[Mapserver-dev] MapServer 4.0 release this week

[Daniel Morissette]

Hello mapserver-dev and mapserver-docs,

The long awaited MapServer 4.0 release is finally just around the 
corner.  We are working with Steve to wrap up the last lose ends and we 
hope to be able to package the release tomorrow for announcement and 
distribution on Friday.

Hopefully this doesn't come as a surprise for any of you since we've 
talked about the upcoming release quite a bit on the dev and users lists 
in the last few weeks.

On the development side:

All critical issues that could have been considered blockers have been 
addressed and we will be ready to tag (and possibly branch) the source 
code in CVS tomorrow.  If any of the developers is currently working on 
a critical fix or is aware of a blocker issue then please get in touch 
with us now, or be prepared to wait for 4.0.1 or 4.1 before your change 
can be released.

On the documentation side:

What is the status of documentation side of things?  I know that JF 
Doyon and Jeff McKenna have reviewed their respective documents since I 
worked with them on that.  How about the other documents, are they ready 
for 4.0?  Do you need more time before we branch the documentation CVS 
or can we do it at the same time as we branch the source code CVS tomorrow?

BTW, the automated update of documentation from CVS on the website 
doesn't seem to be working any more so it's not possible to see which 
documents have been updated unless you look in CVS.  I'm unclear on who 
is responsible for this now but it would be great if that functionality 
could be restored.

Finally, here is a list of things to do for the release and for which 
we'll need help from some of you:

- Tag/branch CVS, update READMEs, package 4.0 release (Daniel/Steve)

- Post the release on the website (Steve?)

- We will probably need to post a 4.0 Itasca demo as well

- Prepare new Windows binaries (Assefa/Pericles)

- Update the documentation section of the website.  I'm unclear on who
   is responsible for this, but there are several things to do:
     - Create a /doc40 directory with the 4.0 docs
     - start a new /doc directory for version 4.1-dev
     - update doc.html to make 4.0 the current version
     - Make sure new documents that were created are made available via
       the website.  There are some new howtos and several translated
       documents that aren't available yet on the website.

Thanks for your help, if you have any questions or noticed something 
that I forgot then please speak up.

Daniel
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  Daniel Morissette               morissette at dmsolutions.ca
  DM Solutions Group              http://www.dmsolutions.ca/
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