gnuplot-beta — Developers and beta testers of new gnuplot code

Re: Gnuplot 5.4.7 release tarball available for testing

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

I have executed the test build on windows (MinGW64).
I ended successfully

Tatsuro

> ----- Original Message -----
> 
> From: "Ethan A Merritt" <me...@uw...>
> To: "gnu...@li..." <gnu...@li...>
> Date: 2023/05/19 金 06:38
> Subject: Gnuplot 5.4.7 release tarball available for testing
> 
> 
> I have placed a pre-release tarball of 5.4.7 on the testing area of SourceForge
> 
>     https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot/files/gnuplot/testing/gnuplot-5.4.7testing.tar.gz
> 
> The number of bug fixes is surprisingly large, given how late this is in the
> 5.4 series. Many of these bugs date back to earlier versions of gnuplot but
> either were not reported or not considered fixable until recently.
> I had been thinking that this would be the last patchlevel release for 5.4
> but now I am not so sure. 
> 
> If no problems are reported, I plan to use this for release of 5.4.7
> next week.
> 
> 
> Changes in 5.4.7
> ================
> 
> * FIX    pseudofiles '+','++' must ignore "set datafile columnheader"  Bug #2585
> * FIX    data from an array must ignore "set datafile columnheader"    Bug #2585
> * FIX    various problems with unbounded plot iteration                Bug #2589
> * FIX    allow plot ... smooth acsplines with filledcurves             Bug #2592
> * FIX    "plot title at {end|beginning}" belongs in KEYSAMPLE layer
> * FIX    handle empty string in last field of csv file
> * FIX    Handle nonlinear axes during contour generation               Bug #2593
> * FIX    yerrorbars key sample should match bars in the plot           Bug #2598
> * FIX    "plot with table" must skip all smoothing operations          Bug #2610
> * FIX    cairolatex/epslatex: prevent doubled text in opaque textboxes
> * FIX    wxt: versions prior to 3.0 do not support XDG                 Bug #2587
> * FIX    wxt: fontscale and fontsize handling was inconsistent         Bug #2373
> * FIX    tikz epslatex cairolatex: updated to work with TeXLive2023    Bug #2613
> * FIX    correctly report cardinality of an empty array is zero        Bug #2616
> * FIX    ignore datafile separator when plotting from an array
> * FIX    combination of pm3d options "at b" or "at t" with "depthorder"
> * FIX    combination of 'autotitle columnhead' and 'using col("key")'  Bug #2620
> * FIX    do not complain if XDG files are not found because no $HOME   Bug #2623
> * FIX    windows terminal: arrow length corrected for aspect ratio     Bug #2565
> 
> 
>       Ethan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gnuplot-beta mailing list
> gnu...@li...
> Membership management via: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gnuplot-beta
> 

Gnuplot 5.4.7 release tarball available for testing

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

I have placed a pre-release tarball of 5.4.7 on the testing area of SourceForge

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot/files/gnuplot/testing/gnuplot-5.4.7testing.tar.gz

The number of bug fixes is surprisingly large, given how late this is in the
5.4 series. Many of these bugs date back to earlier versions of gnuplot but
either were not reported or not considered fixable until recently.
I had been thinking that this would be the last patchlevel release for 5.4
but now I am not so sure. 

If no problems are reported, I plan to use this for release of 5.4.7
next week.


Changes in 5.4.7
================

* FIX    pseudofiles '+','++' must ignore "set datafile columnheader"  Bug #2585
* FIX    data from an array must ignore "set datafile columnheader"    Bug #2585
* FIX    various problems with unbounded plot iteration                Bug #2589
* FIX    allow plot ... smooth acsplines with filledcurves             Bug #2592
* FIX    "plot title at {end|beginning}" belongs in KEYSAMPLE layer
* FIX    handle empty string in last field of csv file
* FIX    Handle nonlinear axes during contour generation               Bug #2593
* FIX    yerrorbars key sample should match bars in the plot           Bug #2598
* FIX    "plot with table" must skip all smoothing operations          Bug #2610
* FIX    cairolatex/epslatex: prevent doubled text in opaque textboxes
* FIX    wxt: versions prior to 3.0 do not support XDG                 Bug #2587
* FIX    wxt: fontscale and fontsize handling was inconsistent         Bug #2373
* FIX    tikz epslatex cairolatex: updated to work with TeXLive2023    Bug #2613
* FIX    correctly report cardinality of an empty array is zero        Bug #2616
* FIX    ignore datafile separator when plotting from an array
* FIX    combination of pm3d options "at b" or "at t" with "depthorder"
* FIX    combination of 'autotitle columnhead' and 'using col("key")'  Bug #2620
* FIX    do not complain if XDG files are not found because no $HOME   Bug #2623
* FIX    windows terminal: arrow length corrected for aspect ratio     Bug #2565


      Ethan

Re: Lack of background option for qt terminal

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

Thanks for the reply.
I understand the situation.
However, users who use the background option perhaps set the background from the script. 

Tatsuro

> ----- Original Message -----
> 
> From: "Ethan A Merritt" <me...@uw...>
> To: "Tatsuro MATSUOKA" <tma...@ya...>
> Cc: "beta" <gnu...@li...>
> Date: 2023/04/04 火 00:12
> Subject: Re: Lack of background option for qt terminal
> 
> 
> Remember that the qt terminal graphics window is controlled by a separate program gnuplot_qt.
> The background is controlled by that program.
> There is a background color selection widget in the toolbar.
> 
> 
> On Mon, Apr 3, 2023 at 3:04 AM Tatsuro MATSUOKA via gnuplot-beta <gnu...@li...> wrote:
> I noticed that qt terminal lacks the background option in the discussion the bug #2612.
>  Is this intentional?
>  
>  Tatsuro
>  
>  
>  
>  _______________________________________________
>  gnuplot-beta mailing list
>  gnu...@li...
>  Membership management via: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gnuplot-beta__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hTyAHpgdWAc9n3NPm6cSaHVV3hZGGFY7ATiBrYF0H3hfmo5AkfECr-6-wV3eXQrk3ZQUeGoIGNh0FALUZo9yTxuc7_ddyi19lFA-$ 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Ethan A Merritt 
> Biomolecular Structure Center, K-428 Health Sciences Bldg 
> MS 357742,  University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742
>  
> 
> 

Re: Lack of background option for qt terminal

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

Remember that the qt terminal graphics window is controlled by a separate
program gnuplot_qt.
The background is controlled by that program.
There is a background color selection widget in the toolbar.


On Mon, Apr 3, 2023 at 3:04 AM Tatsuro MATSUOKA via gnuplot-beta <
gnu...@li...> wrote:

> I noticed that qt terminal lacks the background option in the discussion
> the bug #2612.
> Is this intentional?
>
> Tatsuro
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> gnuplot-beta mailing list
> gnu...@li...
> Membership management via:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gnuplot-beta__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hTyAHpgdWAc9n3NPm6cSaHVV3hZGGFY7ATiBrYF0H3hfmo5AkfECr-6-wV3eXQrk3ZQUeGoIGNh0FALUZo9yTxuc7_ddyi19lFA-$
>


-- 
Ethan A Merritt
Biomolecular Structure Center,  K-428 Health Sciences Bldg
MS 357742,   University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742

Lack of background option for qt terminal

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

I noticed that qt terminal lacks the background option in the discussion the bug #2612.
Is this intentional?

Tatsuro

Re: OS name for mac in gnuplot documents

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

There exists also OSX description on the gnuplot homepage.

Tatsuro

> ----- Original Message -----
> 
> From: "Tatsuro MATSUOKA via gnuplot-beta" <gnu...@li...>
> To: "beta" <gnu...@li...>
> Date: 2023/03/09 木 09:14
> Subject: OS name for mac in gnuplot documents
> 
> 
> In documents for gnuplot, the OS name for the mac is the Mac OS X or OSX.
> At present, the Mac OS X or OSX is deprecated.
> Please use macOS, instead.
> See:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS
> 
> Tatsuro
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gnuplot-beta mailing list
> gnu...@li...
> Membership management via: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gnuplot-beta
> 

OS name for mac in gnuplot documents

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

In documents for gnuplot, the OS name for the mac is the Mac OS X or OSX.
At present, the Mac OS X or OSX is deprecated.
Please use macOS, instead.
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS

Tatsuro

Re: Invalid data read by strcol(), possible memory corruption

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

On Tuesday, 7 March 2023 11:38:22 PST Juhász Péter wrote:
> The following data file + gnuplot script produce incorrect behavior
> with a recent git build, indicating possible memory corruption while
> reading strings from the data file:
>
> # -- data file ---
> 1;1;
> 1;2;
> 1aa;3;1.1
> 1;4;
> 1;5;
> 1;2;
> 1;3;
> 1;4;
> 1;5;
>
> # -- script ----
> set dataf sep ';'
> plot 'foo' u 0:2:(strcol(3)) w labels point
>
>
> On my machine this produces a plot where all points after the third
> have the same "1.1" label. When you move the plot around (in an
> interactive terminal, e.g. with an arrow key), all points get the same
> label.

Yes, a bug.  Or arguably two bugs.
An empty final field in a csv file was correctly flagged as "missing",
but the string-handling code did not check for this flag. Instead it
used a leftover pointer from a previous string operation.

Two fixes now applied to 5.4 6.0 6.1

1) Clear pointer to previous string operation when an empty
   field is encountered
2) In the string-handling code (df_parse_string_field) substitute
   a new empty string for a NULL string pointer


        Ethan

> Interestingly, everything seems to work as expected if you remove the
> "a"s from the data file. Other, even weirder effects can be coaxed out
> of gnuplot if you add some characters to other lines than the third.
>
> This seems like a bug. I think the explicit non-standard separator and
> the field being the last one are both necessary conditions.
>
> Some background and explanation:
>
> This report is actually related to an earlier discussion on this list,
> where I complained that lines containing missing values are silently
> dropped, and that column(i) seemed different from $i. Today I updated
> to the current development version, and noticed that my workaround to
> the missing values using column() no longer worked. So I experimented
> with some things, and at first I've thought that strcol() might be able
> to help me, as it didn't seem to be bothered by missing fields, but
> then I noticed the weirdness described above.
>
> As for fixing this bug, I think it is important to preserve strcol()'s
> ability to just return the empty string in case of missing data - after
> all, it is advertised to return the content of column X as a string. If
> the column is empty, then by definition its contents are the empty
> string.
>
> best regards,
> Peter Juhasz

Invalid data read by strcol(), possible memory corruption

[Juhász P. <pet...@gm...>]

Dear gnuplot list members,

The following data file + gnuplot script produce incorrect behavior
with a recent git build, indicating possible memory corruption while
reading strings from the data file:

# -- data file ---
1;1;
1;2;
1aa;3;1.1
1;4;
1;5;
1;2;
1;3;
1;4;
1;5;

# -- script ----
set dataf sep ';'
plot 'foo' u 0:2:(strcol(3)) w labels point


On my machine this produces a plot where all points after the third
have the same "1.1" label. When you move the plot around (in an
interactive terminal, e.g. with an arrow key), all points get the same
label.

Interestingly, everything seems to work as expected if you remove the
"a"s from the data file. Other, even weirder effects can be coaxed out
of gnuplot if you add some characters to other lines than the third.

This seems like a bug. I think the explicit non-standard separator and
the field being the last one are both necessary conditions.

Some background and explanation:

This report is actually related to an earlier discussion on this list,
where I complained that lines containing missing values are silently
dropped, and that column(i) seemed different from $i. Today I updated
to the current development version, and noticed that my workaround to
the missing values using column() no longer worked. So I experimented
with some things, and at first I've thought that strcol() might be able
to help me, as it didn't seem to be bothered by missing fields, but
then I noticed the weirdness described above.

As for fixing this bug, I think it is important to preserve strcol()'s
ability to just return the empty string in case of missing data - after
all, it is advertised to return the content of column X as a string. If
the column is empty, then by definition its contents are the empty
string.

best regards,
Peter Juhasz

Build instruction on Ubuntu

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

I wrote the Build instruction on Ubuntu, especially for the development version
https://sourceforge.net/p/gnuplot/support-requests/282/

Tatsuro

Re: Description of libwebp in gnuplot document (6.0 and 6.1)

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

Yes, the webp terminal is built only if the configure script finds the
required support libraries.
If they are not found it prints a message in the summary output,
for instance:

  libgd-based png jpeg gif sixel: yes (with animated gif)
 cairo-based pdf png  : yes
 webp                 : no (requires cairo, pango, libwebp, libwebpmux)
 lua/TikZ             : yes
 wxt                  : yes
 Qt                   : yes (qt5)

The webp and webpmux libraries are available directly from Google
    https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/download
They are included as standard packages in my linux distro (Mageia);
I do not know which other distros package them.

    Ethan


On Thu, Mar 2, 2023 at 1:05 AM Tatsuro MATSUOKA via gnuplot-beta <
gnu...@li...> wrote:

> Does the description of libwebp in any gnuplot documents?
> I could nor find it in the INSTALL for 6.1 and 6.0.
> To use the webp terminal, one has to install libwebp as dependencies for
> 6.0 and 6.1.
>
> Tatsuro
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> gnuplot-beta mailing list
> gnu...@li...
> Membership management via:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gnuplot-beta__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!mUI1w0bpE45rtVTUk-Bu-ULyUvolwuj9opPMPR0KwMr-GjCi0IPR720BeSFBPmtoDjUhqUVM6a-0x2lLyjjWdkoara0JsAdzaxSY$
>


-- 
Ethan A Merritt
Biomolecular Structure Center,  K-428 Health Sciences Bldg
MS 357742,   University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742

Description of libwebp in gnuplot document (6.0 and 6.1)

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

Does the description of libwebp in any gnuplot documents?
I could nor find it in the INSTALL for 6.1 and 6.0.
To use the webp terminal, one has to install libwebp as dependencies for 6.0 and 6.1.

Tatsuro

Re: The version number of the development version is still 5.5 on http://www.gnuplot.info/

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

On Thursday, 16 February 2023 00:32:30 PST Tatsuro MATSUOKA via
gnuplot-beta wrote:
>
> Hello
> The version number of the development version is still 5.5 on https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.gnuplot.info/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hXW0ERx3Fsinr61H0_3Qut1OKjUPAAc6zBwAeK_IFZ17yXban9T3W1zMih1T3XJRZnB3EKgpOkp4c6YWlIoxtMF5wb0BkY669ZH6$
>
> Tatsuro

I am still working to update the documentation and demo collection
for version 6.   They are not ready quite yet, although you can
see the current state of the demos at
   https://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/demo_6.0/


 Ethan
--
Ethan A Merritt
Biomolecular Structure Center,  K-428 Health Sciences Bldg
MS 357742,   University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742

The version number of the development version is still 5.5 on http://www.gnuplot.info/

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

Hello
The version number of the development version is still 5.5 on http://www.gnuplot.info/

Tatsuro

Gnuplot 5.4.6 Release now available for download

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

Release 5.4.6 is now available for download from SourceForge.
Many thanks to Tatsuro Matsuoka for preparing Windows binaries.

       Gnuplot Version 5.4 Patchlevel 6

Version 5.4.6 is an incremental release in the stable 5.4 series.
It contains various minor and terminal-specific bug fixes.

It also adds two new features back-ported from the development version.
(1) new options for fixing the key layout
    set key  columns <exact no of columns>
    set key  keywidth <exact width>
(2) XDG support (freedesktop standard configuration files)
    startup file:      $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc
    history file:      $XDG_STATE_HOME/gnuplot_history
    wxt configuration: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplot-wxt.conf

Full list of changes in the release notes.

Files:
    gnuplot-5.4.6.tar.gz        source files for all operating systems
    ReleaseNotes_5_4_6          release notes
    Gnuplot_5_4.pdf             user manual
    gp546-win64-mingw.7z        binary package for Windows
    gp546-win64-mingw.exe       binary package for Windows (self-installing)

     happy gnuplotting
          Ethan

Re: Gnuplot 5.4.6 release tarball available for testing

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

I have executed the test build mingw64(windows).
The build and all.dem went well

Tatsuro

> ----- Original Message -----
> 
> From: "Ethan A Merritt" 
> To: "gnuplot-beta
> Date: 2023/02/08 水 06:04
> Subject: Gnuplot 5.4.6 release tarball available for testing
> 
> 
> I have placed a pre-release tarball of 5.4.6 on the testing area of SourceForge
> 
>     https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot/files/gnuplot/testing/gnuplot-5.4.6testing.tar.gz
> 
> If no problems are reported, I plan to use this for release
> of version 5.4.6 next weekend.
> 
> Changes in 5.4.6
> ================
> * NEW    set key {columns <exact no of columns>}
>          set key {keywidth <exact width>}
> * NEW    XDG support
>            startup file:      $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc
>            history file:      $XDG_STATE_HOME/gnuplot_history
>            wxt configuration: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplot-wxt.conf
> * CHANGE remove "alldoc" build target
> * CHANGE plot with polygons fillstyle empty really does mean empty
> * FIX    windows: various problems mixing piped input and stdin        Bug #2491
> * FIX    x11: bad interactions of lt nodraw, bgnd and dash pattern     Bug #2572
> * FIX    wxt: export-to-file widget should preserve line properties
> * FIX    svg: set initial default fill to "none"
> * FIX    png: back-compatibility with very old versions of gdlib       Bug #2579
> * FIX    variable pointtype, pointsize in plot style yerrorlines
> * FIX    border color for polygons with variable fillcolor
> * FIX    definition followed by iteration in a plot command            Bug #2580
> * FIX    parametric plot with filledcurves y1=<limit>                  Bug #1797
> 
> 
>      Ethan
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gnuplot-beta mailing list
> gnu...@li...
> Membership management via: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gnuplot-beta
> 

Gnuplot 5.4.6 release tarball available for testing

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

I have placed a pre-release tarball of 5.4.6 on the testing area of SourceForge

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot/files/gnuplot/testing/gnuplot-5.4.6testing.tar.gz

If no problems are reported, I plan to use this for release
of version 5.4.6 next weekend.

Changes in 5.4.6
================
* NEW    set key {columns <exact no of columns>}
         set key {keywidth <exact width>}
* NEW    XDG support
           startup file:      $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc
           history file:      $XDG_STATE_HOME/gnuplot_history
           wxt configuration: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplot-wxt.conf
* CHANGE remove "alldoc" build target
* CHANGE plot with polygons fillstyle empty really does mean empty
* FIX    windows: various problems mixing piped input and stdin        Bug #2491
* FIX    x11: bad interactions of lt nodraw, bgnd and dash pattern     Bug #2572
* FIX    wxt: export-to-file widget should preserve line properties
* FIX    svg: set initial default fill to "none"
* FIX    png: back-compatibility with very old versions of gdlib       Bug #2579
* FIX    variable pointtype, pointsize in plot style yerrorlines
* FIX    border color for polygons with variable fillcolor
* FIX    definition followed by iteration in a plot command            Bug #2580
* FIX    parametric plot with filledcurves y1=<limit>                  Bug #1797


     Ethan

Re: Description of the qt terminal in INSTALL

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

On Monday, 23 January 2023 01:20:10 PST Tatsuro MATSUOKA via gnuplot-beta wrote:
>
> In the file INSTALL of source directory, there is description for wxt terminal
> Compiling Gnuplot with the wxWidgets terminal
> ==============================================
>
> However, there is no description for Qt terminal.
> Is this intentional?

The text about wxt was added when the wxt terminal itself was added in 2006.
It probably seemed important to inform people that there was a new option
that was cross-platform (linux, Mac, and Windows).  That no longer seems
very special, so I think that text section is no longer needed.

No one added similar text when the qt terminal was added in 2009.

The INSTALL file is very old and still very out of date.
I will make another attempt to revise and update it, including your patches.


        Ethan

Description of the qt terminal in INSTALL

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

In the file INSTALL of source directory, there is description for wxt terminal
Compiling Gnuplot with the wxWidgets terminal
==============================================

However, there is no description for Qt terminal.
Is this intentional?

Tatsuro

Re: "make pdf" fails on macOS due to incompatibility of echo

[Jun T <tak...@kb...>]

> 2022/12/16 5:16、Ethan A Merritt <me...@uw...>のメール:
> 
> The various Makefile.am rules in other subdirectories also
> use "echo" rather than "printf".   Was this rule the only
> point of failure?

In other Makefile.am, argumens of echo do not contain
backslash(es); so I think there should be no portability
problem.

Re: "make pdf" fails on macOS due to incompatibility of echo

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

On Thursday, 15 December 2022 08:02:45 PST Jun. T wrote:
> With the current git master, 'make pdf' fails on two of my Macs.

Got it. Thanks.

The various Makefile.am rules in other subdirectories also
use "echo" rather than "printf".   Was this rule the only
point of failure?

        Ethan



> The problem is in docs/Makefile.am:
>
> 201       ( echo "\usepackage{graphicx}" > gpinsetfigure.tex ; \
> 202         echo "\usepackage{picins}" >> gpinsetfigure.tex ; \
> 203         echo "\newcommand{\gpinsetfigure}[1]{" >> gpinsetfigure.tex ; \
> 204         echo "  \parpic[r][rt]{\includegraphics[width=3in,keepaspectratio]{#1}}" >> gpinsetfigure.tex ; \
> 205         echo "}" >> gpinsetfigure.tex ; \
> 206       ) ; \
> 207     $(AM_V_GEN)touch $@
> 208     $(AM_V_GEN)touch figurestyle
>
> [1] On macOS (at least on some versions), echo builtin of /bin/sh interprets
>  '\n' as a newline, and the line 203 will output:
>
> (blank line)
> ewcommand{\gpinsetfigure}[1]{
>
> to gpinsetfigure.tex, and pdflatex fails.
> (I don't know whether this is a bug or feature of macOS)
>
> [2] (also on Linux, not serious) the '\' at the end of line 206
> should be removed. Otherwise, 'make V=0 pdf' gives an error:
>
>     @echo "  GEN     " pdf_figures;touch pdf_figures
> /bin/sh: @echo: command not found
>
> A possible patch is attached.
>
> printf builtin is more portable than echo.
>
> One of $(AM_V_GEN) is replaced by $(AM_V_at) because they give the
> same output when 'make V=0'.
>
>


--
Ethan A Merritt
Biomolecular Structure Center,  K-428 Health Sciences Bldg
MS 357742,   University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742

"make html" fails due to a bug in doc2web.c

[Jun. T <tak...@kb...>]

'make html' fails on one of my Mac (intel CPU, macOS Mojave, a rather
old version). The problem is in docs/doc2web.c:

507                 } else {
508                     /* close current file and start a new one */
509                     char newfile[PATH_MAX] = "";
510 
511     end_of_titlepage:
(snip)
531                     /* open new file */
532                     strcat(newfile,path);
533                     strncat(newfile,location,PATH_MAX-strlen(newfile)-6);

If we jump into this block by 'goto end_of_titlepage', then newfile[0] is
not initialized to '\0', and the strcat() at line 532 does not work as expected.
This does not happen on other Macs or on Linux, but I guess C language standard
does not guarantee that newfile is initialized after goto.

We can simply fix this by replacing strcat() at line 532 by
strcpy(newfile, path);

(and the initializer = "" at the end of line 509 is redundant)

"make pdf" fails on macOS due to incompatibility of echo

[Jun. T <tak...@kb...>]

With the current git master, 'make pdf' fails on two of my Macs.
The problem is in docs/Makefile.am:
                                                                    
201       ( echo "\usepackage{graphicx}" > gpinsetfigure.tex ; \
202         echo "\usepackage{picins}" >> gpinsetfigure.tex ; \        
203         echo "\newcommand{\gpinsetfigure}[1]{" >> gpinsetfigure.tex ; \
204         echo "  \parpic[r][rt]{\includegraphics[width=3in,keepaspectratio]{#1}}" >> gpinsetfigure.tex ; \                                    
205         echo "}" >> gpinsetfigure.tex ; \                        
206       ) ; \                                              
207     $(AM_V_GEN)touch $@                                          
208     $(AM_V_GEN)touch figurestyle

[1] On macOS (at least on some versions), echo builtin of /bin/sh interprets
 '\n' as a newline, and the line 203 will output:

(blank line)
ewcommand{\gpinsetfigure}[1]{

to gpinsetfigure.tex, and pdflatex fails.
(I don't know whether this is a bug or feature of macOS)

[2] (also on Linux, not serious) the '\' at the end of line 206
should be removed. Otherwise, 'make V=0 pdf' gives an error:

    @echo "  GEN     " pdf_figures;touch pdf_figures
/bin/sh: @echo: command not found

A possible patch is attached.

printf builtin is more portable than echo.

One of $(AM_V_GEN) is replaced by $(AM_V_at) because they give the
same output when 'make V=0'.

Gnuplot plans: the start of version 6

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

I have pushed a new branch-6-0-stable to the git repository for
for development and eventual release of a version 6 gnuplot.
Further development of version 5 can continue in the main branch
(5.5) although I don't foresee much happening on that side.


Current state of branch-6-0-stable
----------------------------------
So far the changes from the 5.5 branch are mostly to the documentation.
The introductory sections describing new and changed features are
revised to focus on version 6;  several pages of text about "new" things
in version 5 have greatly trimmed back to a summary.
Perhaps these could be removed altogether.

I have no set timeline for a version 6 release.
As a point of reference, transition from version 4->5 took most of a
year back in 2014 and went through three release candidates before
version 5 was announced.

What needs to be done for a version 6?
--------------------------------------
I have started a list of choices that should be made.
I will post them to the mailing list one at a time for separate discussion.
Each one might end in decision to leave things as they are
in version 5 (not much work required) or to make a change
not appropriate in the context of an update to a "stable'
version 5.


What about version 5?
---------------------
I expect to package 5.4.6 in the first part of 2023, with the
usual sort of bug fixes and small additions to the current stable
branch.  Beyond that I do not know.  Depending on how long it takes
to test and revise release candidates for version 6, there might
be additional updates to 5.4.

Is the next stable release 6.0.0?

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

https://sourceforge.net/p/gnuplot/gnuplot-main/ci/0b5abbcf6dd98e30ac422333f051d7f32063251e/
The stable branch for version 6.0 was started.

Is the next stable release 6.0.0?

The sharpen feature seems to be implemented only to branch-6-0-stable but not to the development branch.

Tatsuro