[mapserver-users] MapServer 6.2.0-beta1 release - Please test!

[thomas bonfort]

The MapServer Team is pleased to announce the release of MapServer
6.2.0-beta1. This is the first beta on our way to a final 6.2 release
which is planned here:

https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver/wiki/MapServer-6.2-Release-Plan

After the 6.0 release which introduced important changes in key
components of the MapServer core (rendering, query and expressions),
this 6.2 release focuses on some new features which are summarized
here:

* RFC 73 : SVG symbology support
* RFC 75 : INSPIRE view services
* RFC 76 : XMP Metadata support
* RFC 77 : Multiple labels or collision-detected symbols per feature
* RFC 78 : Vector Field rendering
* RFC 79 : Layer Masks
* RFC 80 : Multiple font fallback support
* RFC 81 : Offset labels with leader lines

(RFCs are available online at http://mapserver.org/development/rfc/)

Other notable enhancements include:

* GD support disabled by default. Enable with --with-gd
* labelcache: speedups and reduced memory usage
* postgis input: reduced memory usage, better index usage in TIME queries
* proj: use the unlocked thread free version if proj >= 4.8.0
* optional fastpath 4326->3857 reprojections
* libtool builds: make install is now required. the mapserv and shp2img
  tools now link to a shared libmapserver library
* python and php mapscript build changes
* support for ELEVATION and DIM_* WMS dimensions
* precise symbol placement: ANCHORPOINT
* support for named group layer
* basic multi-language support in WMS
* php mapscript support for php 5.4

We count on you, MapServer power users, to help test the release in
your respective environments and provide feedback (through the users
list or github tickets).

There are two notable changes compared to previous MapServer versions:
* Code and issues migrated have been migrated from trac to github (
https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver ). If you have not already done
so, you will need to create a github userid in order to submit tickets
and patches. Note that all trac tickets have been migrated to github
under the same ticket ID (that is, e.g.
http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/ticket/4208 has become
https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver/issues/4208 ). However ticket
CCs and notifications have not been migrated, so you will need to
manually enable notifications on tickets you where previously
following in order to get future updates. You can do this by either
commenting in the ticket, or clicking the "Notifications for new
comments on this Issue are off. Enable notifications for this Issue"
link at the bottom of the ticket page.
* The build process on unix platforms has changed significantly:
 * `make install` must be run now at the end of the build process
 * we now honor the --prefix configure argument, for
$prefix/lib/libmapserver.so , $prefix/bin/mapserv , etc...
 * your webserver cgi configuration should point to the *installed*
version of "mapserv", not the "mapserv" that resides in the source
directory


As usual there is also a large number of additional small enhancements
and bug fixes. For a complete list see the HISTORY.TXT file at:

https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver/blob/branch-6-2/HISTORY.TXT

The source for this release can be downloaded at:

   http://mapserver.org/download.html
or
   http://download.osgeo.org/mapserver/mapserver-6.2.0-beta1.tar.gz

The binary distributions listed in the download page should be updated
with binaries for the new 6.2.0-beta1 release in the next couple of days.


This is the first of four planned beta releases and if all goes well a
final release should occur around the beginning of August. The full
release plan can be viewed at:

 https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver/wiki/MapServer-6.2-Release-Plan

Once again we need your help to ensure a high quality product, so
please help out by testing your applications with this new code base.

Thanks! - The MapServer Team