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From: Ethan M. <merritt@u.washington.edu> - 2007-03-02 17:23:00
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Unless there are objections, I propose to change the PATCHLEVEL
and other embedded names in the 4.2 CVS tree to be 4.2 patchlevel 0,
and prepare an official distribution source package this weekend.
-rc4 has been out there since 24 January. It shook out 2 configuration
bugs (libedit on OSX, gcc on alpha) and 1 user interface bug (Pause
behaviour on windows). IMHO none of these would have been show-stoppers.
My thought is that we would
1) put the 4.2 release tarball on SourceForge
2) add pointers and update links on the web site
3) let those propagate
4) wait a bit (2 days? a week?)
5) publish the release announcement (Draft text follows)
I was not involved in the mechanics of previous releases,
so maybe there is an well-trodden release path that I am unaware of?
[DRAFT] Gnuplot version 4.2 release announcement [DRAFT]
========================================================
Gnuplot version 4.2 has been under continuous development since the release
of gnuplot version 4.0 in April 2004. It has been almost 3 years, but we
have put this time to good use. Gnuplot version 4.2 contains a ton of new
features, support for several new output devices, and improved performance
when plotting large data sets. For a complete list of new features, see
the NEWS file that comes with the program.
Major additions include
* Text strings can be read and manipulated as normal data
* New interactive terminal based on wxWidgets, pango and cairo
* New 2D plot styles 'histogram' 'labels' 'image' 'rgbimage'
* New 3D plot styles 'labels' 'vectors' 'image' 'rgbimage'
* User control over color definitions and color use in plots
* Improved font handling and text formatting
* New syntax to handle string variables and string functions
* Creation of animated gif sequences
Demo plots illustrating these and other features are online at
http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/demo_4.2/
You can download a source tarball for gnuplot version 4.2 from the
gnuplot development site on SourceForge. Pre-built binaries for
selected platforms will appear presently.
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2055
Installation
------------
Installation instructions are available in the source itself; the short
version for linux/unix-like systems is to unpack the tarball and then
build it:
cd gnuplot-4.2 ; ./configure ; make
test it:
make check
install it:
make install
Short list of fixes since the final release candidate 4.2-rc4
-------------------------------------------------------------
- Backport cvs fix to prevent segfaults from empty plots in hidden3d mode
- Better auto-detection of readline support during configuration on OSX
- Support for libgd version 2.0.34 and for changes expected in 2.1.x
- PDF point type 1 now correctly drawn as a + sign
- 'pause mouse' comes closer to working under MSWindows
- Do not do range checking on the cb axis unless the plot actually uses it
- Japanese documentation updated to match final English version
- Fix syntax of configuration test for gcc on alpha
- Initialize colorbox tics earlier (avoids possible scaling error)
- Fix configuration bug affecting placement of x-axis label with subscripts
Known issues
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Installation of the new wxt terminal under OSX and Solaris is problematic
- Plot styles image and rgbimage are marked EXPERIMENTAL; their implementation
is incomplete and may change in future versions of gnuplot
- MSWindows support for mouse/keyboard events is incomplete
Support
-------
Please report all bugs and installation problems to the bug tracker
on SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=2055&atid=102055
There is also an active gnuplot discussion forum on usenet group
comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
--
Ethan A Merritt Courier Deliveries: 1959 NE Pacific
Dept of Biochemistry
Health Sciences Building
University of Washington - Seattle WA 98195-7742
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From: <HBB...@t-...> - 2007-03-02 21:22:44
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Ethan Merritt wrote: > Unless there are objections, I propose to change the PATCHLEVEL > and other embedded names in the 4.2 CVS tree to be 4.2 patchlevel 0, > and prepare an official distribution source package this weekend. No objection from me, but a little concern about us not having been able to reach Thomas Williams for the formal "blessing". We would be going out a bit further on that limb we've manoeuvered ourselves onto regarding the License issue. > 1) put the 4.2 release tarball on SourceForge > 2) add pointers and update links on the web site > 3) let those propagate > 4) wait a bit (2 days? a week?) 3 and 4 shouldn't amount to more than 1 day combined. SourceForge has sufficiently efficient mirroring systems to allow it. The file release by itself will already alert a certain number of subscribers directly by mail. Others can wait until we reach step 5) > 5) publish the release announcement (Draft text follows) > > I was not involved in the mechanics of previous releases, > so maybe there is an well-trodden release path that I am unaware of? Given we've only used those paths thrice in 5 years (since version 3.7.2), i doubt any of them could be classified as well-trodden. ;-) I would put the announcement on Freshmeat and as a News entry on our SourceForge.net pages. Ethan should post the announcement to our Usenet newsgroup, and I assume Petr will forward it to the Octave crowd. > Short list of fixes since the final release candidate 4.2-rc4 > ------------------------------------------------------------- I don't really think this should be in the announcement. Or if it goes in, then so should the entire NEWS since version 4.0. |
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From: Daniel J S. <dan...@ie...> - 2007-03-02 23:20:54
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Hans-Bernhard Bröker wrote: > Ethan Merritt wrote: > >>Unless there are objections, I propose to change the PATCHLEVEL >>and other embedded names in the 4.2 CVS tree to be 4.2 patchlevel 0, >>and prepare an official distribution source package this weekend. > > > No objection from me, but a little concern about us not having been able > to reach Thomas Williams for the formal "blessing". We would be going > out a bit further on that limb we've manoeuvered ourselves onto > regarding the License issue. Yes, and if one is able to reach him, it would be good to discuss some way of resolving the License issues... I could try contacting the Colin Kelly at that Callwave company to see if he is the other half of the original copyright holders. However, any identifiable info about Kelly that Thomas Williams could provide would help, e.g., a college he may have been attending or worked for at the time. >>Short list of fixes since the final release candidate 4.2-rc4 >>------------------------------------------------------------- > > > I don't really think this should be in the announcement. Or if it goes > in, then so should the entire NEWS since version 4.0. If this were to be tagged 4.2-rc5 (as well as 4.2) then perhaps. But for a major release version number, not really necessary. Dan |
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From: Daniel J S. <dan...@ie...> - 2007-03-03 00:56:01
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Here's an item I just noticed:
Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual.
The gnuplot FAQ is available from
http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/
Send comments and help requests to <gnu...@li...>
Send bug reports and suggestions to <gnu...@li...>
The two email addresses are the same, is that intended? If so, maybe:
Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual.
The gnuplot FAQ is available from
http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/
Send comments, help requests, bug reports and suggestions to
<gnu...@li...>
Dan
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From: <HBB...@t-...> - 2007-03-04 11:28:24
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Daniel J Sebald wrote: > Here's an item I just noticed: > > Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual. > The gnuplot FAQ is available from > http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/ > > Send comments and help requests to <gnu...@li...> > Send bug reports and suggestions to <gnu...@li...> > > The two email addresses are the same, is that intended? No. This is supposed to be changed in the release tarball (cf. version.c, preprocessor switch RELEASE_VERSION). |
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From: <ha...@on...> - 2007-03-03 07:49:48
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On Fri, Mar 02, 2007 at 07:07:47PM -0600, Daniel J Sebald wrote: > Here's an item I just noticed: > > The two email addresses are the same, is that intended? If so, maybe: > > Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual. > The gnuplot FAQ is available from > http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/ > > Send comments, help requests, bug reports and suggestions to > <gnu...@li...> > > Dan and I just noticed the FAQ says: Please contribute your suggestions with respect to the file faq.tex available from http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/gnuplot/faq/. which address does not seem to work. Also the bug reporting advice is inconsistent - i.e., no mention of the bug tracker in the FAQ or gnuplot.doc 'Seeking Assistance' though Bugs does mention uploading a report. What is the preferred channel? Gnuplot.doc has a 2004 copyright date. Is revising the copyright date there, in Copyright, and elsewhere part of the release plan? I would add OpenVMS as an OS for which mouse support is incomplete. - Lucas Hart |
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From: Lars H. <lhe...@us...> - 2007-03-03 11:09:51
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Daniel J Sebald writes:
[...]
> Yes, and if one is able to reach him, it would be good to discuss some
> way of resolving the License issues... I could try contacting the Colin
> Kelly at that Callwave company to see if he is the other half of the
> original copyright holders. However, any identifiable info about Kelly
> that Thomas Williams could provide would help, e.g., a college he may
> have been attending or worked for at the time.
As the person attached to this project who has been in touch with
Tom Williams most recently, I would like to say this:
- There is no communication channel to Thomas Williams right now.
- Colin Kelley has been "lost in cyberspace" for the better part of the past
decade. Possibly two decades.
- If we could somehow establish contact with Colin, I would appreciate it.
- Every time I have been in touch with Thomas Williams about a new release,
he was always very supportive. While, as a copyright holder, he has
any right to reject anything we come up with (don't forget that), all
communication never indicated any disapproval of the work the
development team has done. Quite the contrary, in fact.
So, this upcoming release will go ahead as laid out by Ethan.
There are no (new) licensing issues to be discussed.
While both original copyright holders are absent, we will act in lieu
of the copyright holders, in good faith, and issue new releases of the
software - meaning that we continue to develop gnuplot as before, adding
bug fixes and user input-driven enhancements as we see fit. And make new
releases available accordingly.
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From: <ha...@on...> - 2007-03-06 04:17:13
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On Sun, Mar 04, 2007 at 12:37:33PM +0100, Hans-Bernhard Br?ker wrote:
>
> "Seeking assistance" is about usage problems, so it should not point
> directly to the bug tracker. "Bugs" is where it should be mentioned,
> and is.
>
gnuplot.doc says
1 gnuplot
...
2 Seeking-assistance
...
Bug reports and code contributions should be mailed to:
gnu...@li...
...
1 Bugs
Please e-mail bug reports to the gnuplot-bugs mailing list.
Or upload the report to the gnuplot web site on SourceForge.
... See `Seeking-assistance`
My recollection is that the tracker is preferred, is it?
One can also take the point of view that "seeking assistance" is
the place one looks for contact information and that the function
of "Bugs" is primarily to list bugs known at release. In any case,
contact information is currently in both sections but inconsistent.
The "Bugs" text is also somewhat misleading as one does not need
to upload a file in order to submit a report and it does not
mention the bug tracker (nor does it give the list address),
perhaps something like, for both,
Bug reports and code contributions should be mailed to:
gnu...@li...
or, preferably, submitted using the bug tracker at the
gnuplot web site on SourceForge
- Lucas Hart
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From: <HBB...@t-...> - 2007-03-06 23:17:21
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Lucas Hart wrote: > My recollection is that the tracker is preferred, is it? Yes. It has its own kind of gotchas, but it's a lot more organized, and easier to manage than an unstructure mailing list. > The "Bugs" text is also somewhat misleading as one does not need > to upload a file in order to submit a report Well, most bug reports actually do need a file: the exact command sequence, e.g., or the data being used. As is,m I have to answer the majority of reports with a request for missing information. |
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From: Ethan A M. <merritt@u.washington.edu> - 2007-03-04 01:56:34
Attachments:
announce.4.2.0
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> Ethan Merritt wrote: > > Unless there are objections, I propose to change the PATCHLEVEL > > and other embedded names in the 4.2 CVS tree to be 4.2 patchlevel 0, > > and prepare an official distribution source package this weekend. Done. The release announcement is attached. The 4.2 tarball is on SourceForge in the download files section, along with the official release announcement and the pdf documentation. Email went out automatically to anyone who registered their interest with the package monitoring system, but I have not yet sent an announcement anywhere else. > Hans-Bernhard Br=C3=B6ker wrote > > I would put the announcement on Freshmeat and as a News entry on our=20 > > SourceForge.net pages. Ethan should post the announcement to our Usene= t=20 > > newsgroup, and I assume Petr will forward it to the Octave crowd. I'll wait a day or two, then post the announcement to the newsgroup and to Linux Weekly News. Jon Corbet wrote a nice little editorial review on LWN when 4.0 came out; maybe he'll do it again. I'm CC'ing Per Persson in case he wants to post an announcement for the Mac crowd. Or perhaps that should wait until a Mac binary is available? Also Shigeharu Takeno, who may want to post the release announcement to a Japanese forum.[*] Ethan [*] You may be interested to learn that Google Trends reports that the=20 highest concentration of search queries about gnuplot is from Japan: http://www.google.com/trends?q=3Dgnuplot Note that this is "gnuplot queries / all queries from this origin" not "raw number of gnuplot queries". Otherwise the appearance of Iceland as the #2 query origin would be inexplicable :-) =2D-=20 Ethan A Merritt Biomolecular Structure Center University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742 |
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From: Per P. <per...@ma...> - 2007-03-04 20:02:34
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On Mar 4, 2007, at 02:56, Ethan A Merritt wrote: > I'm CC'ing Per Persson in case he wants to post an announcement for > the > Mac crowd. Or perhaps that should wait until a Mac binary is > available? I say let's wait for the binary installer. Shouldn't take too long since I already rehearsed creating a universal binary together with Mojca Miklavec and Jeremy Conlin. BTW, this time there will be two Mac binary releases; one for Mac OS X 10.1.x - 10.3.x (PPC only), and one for Mac OS X 10.4.x and up (Universal binary for PPC and Intel). I'll be traveling March 9 - 18 and I feel a little uneasy releasing a Mac binary before the 19th in case there are any problems (unless Mojca and Jeremy are willing to fend off the mob until I get back ;-) /Per |
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From: <HBB...@t-...> - 2007-03-04 11:33:27
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Lucas Hart wrote: > and I just noticed the FAQ says: > Please contribute your suggestions > with respect to the file faq.tex available from > http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/gnuplot/faq/. > > which address does not seem to work. http://gnuplot.cvs.sourceforge.net/gnuplot/faq/ should work better > Also the bug reporting advice is inconsistent - i.e., no mention of the > bug tracker in the FAQ or gnuplot.doc 'Seeking Assistance' though Bugs > does mention uploading a report. What is the preferred channel? "Seeking assistance" is about usage problems, so it should not point directly to the bug tracker. "Bugs" is where it should be mentioned, and is. > Gnuplot.doc has a 2004 copyright date. Is revising the copyright > date there, in Copyright, and elsewhere part of the release plan? Apparently not ;-( Well, this is what comes out of releasing so seldom: no release plan to speak of. |
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From: <HBB...@t-...> - 2007-03-04 14:44:55
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Ethan A Merritt wrote: >> Ethan Merritt wrote: >>> Unless there are objections, I propose to change the PATCHLEVEL >>> and other embedded names in the 4.2 CVS tree to be 4.2 patchlevel 0, >>> and prepare an official distribution source package this weekend. > > Done. The release announcement is attached. I'll delay posting the announcement until we've made up our minds about the slight glitch in version.c (RELEASE_VERSION should be set). It's a lot easier to exchange the tarball while SourceForge's File Release System is still the only place it can be had, than after it's been publicly announced and people have started to mass-download it. As of this writing, there have been only 8 downloads. > I'm CC'ing Per Persson in case he wants to post an announcement for the > Mac crowd. Or perhaps that should wait until a Mac binary is available? I guess it should. |
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From: Ethan A M. <merritt@u.washington.edu> - 2007-03-04 18:31:57
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On Sunday 04 March 2007 06:48, Hans-Bernhard Br=F6ker wrote:
> I'll delay posting the announcement until we've made up our minds about=20
> the slight glitch in version.c (RELEASE_VERSION should be set). It's a=20
> lot easier to exchange the tarball while SourceForge's File Release=20
> System is still the only place it can be had
Sorry for the glitch. I'm new at this.
I'll write up a guide for the next poor neophyte who tries to put out a
release. Shouldn't "make dist" set this flag from the makefile, rather
than requiring one to edit the source code?
I swapped the tarball on SourceForge 10 minutes ago.
The only difference from the original is=20
(1) RELEASE_VERSION is set in src/version.c
(2) The tarball itself contains the updated titlepag.tex used to=20
generate external documentation (2007 copyright and updated credits).
=2D-=20
Ethan A Merritt
Biomolecular Structure Center
University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742
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From: <HBB...@t-...> - 2007-03-04 21:25:37
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Ethan A Merritt wrote: > On Sunday 04 March 2007 06:48, Hans-Bernhard Bröker wrote: >> I'll delay posting the announcement until we've made up our minds about >> the slight glitch in version.c (RELEASE_VERSION should be set). It's a >> lot easier to exchange the tarball while SourceForge's File Release >> System is still the only place it can be had > Sorry for the glitch. I'm new at this. So's just about everybody else. Only Lars ever managed more than a single release. As I said: this is what comes of releasing so seldom. We forget everything we learned by one release cycle before we do the next one. > Shouldn't "make dist" set this flag from the makefile, rather > than requiring one to edit the source code? Not really. 'make dist' is supposed to make a tarball, regardless of whether that's a release or snapshot. Lars put some tricks into the toplevel Makefile.maint. I think 'make -f Makefile.maint rel-check' is more like what we should consider updating. Thanks for all the hard work, and congratulations all around. |
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From: <HBB...@t-...> - 2007-03-04 22:03:11
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... FYI, the News posting to our SF.net project site is done. Announcement to freshmeat is also out (awaiting processing by their crew). |
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From: Daniel J S. <dan...@ie...> - 2007-03-04 22:32:51
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Lars Hecking wrote:
> Daniel J Sebald writes:
> [...]
>
>>Yes, and if one is able to reach him, it would be good to discuss some
>>way of resolving the License issues... I could try contacting the Colin
>>Kelly at that Callwave company to see if he is the other half of the
>>original copyright holders. However, any identifiable info about Kelly
>>that Thomas Williams could provide would help, e.g., a college he may
>>have been attending or worked for at the time.
>
>
> As the person attached to this project who has been in touch with
> Tom Williams most recently, I would like to say this:
>
> - There is no communication channel to Thomas Williams right now.
> - Colin Kelley has been "lost in cyberspace" for the better part of the past
> decade. Possibly two decades.
> - If we could somehow establish contact with Colin, I would appreciate it.
Reading this bit from FAQ:
" The following quote comes from Thomas Williams:
I was taking a differential equation class and Colin was taking
Electromagnetics, we both thought it'd be helpful to visualize the"
suggests Colin may have been in either physics or electrical engineering. The Colin Kelley of the Callwave company has a BSEE so that agrees. Maybe that is him; still seems a few years too young. I'll try contacting Callwave monday.
> - Every time I have been in touch with Thomas Williams about a new release,
> he was always very supportive. While, as a copyright holder, he has
The last known employer for Thomas Williams is Pixar, is that right? Calling there is easy enough too.
There is also John Campbell http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/jdc/ who would be second generation. He might have some info on Williams and Kelley, but I doubt it.
We should generate a plot showing a time line of people, version releases and new features. :-)
Dan
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From: Lars H. <lhe...@us...> - 2007-03-05 00:14:34
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> The last known employer for Thomas Williams is Pixar, is that right? > Calling there is easy enough too. Yep. He did give me a personal email address, but the last time I emailed, it bounced with "mailbox full". Alex Woo suggests "He's probably in a resort somewhere after selling off his Pixar holdings". ;) |
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From: Shigeharu T. <sh...@ie...> - 2007-03-13 12:18:40
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shige 03/13 2007 ---------------- Ethan A Merritt <merritt@u.washington.edu> wrote: | Also Shigeharu Takeno, who may want to post the release announcement to | a Japanese forum.[*] I announced on some Japanese forums (BBS and ML). | [*] You may be interested to learn that Google Trends reports that the=20 | highest concentration of search queries about gnuplot is from Japan: | http://www.google.com/trends?q=3Dgnuplot :-) By the way, there are many users of MS-Windows version in Japan, so I think they now want the MS-Windows version on the official site http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2055 +========================================================+ Shigeharu TAKENO NIigata Institute of Technology kashiwazaki,Niigata 945-1195 JAPAN sh...@ie... TEL(&FAX): +81-257-22-8161 +========================================================+ |
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From: Petr M. <mi...@ph...> - 2007-03-13 15:36:19
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> By the way, there are many users of MS-Windows version in Japan, > so I think they now want the MS-Windows version on the official > site > > http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2055 Win32 version is currently at http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/ftp_testing/ftp_gnuplot_info/4.2/ waiting for somebody to put it on the SF Download. The file gp420win32.zip contains wgnuplot-ja.mnu, but not wgnuplot-ja.{hlp, pdf}. Could you generate them? That .hlp file could go to the above zip file. And the wgnuplot-ja.pdf could go to the Download. --- PM |
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From: Ethan M. <merritt@u.washington.edu> - 2007-03-13 16:27:15
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On Tuesday 13 March 2007 08:36, Petr Mikulik wrote: > > By the way, there are many users of MS-Windows version in Japan, > > so I think they now want the MS-Windows version on the official > > site > > > > http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2055 > > Win32 version is currently at > http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/ftp_testing/ftp_gnuplot_info/4.2/ > waiting for somebody to put it on the SF Download. Both gp420win32x11.zip and gp420win32.zip have now been copied to the download area. > The file > gp420win32.zip > contains wgnuplot-ja.mnu, but not wgnuplot-ja.{hlp, pdf}. Could you generate > them? That .hlp file could go to the above zip file. And the wgnuplot-ja.pdf > could go to the Download. I do not understand. How would wgnuplot-ja.pdf differ from gnuplot-ja.pdf? -- Ethan A Merritt |
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From: Petr M. <mi...@ph...> - 2007-03-13 17:53:34
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> > > http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2055 > > Both gp420win32x11.zip and gp420win32.zip have now been copied > to the download area. Fine. Could you remove the "gnuplot-current 4.2.rc4" from there? > > The file > > gp420win32.zip > > contains wgnuplot-ja.mnu, but not wgnuplot-ja.{hlp, pdf}. Could you generate > > them? That .hlp file could go to the above zip file. And the wgnuplot-ja.pdf > > could go to the Download. > > I do not understand. How would wgnuplot-ja.pdf differ from gnuplot-ja.pdf? Sorry, I ment gnuplot-ja.pdf and wgnuplot-ja.hlp. --- PM |
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From: Ethan M. <merritt@u.washington.edu> - 2007-03-13 18:14:02
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On Tuesday 13 March 2007 10:53, Petr Mikulik wrote: > > Could you remove the "gnuplot-current 4.2.rc4" from there? I'm not sure. I don't think so. The instructions say that once a package is uploaded, it cannot be deleted or removed. It may be possible to "hide", however. I'll try. -- Ethan A Merritt |
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From: Shigeharu T. <sh...@ie...> - 2007-03-14 00:53:58
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shige 03/14 2007
----------------
Ethan Merritt <merritt@u.washington.edu> wrote:
> Both gp420win32x11.zip and gp420win32.zip have now been copied
> to the download area.
Thanks.
Petr Mikulik <mi...@ph...> wrote:
> contains wgnuplot-ja.mnu, but not wgnuplot-ja.{hlp, pdf}. Could you generate
> them? That .hlp file could go to the above zip file. And the wgnuplot-ja.pdf
These are already opened in my www page:
http://takeno.iee.niit.ac.jp/%7Efoo/gp-jman/gp-jman.html
MS-Windows help file is included in
http://takeno.iee.niit.ac.jp/%7Efoo/gp-jman/data/wgp-jp/wgp420-ja-20070304.zip
PDF file is available at
http://takeno.iee.niit.ac.jp/%7Efoo/gp-jman/data/20070304/gnuplot-ja.pdf.gz
+========================================================+
Shigeharu TAKENO NIigata Institute of Technology
kashiwazaki,Niigata 945-1195 JAPAN
sh...@ie... TEL(&FAX): +81-257-22-8161
+========================================================+
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