[Gramps-announce] First 3.3.0 BETA 1 released

[Benny M. <ben...@gm...>]

A first beta for 3.3.0 has been released:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gramps/files/Stable/3.3.0/

We will not upload packages to sourceforge, however, packagers are
encouraged to try to build packages themselves. See README for changed
dependencies.

Please, if possible, test this beta and post bugs.
The recommended way to test 3.3 beta 1 is:

1/ export your family tree with 3.2.x to a .gramps file (no restrictions!)
2/ import your .gramps file in 3.2.x into a family tree with name 'TEST 3.3
version 01'  (use 3.2.6 for speed!)
3/ close Gramps 3.2, and start Gramps 3.3.0-beta01
4/ Open the family tree 'TEST 3.3 version 01'. This will test the upgrade of
the database
5/ Create a new family tree TEST 3.3 version 02' and import your .gramps
file. This will test the import.
6/ Start testing the beta with the two TEST family trees.
7/ report bugs at http://www.gramps-project.org/bugs/ and help write the 3.3
manual:
http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gramps_3.3_Wiki_Manual
8/ just to repeat, if you use the beta for actual genealogy, you do so on
your own risk. Whatever you do, backups are good for you.

Major changes are:

* new person name parts and interface based on user feedback: nickname,
support for complicated multiple surname, patronymic as surname, family
nickname, reworked name format preferences. (
http://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=GEPS_021:_Additional_Name_Fields
)

* gramplet bottombar and sidebar per view, with new gramplets. This allows
to see information in eg a listview, without opening an editor, and should
improve your workflow. Among the new gramplets are details gramplets and
image metadata viewer/editor

* Tags: it is possible to add tags to objects, allowing to group eg people.
Tags are _not_ genealogy data, but instead an organizational help. Tags
replaces Markers. (
http://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=GEPS_011:_Tagging)

* Geography view is no longer based on a browser (mozilla or webkit).
Instead, it is based on the excellent osm-gps-map, which has offline tile
storage, making this view partially functional too when off-line. Packagers,
this means the browser dependency should be removed (optional only for the
htmlview). (
http://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=GEPS_025:_Geography)

* New Locality field in the place editor. The place hierarchy is now:
Country, State, County, City, Locality, Street (
http://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=GEPS_006:_Better_Place_handling
)

* Automatic check and upgrade of plugins on startup

* Many tweaks and improvements, among which:
  - Improved Merge support of objects
  - Better descendant/ancester tree reports
  - Undo/Redo on entry fields (via CTRL-Z, CTRL-SHIFT-Z)
  - Backup option in the exporter
  - Exporter based on filters with preview possibility
  - Many more

Greetings,
The Gramps Team