MapServer 5.0.0 released!

[Daniel Morissette]

The MapServer team is proud to announce the release of MapServer 5.0!

Perhaps the most important new feature in this release is support for 
map rendering using the Anti-grain Geometry (AGG) graphics library 
(www.antigrain.com). AGG brings high quality 2-D rendering capabilities 
to MapServer that will allow users to create maps with vastly improved 
cartographic quality. Equally important is that using AGG results in a 
minimal reduction in performance. All symbology supported by the default 
GD (www.libgd.org) graphics library are also supported using AGG. We are 
excited about the future possibilities of bringing high-end cartography 
to on-demand web mapping.

This new version also includes dozens of small bug fixes, enhancements 
and performance improvements. Among the new features are: style and 
label attribute attribute binding; lookup table-based raster color 
correction; dynamic charting (pie and bar); explicit label prioritizing; 
enhanced debugging and logging; dynamic allocation for layers, classes, 
styles and symbols; improved memory management and garbage collection 
for MapScript; numerous improvements to OGC specification support, and 
lots more. A list of RFCs related to this release is included at the end 
of this message.

The source code release is available at the usual location on the 
MapServer site:

   http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/download/current

This page also contains links to binary distributions that will 
hopefully be updated with 5.0 binaries shortly.

Users of 4.10 and older should review the 5.0 migration guide which 
documents the changes that must be made to your application when 
upgrading from MapServer 4.10 to 5.0:

   http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/download/current/MIGRATION_GUIDE.TXT/

Finally, here is a summary of MapServer 5.0 feature/enhancement with the 
related RFCs. For more details on a specific item, please refer to the 
corresponding RFC document at http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/development/rfc

New features:
------------

- MS RFC 19: Added Style and Label attribute binding

- MS RFC 21: Raster Color Correction via color lookup table

- MS RFC 27: Added label priority

- MS RFC 29: Added dynamic charting (pie and bar charts)

- MS RFC 31: New mechanism to load/set objects via URL using mapfile syntax

- MS RFC 32: Added support for map rendering using the AGG library for
   better output quality


Long time issues resolved:
-------------------------

- MS RFC 17: Use dynamic allocation for symbols, layers, classes and styles
   (got rid of the static limit on the number of instances of each in a map)

- MS RFC 24: Improved memory management and garbage collection for MapScript

- MS RFC 26: Terminology cleanup (layer transparency renamed to opacity,
   scale becomes scaledenom, symbol style becomes symbol pattern)

- MS RFC 28: Enhanced the debug/logging mechanism to facilitate
   troubleshooting and tuning applications. Added support for multiple
   debug levels and more control on output location.