DataReel 6.2 Release Notes

DataReel 6.2 Release Notes, 10/25/2026

DataReel 6.2 adds more fixes for damaged or crafted database and index files found by the security review of the Encrypted Password Database, a new gxDatabase::SetWriteHook() function, wxWidgets 3 header fixes and a CMake build. Every change in the source is marked with a "10/25/2026" comment.

The library version in version.txt is 6.2 and the shared library version (SHAREDLIB_VERSION in env/linux.env) is 6.2, so the Linux shared library is built as libdatareel.so.6.2. gxDatabase has two new members, so programs must be recompiled against the 6.2 headers and relinked.

Security Fixes

gxBtree search, insert and delete walks stop with gxDBASE_BADBLOCK_ERROR after gxBtreeMaxNodeReads (4096) node reads, so a node in a damaged or crafted index file that points back up the tree cannot make them loop forever. The BtreeCache variants are not changed.
InfoHog Find(), CompareIndex() and RebuildIndexFile() no longer loop forever on a data file block length shorter than a block header, and skip objects that cannot be read instead of using the key member of a failed read.

New Function

gxDatabase::SetWriteHook() sets a function that is called after each successful Write(), so an application can tell its own changes to a file from changes made by others. The Encrypted Password Database uses it to update its database MAC.

wxWidgets 3

wx3incs.h: the include guard tested __GX_WX3NCS_HPP__ but defined __GX_WX3INCS_HPP__, so the header was never guarded.
gxshtml.cpp: the wxWidgets 3.x code included wx2incs.h instead of wx3incs.h, and called wxYield() even when __GUI_THREAD_SAFE__ was not defined. wxYield() from a worker thread is not allowed in wxWidgets 3.
"defined (__wxWIN201__) || (__wxWIN291__)" tested the value of __wxWIN291__ instead of whether it is defined. Both now use defined().
The new __wxWIN3__ macro selects the wxWidgets 3.x code for any 3.x release (3.0 through 3.3). It is interchangeable with __wxWIN302__, so existing code is unchanged.

CMake Build

A CMakeLists.txt in the top-level directory builds the same objects as the makefiles into a static library (DataReel::datareel) on Linux and Windows, with options for SSL (OpenSSL, Schannel or none), console or wxWidgets message display, the 64-bit database engine and native types. See "BUILDING WITH CMAKE" in README.txt. The makefiles are unchanged.

How The Changes Were Tested

An index file whose node points to itself is rejected with an error instead of looping, and the database examples give the same results as with 6.1.
On RHEL 10 the library builds with no warnings with the makefiles and with CMake, and the example and utility programs build against it.

Documentation

Historical references to version 5 were reworded, the documentation footers read DataReel 6.2, and the Cluster Manager page describes DRCM 1.42.