[GRASS-SVN] r42849 - grass-web/trunk/announces
svn_grass at osgeo.org
svn_grass at osgeo.org
Mon Jul 19 12:53:46 EDT 2010
Author: hamish
Date: 2010-07-19 16:53:46 +0000 (Mon, 19 Jul 2010)
New Revision: 42849
Modified:
grass-web/trunk/announces/announce_grass640.html
Log:
some updates for the 6.4.0 announcement
Modified: grass-web/trunk/announces/announce_grass640.html
===================================================================
--- grass-web/trunk/announces/announce_grass640.html 2010-07-19 16:02:48 UTC (rev 42848)
+++ grass-web/trunk/announces/announce_grass640.html 2010-07-19 16:53:46 UTC (rev 42849)
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
</div>
<center>
-<img src="http://grass.osgeo.org/images/grasslogo_vector_small.png" alt=" _\|/_ GRASS GIS logo" hspace="22">
+<img src="http://grass.osgeo.org/images/grasslogo_vector_small.png"
+ alt=" _\|/_ GRASS GIS logo" hspace="22">
<BR>
<BR>
@@ -24,73 +25,74 @@
<BR>
We are pleased to announce the release of
- <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org">GRASS GIS 6.4</a>, the first in the
-new line of 6.4.x stable releases. As a stable release 6.4 will enjoy
-long term support.
-Due to our conservative stabilization policy this is the first official
-version of GRASS to introduce new features since October 2006 and
-supersedes the previous stable line of GRASS 6.2. As such the
-floodgates are open and there are many new features to explore and
-many new structural improvements to be found in the software. GRASS has
-now been translated into twenty languages and supports a huge array of
-data formats.
+ <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org">GRASS GIS 6.4.0</a>, the first in the
+new line of 6.4 stable releases. As a stable release 6.4 will enjoy
+long-term support. The next release (6.4.1) will introduce a few new
+features which are still undergoing final testing, but after that all
+further 6.4 releases will be bugfix-only. Due to our highly conservative
+stabilization policy this is the first official version of GRASS to
+introduce new features since October 2006 and supersedes the previous
+stable line of GRASS 6.2. As such the floodgates are open and there are
+many new features to explore and many new structural improvements to be
+found in the software.
<P>
-GRASS 6.4 brings a number of exciting enhancements to the GIS. First and
-foremost our new wxPython user interface is debuted, Python is now a
-fully supported scripting language which is platform independent.
-Furthermore, for the first time since its
-inception with a port from the VAX 11/780 in 1983, GRASS will now run
-natively on a non-UNIX based platform: MS-Windows.
+GRASS 6.4 brings a number of exciting enhancements to the GIS. Our new
+wxPython user interface is debuted, Python is now a fully supported
+scripting language, and for the first time since its inception with a
+port from the VAX 11/780 in 1983, GRASS will now run natively on a
+non-UNIX based platform: MS-Windows!
-<P>
In addition to bringing the software to a host of new users, the ability
to run GRASS on any common computer platform furthers our goal of open
access to the software. We hope you will enjoy the ability to use this
program on the systems that are most convenient to you and your work.
<P>
-Due to the freshness of <i>WinGrass</i> there may be some rough
-edges yet to discover, but we believe the foundation is solid and so any
-problems will mostly be surface layer bugs. We expect to have most of
-these will fixed for the upcoming 6.4.1 release. None the less, after
-nineteen months of dedicated quality-assurance review we are very pleased
-with the results. Users can be confident to use this version for their
-day to day work, indeed due to the open development model many already
-do. Existing UNIX and Mac users will be happy to know that these new
-features do not disrupt the base GIS which remains as solid as ever
-and fully backwards compatible with earlier GRASS 6.0 and 6.2 releases.
+Due to the freshness of <i>WinGrass</i> there may still be a few rough
+edges yet to discover, but after more than a year of dedicated testing
+and quality-assurance review we are very pleased with the results.
+Users can be confident to use this version for their day to day work,
+indeed due to the open development model many already do. Existing UNIX
+and Mac users will be happy to know that these new features do not disrupt
+the base GIS which remains as solid as ever and fully backwards compatible
+with earlier GRASS 6.0 and 6.2 releases. The old and well tested Tcl/Tk
+GUIs are also still available if you prefer to use them.
<P>
-<!-- incomplete phrase?? -->
-... meanwhile work continues on GRASS 7.
+The GRASS software including over 400 analysis modules and 100 community
+supplied add-on modules and toolboxes can be downloaded for free from the
+main GRASS website at
+ <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org">http://grass.osgeo.org</a>, or from many
+local mirrors worldwide. In addition to the extensive documentation which
+comes with the software, our
+ <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wiki help system</a>
+contains a wealth of user supplied tips and tricks, tutorials, and guides.
+<P>
+Since 6.4 entered the testing phase work has begun on GRASS 7 and is
+progressing rapidly, including many new wxGUI improvements and tools
+which we hope to bring over for the upcoming 6.4.1 release.
-<p>
+<h3>About GRASS GIS</h3>
+
The <i>Geographic Resources Analysis Support System</i>, commonly referred to
as GRASS, is a Geographic Information System (GIS) providing powerful raster,
vector, and geospatial processing engines in a single integrated software
suite. GRASS includes tools for spatial modeling, visualization of raster and
vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of
satellite and aerial imagery. It also provides the capability to produce
-sophisticated presentation graphics and hardcopy maps.
+sophisticated presentation graphics and hardcopy maps. GRASS has now been
+translated into twenty languages and supports a huge array of data formats.
<P>
GRASS is a foundation member of <a href="http://www.osgeo.org/">The Open
Source Geospatial Foundation</a> (OSGeo), a non-profit legal entity which
-has enjoyed extraordinary growth. The GRASS software including community
-supplied add-on modules and toolboxes can be downloaded for free from the
-main GRASS website at
- <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org">http://grass.osgeo.org</a>, or from many
-local mirrors worldwide. In addition to the extensive documentation which
-comes with the software, our
-<a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wiki help system</a>
-contains a wealth of user supplied tips and tricks.
+has enjoyed extraordinary growth. We expect that this formal infrastructure
+will guarantee that the GRASS community will be well supported and vibrant
+far into the future.
-We expect that this formal infrastructure will guarantee that the GRASS
-community will be well supported and vibrant far into the future.
-
<P>
GRASS is currently used around the world in academic and commercial settings
as well as by many governmental agencies and environmental consulting companies.
@@ -100,10 +102,11 @@
<P>
GRASS users are encouraged to study, customize, extend, improve, and (if
-necessary) diagnose the inner workings of the program. We believe that
-scientific progress depends on the reproducibility of results, which in
-turn depends on the unhindered ability of the user to know, evaluate, and
-check all algorithms and methodologies used in the process of their work.
+necessary) diagnose and repair the inner workings of any part of the program.
+We believe that scientific progress depends on the reproducibility of results,
+which in turn depends on the unhindered ability of the user to know, learn from,
+evaluate, and double-check all algorithms and methodologies used in the process
+of their work.
<h3>Screenshots</h3>
@@ -117,16 +120,16 @@
<p>GNU/Linux, Mac OS X/Darwin, Microsoft Windows (native using MinGW or with
full UNIX support via Cygwin), Sun Solaris (SPARC/Intel), Silicon Graphics
-Irix, HP-UX, DEC-Alpha, AIX, BSD, iPAQ/Linux and other UNIX compliant platforms.
-GRASS runs on both 32 and 64 bit systems with large files (>2GB) supported by
-many key modules.
+Irix, HP-UX, DEC-Alpha, AIX, the BSD family, iPAQ/Linux and other UNIX
+compliant platforms. GRASS runs on both 32 and 64 bit systems with large
+data files (>2GB) support for most key modules.
<h3>Software download/CDROM</h3>
<ul>
-<li><a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/download/index.php#g64x">http://grass.osgeo.org</a></li>
-<li><a href="http://grass.ibiblio.org/download/index.php#g64x">http://grass.ibiblio.org</a></li>
+<li><a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/download/index.php">http://grass.osgeo.org</a></li>
+<li><a href="http://grass.ibiblio.org/download/index.php">http://grass.ibiblio.org</a></li>
<li>numerous <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/mirrors.php">mirror sites</a></li>
<li><a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/download/cdrom.php">GRASS on CDROM/DVD</a></li>
</ul>
@@ -138,35 +141,29 @@
<p>
For details on GRASS software capabilities please refer to:
<a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/intro/general.php">http://grass.osgeo.org/intro/general.php</a>,
-the previous announcements of
-<a href="announce_grass620.html">GRASS 6.2.0</a>,
-<a href="announce_grass621.html">GRASS 6.2.1</a>,
-<a href="announce_grass622.html">GRASS 6.2.2</a>, and
-<a href="announce_grass623.html">GRASS 6.2.3</a>,
and the <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wiki
collaborative help system</a>.
<h3>What's new in GRASS 6.4.0</h3>
-(selected improvements from the more than 3400 minor and important fixes)
-<!-- 3483 CVS changes since 6.2.2: `grep -c '^2' ChangeLog_6.2.2-6.2.3` -14 VERSION admin = 3469 -->
+(selected improvements from the nearly 9,000 updates to the source code)
+<!-- 8958+ SVN changes since 6.3 branching: `grep -c '^2' ChangeLog_6.4`
-<!--
-This list should cover new things not backported since 6.2 was branched from HEAD:
- 2006-08-11 12:52 markus * include/VERSION: Switched development to 6.3.cvs
+ This list should cover new things not backported since 6.2 was branched from HEAD:
+ r20702 2006-08-11 12:52 markus * include/VERSION: Switched development to 6.3.cvs
-->
<ul>
<li>Source code quality/libraries:
<ul>
- <li> Many fixes for native MS-Windows support (MinGW based)
+ <li> Many internal adjustments needed for native MS-Windows support,
+ for example safely handling spaces in file names.
<li> <a href="http://download.osgeo.org/grass/grass6_progman/">Programmer's Manual</a>:
continued Doxygen integration and automated generation into PDF and HTML
formats. Publicly available for download and perusal.
<li> Improved policies for code submission specified in the
SUBMITTING files for documentation, Python, Tcl/Tk, and shell scripts
-<!-- TODO: really advertise SWIG? -->
- <li> GRASS-SWIG prototype interface improved (library bindings for Perl and Python)
+ <li> New Python scripting language library containing many helper functions
<li> All modules: <tt>--quiet</tt> and <tt>--verbose</tt> message modes
<li> All modules: <tt>--script</tt> flag generates boilerplate for shell scripts
with parser and GUI support
@@ -174,28 +171,33 @@
<li> DBMI: SQL parser extended (support for DROP COLUMN, ASC/DESC keyword
in ORDER BY clause, etc.)
<!-- TODO: say what for useful: -->
- <li> Partial differential equations library with OpenMP support (gpdelib)
- <li> Major clean-up to the display architecture (libraries and drivers):
- the drivers no longer maintain a palette; all colours are specified
+ <li> Partial differential equations library with OpenMP multi-processor support
+ <li> Major clean-up of the display architecture (libraries and drivers):
+ the drivers no longer maintain a palette; all colors are now specified
directly as R/G/B values
- <li> "Default" datum transformation parameters are now first in the list
+ <li> The "Default" datum transformation parameters are now first in the list
instead of last
- <li> Create new locations using EPSG codes with g.proj
- <li> Message translation (i18N): translations continued, new languages
- including Vietnamese and Arabic
- <li> Documentation/man pages: various fixes and improvements (more examples
- added, including graphics, improved style, new introductory pages)
- <li> Documentation: various terminology issues fixed and terms unified
- <li> Symbols: New icons, support for symbol rotation
+ <li> Ability to create new locations using EPSG codes with the <em>g.proj</em> module
+ <li> Message translation (i18N): many new translationed messages, new languages
+ including Vietnamese and Arabic
+ <li> Documentation/man pages: various fixes and improvements (more examples
+ added, including graphics, improved style, new introductory pages)
+ <li> Documentation: various terminology issues fixed and terms unified
+ <li> Symbols: A number of new icons, support for symbol rotation
+</ul>
-</ul>
-
<li> Graphical User Interface (GUI):
<ul>
<li><b>g.gui</b>: New frontend command to launch GUI sessions
+ <li> <b>wxPython GUI</b>:
+ <ul>
+ <li> Complete <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/WxPython-based_GUI_for_GRASS">GUI
+ rewrite in Python/wxWidgets</a>
+ </ul>
+
<li> <b>gis.m Tcl/Tk GUI</b>:
<ul>
<li> GIS manager extended with mouse placement of text and scale bars
@@ -207,12 +209,6 @@
<li> New animation tool to display raster map series as an animation
</ul>
- <li> <b>wxPython GUI</b>:
- <ul>
- <li> Complete <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/WxPython-based_GUI_for_GRASS">GUI
- rewrite in Python/wxWidgets</a>
- </ul>
-
<li> Improved startup screen and interface, including searchable EPSG
codes list and better custom datum support
<li> <b>NVIZ</b>: Major revamp of interface; output directly to MPEG or
@@ -258,6 +254,8 @@
maintain a database of system fonts
<li> <b>g.dirseps</b>: <font color="red">NEW</font> -
Internal utility for converting directory characters (MS-Windows)
+ <li> <b>g.extension</b>: <font color="red">NEW</font> -
+ Utility for downloading and installing Add-on modules
<li> <b>g.findetc</b>: <font color="red">NEW</font> -
Internal utility for locating support files
<li> <b>g.gui</b>: <font color="red">NEW</font> -
@@ -347,6 +345,13 @@
</ul>
<P>
+A more detailed description of changes can be found in the previous
+announcements of the <a href="announce_grass630.html">GRASS 6.3</a>
+development preview release and the
+ <a href="https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/WikiStart#Releases">GRASS 6.4.0
+release candidate</a> series.
+
+<P>
For a comprehensive list of changes see the
<a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/grass64/source/ChangeLog_6.4.0.gz">6.4 ChangeLog</a> file.</p>
<P>
@@ -357,8 +362,8 @@
</p>
<p><BR><i>We are always looking for testers, code developers, and technical
-writers to <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/devel/index.php">help us</a> maintain and accelerate
-the development cycle.</i>
+writers to <a href="http://grass.osgeo.org/devel/index.php">help us</a>
+maintain and accelerate the development cycle.</i>
The GRASS GIS project is developed under the terms of the
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>
@@ -382,6 +387,8 @@
<li> <a href="http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/Release/6.4.0RC3-News">GRASS GIS 6.4.0RC3</a> released 26 Jan 2009
<li> <a href="http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/Release/6.4.0RC4-News">GRASS GIS 6.4.0RC4</a> released 12 Apr 2009
<li> <a href="http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/Release/6.4.0RC5-News">GRASS GIS 6.4.0RC5</a> released 9 June 2009
+<li> <a href="http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/Release/6.4.0RC6-News">GRASS GIS 6.4.0RC6</a> released 20 March 2010
+
<li> GRASS GIS 6.4.0 released [DATE]
</ul>
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