an error message.

  • Fixed an issue with intermittent WSGI failures by re-trying failed actions.

  • Updated MathJax to version 2.6.1 to fix a rendering issue in Chrome.

  • Updated the URL of the default Python sandbox to reflect changes in the CAT-SOOP web site.

  • Improved handling of query strings and fragment identifiers when rewriting URLs.

  • Improved handling of implicit multiplication in the 'expression' question type.

  • Added unary + to Python syntax in the 'expression' question type.

  • cslog.most_recent now returns the default value when the log file does not exist, instead of crashing.

  • Fixed handling of temporary files on Windows hosts.

  • Fixed validation of user information when registering under the 'login' authenatication type.

  • Fixed several bugs with manual grading, reported from 6.02.

  • Log files are no longer created when trying to read from a nonexistent log.

  • Mercurial temporary files (.orig) are now ignored in the zip generated when downloading the source.

  • <pre> tags are now used instead of <tt> for wrapping answers in the 'pythoncode' question type.

  • Fixed an issue in the 'pythoncode' sanboxes whereby 0 MEMORY limit actually allowed 0 bytes of heap storage, rather than unlimited.

  • Prevent a crash if <cs_data_root>/courses does not exist.

  • Modified to always use the local markdown package, even if one is installed globally, to make sure Markdown extensions are loaded properly.

  • Buttons are now re-enabled on page load, to prevent an issue whereby buttons would remain disabled after a refresh on Firefox.

SECURITY:

  • PBKDF2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBKDF2) is now used for the 'login' authentication mode.

  • Closed a XSS vulnerability in the 'pythoncode' question type.

  • Closed a security hole in session handling that allowed for arbitrary code execution under certain circumstances by validating session ids and modifying the way session data are stored.

  • Logs can no longer be accessed/created outside of the appropriate __LOGS__ directories.

Version 7.1.1

FIXED:

  • Fixed an issue that prevented the last question on each page from being displayed.

Version 7.1.0

ADDED:

  • Added the option to grade questions manually, from 6.02 fall 2015.

  • Added a 'richtext' question type, which allows for formatting of text using CAT-SOOP-flavored Markdown.

  • Added the 'fileupload' question type, which allows users to upload arbitrary files.

  • Added checks for valid configuration options.

CHANGED:

  • Rewrote the 'expression' question type to use PLY for parsing, and included a default syntax for expressions that is more approachable to users not familiar with Python.

Version 7.0.1

FIXED:

  • Fixed a syntax error in the expression question type.

Version 7.0.0

ADDED:

  • Included KaTeX (https://khan.github.io/KaTeX/).

  • Added three new handlers: 'passthrough', which displays cs_content without modification; 'raw_response', which allows sending a raw HTTP response; and 'redirect', for redirecting to other resources easily.

  • Added support for Markdown as an alternative source format, and included python-markdown in the distribution.

  • Question type specifications can now include an arbitrary action (beyond saving/submitting) that will be executed when a user presses a new button.

  • Added support for streaming content (via returning a generator instead of a string), and for automatic streaming of large static files.

  • Added support for inline (runnable by users) test cases in 'pythoncode' question types.

  • Added cs_util resources: time, which yields the current time (according to the server) for synchronization purposes; source.zip, which downloads a zip archive containing the CAT-SOOP source code; and license, which contains the text of CAT-SOOP's license.

  • Added a 'string' mode to the 'pythonic' question type, which allows the answer to be specified as a string to be evaluated. Also added the csq_code_pre variable to this question type, for setting up the environment into which csq_soln will be evaluated in string mode.

CHANGED:

  • Math rendering now uses KaTeX (fast, but limited support) when possible, and falls back to MathJax (slow, but more support) when necessary.

  • "Special" CAT-SOOP variables are now prefixed with cs_ (for page-specific values) or csq_ (for question-specific values) to prevent accidental shadowing

  • Changed nomenclature: "activity type" -> "handler"

  • Complete rewrite of default handler.

  • Reorganization of sandboxing for Python code.

  • gb.py should no longer be changed; rather, global configuration values should be overwritten via config.py (which is loaded into gb.py)

  • Improved handling of footnotes.

REMOVED:

  • Removed jquery_typing plugin, which is no longer needed for expression questions.

FIXED:

  • Fixed bug with newline handling in CGI interface.

  • Fixed bugs related to static files when using the CGI interface running on Windows hosts.

  • The default theme now handles resizing of the containing window more smoothly.

STYLE:

Version 6.0.0

ADDED:

  • Added post_load hook, which is executed after the content file is executed.

  • Added support for XML as an additional source format, and set it to be the default format.

  • Change names EARLY_LOAD.py -> preload.py and LATE_LOAD.py -> content.xml.

  • Added the 'pythonliteral' question type, which behaves much like pythonic, but requires that the submission be a literal value (rather than the result of a more complicated expression).

CHANGED:

  • Modified handling of footnotes.

  • File containing user information should now end in .py (e.g., username.py instead of just username).

  • Reorganized 'python...' question types to properly inherit from one another to avoid duplicate code.

REMOVED:

  • The 'problem' activity type was removed, in favor of 'ajaxproblem'.

FIXED:

  • Fixed an issue where 'last_submit' was keeping information only about the most recent submission overall, instead of the most recent submission for each question.

  • The __LOGS__ directory will now be created if it does not exist, rather than crashing CAT-SOOP.

SECURITY:

  • Error messages now show less information, to avoid displaying sensitive information.

Version 5.0.0

ADDED:

  • Added support for footnotes via <footnote>

  • Added support for page organization via <section>, <subsection>, etc.

  • The ability to save and submit are now controllable via special variables in the problem activity type.

  • Added a warning message upon clicking the 'view solution' button to indicate that users will not be able to submit after doing so. Also maintained the ability to bypass this check, for things like automatically submitting at the end of a timed exercise.

  • Added the handout activity type, which allows for showing a static file, but with access controls (releasing after a particular date, only viewable by particular role, etc).

  • Added support for displaying explanations in addition to answers in particular question types.

CHANGED:

  • Logs are now stored in SQLite databases.

  • The logo in the main page is now displayed as text, rather than as an image.

  • Buttons in 'ajaxproblem' question types are now disabled before processing the request, to avoid multiple identical submissions from mis-clicks.

REMOVED:

  • Removed catsoopdb format, in favor of SQLite.

FIXED:

  • Renamed logging.py to cslog.py to prevent accidentically importing Python's built-in logging module.

  • Fixed rendering of math when viewing solution to an 'expression' question.

  • Scores are now properly handled in the 'ajaxproblem' activity type.

  • Fixed a bug with displaying the solution for 'pythonic' question types whose solutions are tuples.

  • Fixed a bug with displaying the solution for 'pythonic' question types whose solutions are strings.

  • Fixed a bug related to handling of dynamic pages in the __BASE__ course.

  • Fixed numerous 'ajaxproblem' bugs.

  • Improved detection of static files.

SECURITY:

  • Error messages no longer show information about the location of CAT-SOOP (or the course in question) on disk

Version 4.0.1

FIXED:

  • Fixed issue whereby a missing EARLY_LOAD.py would crash CAT-SOOP.

  • Fixed bug with caching of static files.

  • Fixed bug related to authenticating in 'login' mode.

REMOVED:

  • Removed rendering time from default template.

Version 4.0.0

ADDED:

  • Added the 'ajaxproblem' activity type, which allows submitting individual questions without reloading the entire page. Made 'ajaxproblem' the default activity type.

  • Added support for skipping ahead or behind by weeks in relative timestrings, using + or - (e.g., M+:17:00 means next Monday at 5pm).

  • Solutions for individual students are now displayed when impersonating them.

  • Source for pages is now cached in a marshaled format, to prevent having to re-parse the source of pages that have not changed.

  • Added support for authenticating via login (username and password) rather than via client certificate.

  • Added support for per-user randomness (users see the same numbers upon returning to a page, but different users may see different numbers).

  • Added documentation (via epydoc-compatible docstrings) throughout.

  • CAT-SOOP now asks the browser to use cached versions of static files where appropriate.

  • Allowed question types and activity types to be specified in the course rather than in the base system.

CHANGED:

  • Changed internal nomenclature: meta -> context everywhere to represent the context in which a page is rendered.

REMOVED:

  • Removed several references to sicp-s2.mit.edu in the code.

FIXED:

  • Fixed impersonation glitch whereby permissions were inherited from the impersonated user.

  • Fixed glaring bug with static file handling.

  • Fixed inheritance bug in the pythonic question type.

Version 3.1.0

ADDED:

  • Added WSGI interface (and moved main function elsewhere so WSGI and CGI can share code).

  • Questions are automatically given names if they were not explicitly given a name.

  • Question types and activity types are now pre-compiled to avoid having to re-parse them on every load.

Version 3.0.0

ADDED:

  • problem activities now store due dates, to account for changes in due date after submitting.

  • Added support for the ACE code editor in Python code questions.

CHANGED:

  • Separated loading from METADATA.py into EARLY_LOAD.py and LATE_LOAD.py. ``EARLY_LOAD files are executed all the way down the source tree (for the sake of inheritance, as with METADATA.py), but only the `LATE_LOAD.py` associated with the leaf node is executed (to allow some code execution to be avoided when working down the tree).

  • Moved/improved impersonation code.

  • Refactored logging code.

  • Refactored main control loop.

FIXED:

  • Better sandboxing of Python code.

  • Fixed an issue with submitAs control for questions with randomness.

  • Fixed handling of paths on Windows hosts.

  • Modified expression question type to be compatible with Python 2.6.

  • Several bug fixes in 'pythoncode' question type.

SECURITY:

  • Prune out .. and . from URLs to avoid escaping the CAT-SOOP tree.

Version 2.0.0

Complete re-write. First version used in 6.01 (spring 2013). First version with any similarity to the current code.

Version 1.0.0

The original version, used in 6.003 fall 2011, and described in http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/77086. This version has very little in common with later versions.