[Gramps-users] Unstable 1.1.0 version ("And now for something completely different") released

[Don A. <dal...@us...>]

The GRAMPS project has released version 1.1.0 ("And now for something
completely different"). This is a pre-release of the next generation of
GRAMPS.

THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL VERSION. IT IS NOT MEANT FOR NORMAL USE. For
normal use, use the current stable version (1.0.4). This release is
being released as source code only. No RPM packages are available.

This release is the start of some major changes in GRAMPS. The XML
database has been replaced with a real database backend (Berkeley
database), but data can still be imported and exported to the XML
format. The Person View has also had some significant improvements. What
this means is the capacity problems that the current stable version has
have been removed.

In addition to the capacity restrictions being removed, databases load
almost instantly, and performance has increased dramatically.

WARNINGS:
* The database format is not completely stable yet. Databases created
  with this version will probably not be compatible with future 
  versions. Export your data to a GRAMPS package before upgrading to the
  next version.
* Bugs still exist. Probably some major bugs. You may end up with a 
  corrupted database. It will be a good idea to periodically export to
  a GRAMPS package to backup your data.
* Not all functions are fully implemented yet.

Requirements:
* gnome 2.6
* pygtk 2.3.92 or greater
* gnome-python 2.0.2 or greater

RPM packages for pygtk and gnome-python are available for Fedora Core 2
are at http://donaldallingham.home.comcast.net/rpms


Version 1.1.0 -- the "And now for something completely different" release
* Berkeley database backend!!! Many thanks to Billy Earney for db expertise!
* Alphabetical tabs are gone. The entire People View is in a single tree now.
  This allows to merge people with different first letters of their Surnames.
* Displayed columns can be added, deleted, and re-arranged in the Tree Views.
* Events are first-class objects and can be shared (there is
  no interface that supports it yet).
* Save function is gone. The changes are committed when OK is pressed
  in the editing dialog.
* Undo support with named transactions.
* Dependence on grampslib is gone. GRAMPS is now 100% python!
* Version control is gone, as it is obsoleted by the database backend.
* Support for the new GTK2.4 file selector.
* Most modal windows are gone. Closing a window automatically
  closes its children windows.
* Windows menu presents all open windows in an ordered fashion,
  allowing easy control of numerous open dialogs.
* New icons for default person, as well as for the gramps database
  and gedcom file types (Steve Hall).
* Obsolete ZODB backend removed.
* Local media objects are gone. All objects are now global, i.e. refer
  to the existing files. To have a portable database, export into gramps
  package, or track your files yourself.
* Report style improvements.
* Improved error messages.
* Relationship calculators are re-using more common code.
* Support for Tip of the day.
* Proper mime type registration and application association.
  Double-cliking on a .grdb file should open it in gramps.
* Spouse column support in People View.
* GEDCOM import improvements.
* Multiple web page generator improvements (Leonid Mamtchenkov).
* Fix in the Wall Chart report.
* Plain text format available for text reports.
* Direct printing/previewing and internationalized PS/PDF creation
  via gnome-print plugin. Full support for images and rotated text.
* Built-in filters are gone. Filtering in PeopleView is done
  using Custom/System filters.
* Proper unicode output in GraphViz plugin.
* Catch and disallow selecting self as a child/parent.
* User-added attributes are remembered for Media objects.
* Cancel in Edit Person and Edit Relationship properly reverts events,
  attributes, etc to their pre-edit values.
* Gallery tab added to events.
* Sources added to media objects and their references.
* XML parser fixes.
* Numerous bugfixes.