Re: [Plplot-devel] Wish list for the release

[Alan W. I. <ir...@be...>]

The release date is only 12 days away so I thought I should review where we
stand.  I have dropped the extended gdimage colour image example for
now---there is just too much else to do.  Also for similar reasons,
Alessandro has dropped any additional pyqt GUI development until a later
time. Also, I have made a lot of progress on the examples, and the xw09.py
segfault has not come back to haunt me.

Here is what I am aware is left.  Above the line is my responsibility (unless
I make remarks about where others can help).

(1) Make consistent examples for all the various front ends.  I have made a
lot of progress on this, and I hope to find a good stopping point late this
week.  At that time I hope to have python, tcl, C, and yorick finished
(aside from example 20 which I won't do this time and examples 14, 17, and
19 which I will probably never do for various reasons.) I also hope to still
make a lot of progress on the Java examples.  Fortran, C++, and perl will
have to wait unless somebody volunteers. Joao, if you feel like bringing the
"x" octave examples in line with the new extended examples (in those cases
where they are different), try following what was done for x01c.c through
x13c.c for now (since those are finished), and by the end of this week the
extended x15c, x16c, and x18c should be ready as well.  The goal is for your
postscript output to be equivalent to the others for each example as a test
that your front end is doing exactly what it is supposed to.

(2) Get documentation to build on Debian woody.

(3) README-style documentation about what I did recently for the cgm driver
configuration. Hopefully, this will be the start of a new cookbook for the
dynamic (and static) driver configuration.

(4) README-style documentation on setting up java, python, pyqt.

(5) On Monday, 21 January, I plan to start the full test process
(essentially complete runs of plplot-test.sh for psc, png, jpeg, and
possibly cgm drivers) for Debian woody, limited compile farm Debian potato
and Solaris, and possibly RedHat 7.2 (if I can get access at UVic).  Joao
hopefully will be testing for the additional environments available to him
at the same time. If any changes are made to CVS after the tests are
completed, but before the CVS freeze time the file results from the earlier
tests will be available for quick comparisons to be sure nothing essential
was clobbered by the extra changes.

(6) Starting at the CVS freeze time of 8:00 PST (= 16:00 UT) on 24 January,
I will finish any last minute testing of changes, and all the other
mechanical stuff I do for a release to make it available at our SF release
area.  Typically, the whole process takes several hours (although no
guarantees--it could be as much as a day or so if there is a nasty bug we
are chasing down) until I give the word that you can use CVS again.

(7) After the file release is available at sourceforge (and downloaded again
to make sure it is identical with the original), I will circulate an
announcement on the plplot-general list, sourceforge, freshmeat, SAL, and
Linuxburg.

(8) I will try to get an RH 7.2 rpm available at SF within a day of the
release.  Joao had some trouble making RPM's for the distributions that were
available to him last time, but I hope he tries again this time; it greatly
expands our userbase if we can make rpm's for some of the major
distributions.  I also hope Rafael can quickly (say within a week after
release) make a Debian version of the new release for exactly the same
promotional reasons.

Everything below this line is someone else's responsibility, but I am
willing to help with testing.
****************************************

(7) Finish W98 and W2000 changes.  Olof is apparently satisfied with what
has been checked in, but he still needs to finish some README-style
documention about how to build the windows port of PLplot.

(8) Java API (Geoffrey, especially the plcont, plshade, and plshades API
that is necessary for examples 9, 15, and 16).

(9) Some (possible?) additional changes associated with plimage from Joao,
and Olof.  Just be sure to leave it in a reasonably well-working state
for the release.

(10) Maurice's changes that he has discussed previously on list.  Reviewing
his e-mail about this, they include the solution for the "plgdevlst: too
many devices" bug, a fix for some "configuration problems involving excluded
devices", and a Tk widgets resources project Maurice hoped to complete
before release.

Is there anything else?

Alan

email: ir...@be...
phone: 250-727-2902	FAX: 250-721-7715
snail-mail:
Dr. Alan W. Irwin
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055,
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, V8W 3P6
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