geda-developers team mailing list archive

[Bert Timmerman <bert.timmerman@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Users and Contributors,

It has been quite some time since the last snapshot of pcb was released
in March 2014.

Since then quite a lot of bugs were fixed and new features added, below
a summary is given of the improvements and additions since the latest
snapshot "pcb-20140316".

This release represents over 480 commits (mostly bugfixes and code
refactoring) and as such this summary clearly is not complete.

This pcb release 4.0.0 has a significant change in the major version
number.

This is done to make a fresh start and to get away from the 1.99z
version with YYYYMMDD snapshots.

The tarball and checksums file can be downloaded from:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/pcb/files/

Any bugs, or others shortcomings, can be reported to either the geda-user
mailing list or the Launchpad Bug Tracker:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/pcb

Kind regards,

The pcb development team



========================================================================
Release notes for pcb-4.0.0
========================================================================

User experience improvements
----------------------------
- added the command-line option --save-metric-only.
- added escaping of Attribute values.
- added a translation of the Getting Started with PCB for pt_BR.
- added translatable tooltips for toolbar buttons.
- added "Report net length" to Menu -> Info in Gtk.
- added a script for generating a key binding list.
- added tooltips in the GTK HID UI.
- the puller no longer crosses unplated holes.
- solder/component outer layer names changed to top/bottom.
- pcb now uses a tilde instead of a dash for backup filenames.
- corrections in the user documentation.
- the position "delta" display no longer forces the GTK HID window to
  grow.
- write time in ASCII locale into exported files.
- allow for up to 10000 dpi on png exporter output.


Plugins
-------
- added smartdisperse for dispersing elements better, contributed by
  Ben Jackson.
- added relocate for relocating elements, contributed by Jean Richard.
- added RenumberBlock() and RenumberBuffer(), contributed by DJ Delorie.
- added teardrops(), contributed by DJ Delorie.


Exporters
---------
- added a netlister conforming to the IPC-D-356 standard, contributed by
  Jerome Marchand.
- changed "as-shown" to "screen-layer-order" in the png and eps hids.


Footprints library
------------------
- added a SC88A footprint.
- added a LQFP80-10 footprint.
- added QFN24_5 and TQFN24_5 footprints.
- added a SOD523 footprint.
- the SOT325 package had a wrong numbering.
- renamed the SOT325 footprint to SOT353.
- in the ALF footprint the drill holes were too tight.
- an infinite loop in the SIL m4 macro was fixed.


Developer experience improvements
---------------------------------
- made a start with adding Doxygen developer documentation tags in the
  source files.
  A pcb.dox configuration file is available in the "doc/doxygen"
  directory so developers can build the documentation there by invoking
  "doxygen pcb.dox" from the CLI.
  This is not done by configuring with --enable-docs, which is solely
  reserved for the generation of User documentation.
- added numerous fixes in the win32 target.


Notes for early adapters
------------------------
In the git repository two tags have been added to allow for checking
out of pcb-4.0.0 at the branch point (git checkout pcb-4.0.0-base) or at
the release point (git checkout pcb-4.0.0-RELEASE).
This is in line with tagging done in former snapshots.


Changed dependencies
--------------------
- autoconf 2.60 --> 2.69.
- gettext 0.14 --> 0.19.3.


Contributors
------------
The following authors contributed to the 4.0.0 release:
- Milan Prochac
- WileyECoyote
- DJ Delorie
- Britton Leo Kerin
- Jerome Marchand
- chrysn
- Sergey Stepanov
- Gareth Edwards
- Peter Clifton
- Anton Dubniak
- Markus Hitter
- Kai-Martin Knaak
- Martin
- Adrian Pardini
- Keith Packard
- Patrick Bernaud
- Robert Drehmel
- erich_heinzle
- Andrew Poelstra
- Marco Ciampa
- Roland Lutz
- Eugene Mikhantiev
- Jorge Barros de Abreu
- Richard Hughes
- Ivan Stankovic
- Charles Parker
- Dan McMahill
- Igor2
- Jean Richard
- Ben Jackson
- Morvan
- dima
- Peter S. May
- Felix K (kuhlix)
- rosvall
- Sergey Alyoshin
- bert

Please note that names are in no particular order and all e-mail
addresses have been removed for privacy.


Fixed and committed Launchpad bug reports
-----------------------------------------
#699149   infinite loop in the SIL m4 macro.
#699164   Position "delta" display forces GTK HID window to grow.
#699209   DSP dances.
#699243   SOT325 Package wrong numbering.
#699286   ALF footprint drill holes too tight.
#699413   Doxygenation of action.c and hid.h.
#699539   Request: tooltips.
#699543   Request: key binding list.
#701133   Export to PNG always shows pads on other side of board.
#996319   ipc-d-356 netlist creation.
#1005137  Build fails when DEBUG constant defined.
#1013358  Auto-enforce-DRC : cannot draw with exact clearance.
#1035979  default silk layer names are the same for top and bottom.
#1048256  pcb crashes when GUI-lessly exporting a PNG.
#1074268  gcode tests fail.
#1280748  Print non localized date string.
#1308221  Use tilde instead of dash for backup files.
#1309579  Adding descriptive Tooltips to the toolbar buttons.
#1339383  Segfault on PS export with completely clipped polygon.
#1408399  small fix in source text.
#1408615  added pcb.pot to the gitignore.
#1413254  Value of 1umil incorrectly set to 10µmil.
#1413350  Drill report - wrong hole count.
#1486582  pcb doesn't build.
#1487761  Antifork.
#1488220  Allow automated tests of actions.
#1490264  Remove vi command line interface.
#1490284  Compile error in src/hid/lesstif/dialogs.c and
          src/hid/lesstif/main.c.
#1491953  Dispersing elements better.
#1492497  Documentation for "Arc" is wrong.
#1497628  We need a PPA.
#1500224  Unit tests fail on 32-bit.
#1500241  pcb/gtk: buggy definition of LAYER_BUTTON_SILK.
#1500244  pcb/gtk: order of layer groups in preference dialogue.
#1505262  The N_ macro is spoiling the user documentation
#1506204  Quotes in attribute name or value make the PCB file
          unreadable.
#1521597  PCB includes invalid vertex into merged polygon.
#1532298  add the relocate plugin.
#1532329  add keywords to appdata.
#1534373  Improper handling of files specified on cmdline.
#1542858  strchrnull not in OSX C library.
#1550382  puller crosses unplated holes.
#1551970  Install failure in doc subdirectory.
#1553255  djopt(splitlines) does not behave as expected.
#1553281  djopt(miter) affects outline.
#1580837  Cleanup code causes core dumps.
#1586020  Bad Translation Menu Entry: PCB (Portuguese).
#1604524  polygon "twin hole" bug.
#1609542  text bug.
#1616803  Remove redundant setting of library_window->libtreeview.
#1631059  Crash during undo of element text resize.
#1631646  Non-fatal errors when building docs.
#1633924  FontSave distorts symbols.
#1636221  Undo serial number not incremented when deselecting.
#1639518  Joining Text Fails to Undo.
#1645100  Arc rtree/polygon clearance bugs.