1 PSPP NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2 Time-stamp: <2009-09-08 21:08:29 blp>
3 Copyright (C) 1996-9, 2000, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send PSPP bug reports to bug-gnu-pspp@gnu.org.
8 Changes from 0.6.1 to 0.6.2-pre6:
12 - Dutch, thanks to Harry Thijssen.
14 - Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Michel Boaventura.
16 Thanks for translations are also due to the coordinators at
17 translationproject.org.
19 * Statistical bug fixes:
21 - REGRESSION: Report correct standard error of the estimate (bug
24 - T-TEST: Report correct significance of paired sample T-test in
25 the common case (bug #26936) and corner cases. Thanks to Mike
26 Griffiths and Matej Cepl for reporting these bugs.
28 * Build fixes and changes:
30 - Make running "make" after running "configure" with different
31 settings reliably rebuild version.c.
33 - Cygwin and MinGW build fixes.
35 - Fixes for building with recent gnulib.
37 - The Makefile now honors two new variables, PSPP_LDFLAGS and
38 PSPPIRE_LDFLAGS, that affect linking of the PSPP and PSPPIRE
39 binaries, respectively. This makes building easier for some
42 - Fixes for "configure --enable-relocatable" (bug #25508).
44 * Data file bug fixes and changes:
46 - Fix reading text data files that contain a mix of white space
47 and commas. Now "a ,b" is treated as two fields containing "a"
48 and "b"; previously it was treated as three, with an empty field
51 - Fix writing corrupted .sav files on Windows.
53 - Fix writing corrupted .por files (bug #26034).
55 - Fix reading .por files whose initial lines are not padded out
56 with spaces as expected.
58 - PSPP will no longer issue warnings about some .sav file records
59 or values that it does not understand. These warnings were
60 harmless, but needlessly alarmed some users.
62 - Fix crash reading empty string fields from PostgreSQL databases.
64 * Bug fixes that affect PSPP and PSPPIRE:
66 - Users may now control precision of output statistics. Instead
67 of hard coding the width and decimals of output numbers, respect
68 the default format in most instances. Counts are now normally
69 displayed with the format of the weight variable, if any.
71 - Fix crash when an INSERT command specifies the name of a file
72 that does not exist (bug #24569).
74 - Fix crash when CROSSTABS specifies a long-string variable (bugs
77 - Fix crash drawing pie charts with many segments.
79 - Fix crash when NUMERIC specifies an invalid format.
81 * PSPPIRE bug fixes and changes:
83 - On Windows, write the output file to the user's home directory
84 instead of the current directory, to better match user
87 - Some data editor fixes.
91 - Fix typo in BINOMIAL section of user manual (bug #25892).
93 Changes from 0.6.0 to 0.6.1:
95 * Statistical bug fixes:
97 - Report correct standardized regression coefficients in linear
98 regression output (bug #23567).
100 * Bug fixes that affect PSPP and PSPPIRE:
102 - Avoid crash with pie charts (bug #24014).
104 - Don't append % to count totals (bug #24003).
106 - Don't crash on bad input (bug #24031).
108 - Don't crash if "end data." is not left aligned (bug #24115).
110 - Change default workspace value to 64 MB, to avoid unnecessary
111 disk accesses on modern machines.
115 - Add ".sav" or ".por" suffix to filename when saving with Save_As
118 - Make it possible to reopen the output window on Windows (bug
121 - A POSIX regular expression library is now included and used
122 automatically if the host does not have one or has one that is
125 * Build fixes and changes:
127 - Work around bug in GSL that prevented build with recent GCC
128 versions without manually adding -fgnu89-inline to CFLAGS.
130 - Also warn about missing prerequisites as we encounter them (bug
133 - Distribute necessary files to allow users working from the
134 distributed tarball to configure with --enable-gui-tools.
136 - Append $(EXEEXT_FOR_BUILD) to output file name when building
137 q2c, fixing build problems on Windows.
139 - GSL 1.8 or later is now required.
141 - Build errors with --enable-relocatable were fixed.
143 * The German translations were removed, since native German speakers
144 found them too poor to be useful.
146 Changes from 0.4.0 to 0.6.0:
148 * The PSPP license is now version 3 or later of the GNU General
149 Public License. Previously, it was version 2 or later.
151 * PSPP now has a graphical interface, called PSPPIRE. This
152 interface allows you to enter data and variable definitions
153 interactively. Commands may be executed in syntax form, or by
154 using the interactive dialog boxes available from the dropdown
157 * A few sample syntax files are now included in the `examples'
160 * Numerous major and minor bugs have been fixed.
164 * The INSTALL file now reflects the details of how to install
165 PSPP. It is a tailored version of the generic installation
166 instructions, instead of a verbatim copy.
168 * iconv, which is ordinarily installed as part of a Unix-like
169 system, is now required. If you don't have it already, you can
170 install GNU libiconv (http://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/).
172 * libxml2 and zlib are new optional dependencies. They are
173 required to use PSPP's support for reading Gnumeric files.
175 Statistical procedure changes:
177 * REGRESSION is a new procedure for fitting linear models to data
178 via least-squares estimation.
180 * NPAR TESTS is a new procedure for non-parametric tests. In this
181 release, it supports binomial and chi-square tests.
183 * RANK is a new procedure to rank variables. It supports numerous
186 * FREQUENCIES can now output histograms and pie charts. These
187 features were present in earlier releases, but not documented.
189 User interface changes:
191 * In many situations where PSPP once terminated with a fatal
192 error, PSPP now recovers and continues execution.
194 * PSPP is now able to start up and run even if it cannot find its
197 * Journaling of interactive commands to a disk file is now
198 implemented. By default, journaling is enabled, to a file named
199 `pspp.jnl' in the current directory. SET JOURNAL may be used to
202 * The use of `+' between syntax file names on the command line to
203 prevent the dictionary from being cleared between their
204 executions is no longer supported. All syntax files are now
205 executed as if `+' had been specified.
207 * The -d/--define and -u/--undef command line options are no
208 longer supported. Instead, use /usr/bin/env or shell primitives
209 to define or clear environment variables before invoking PSPP.
211 * If a syntax file named named `rc' is found in a configuration
212 directory (such as $HOME/.pspp), it is executed before any
213 syntax file specified on the command line. The -r or
214 --no-statrc command line option may be used to disable this
219 * Output configuration options have changed. Please refer to the
220 manual for a full description of the available options.
222 In consequence, you will need to reinstall your "devices" file.
223 "make install" will do this for you.
225 * Most error messages are now written to PSPP output files by
226 default. SET ERROR can be used to disable this behavior.
228 * When invoked interactively, PSPP now by default produces output
229 on the terminal, piping it through the "more" program.
230 Previously, by default output was written only to file
231 pspp.list. On most terminals, the page length used for output
232 automatically adapts to the terminal size, even if the terminal
237 - This driver now supports charts in output. Charts are written
238 as separate files that the main output file refers to. By
239 default, charts are written in PNG format to files named
240 pspp-1.png, pspp-2.png, and so on.
242 - Configurations are provided that use VT100 (and xterm)
243 line-drawing characters in tables. The option "-o list-vt100"
244 requests use of this device for output to pspp.list.
248 - The default paper size is now determined using the PAPERSIZE
249 environment variable, or the LC_PAPER locale category on
250 systems that support it. If these are not set, the default is
251 now A4, instead of US letter. To make US letter the default,
252 set PAPERSIZE to "letter" in your environment.
254 - Font metrics are now read from AFM files, instead of
255 Groff-format metrics files. PostScript fonts can now be
258 In consequence, you will need to install an AFM file for each
259 font used in PostScript output. "make install" will install
260 AFM files for the standard PostScript fonts, including the
261 ones that the PostScript driver uses by default.
263 - Standard paper sizes no longer need to be specified through a
264 configuration file. The "papersize" configuration file is no
265 longer needed, or supported.
267 - The PostScript prologue is no longer obtained from the
268 "ps-prologue" configuration file. This configuration file is
269 no longer needed, or supported.
273 - The HTML prologue is no longer obtained from the
274 "html-prologue" configuration file. This configuration file
275 is no longer needed, or supported.
277 Command language changes:
279 * The following commands are new:
281 - GET DATA, which currently supports reading Gnumeric files and
282 text data files. It will be extended later to read other
283 types of foreign data.
285 - CD, to change the current directory.
287 - INSERT, to execute a syntax file.
289 - DELETE VARIABLES, to remove variables from the active file
292 - ADD DOCUMENT, to add text to active file documents.
294 - CLOSE FILE HANDLE (a PSPP extension; see below).
296 - XEXPORT, a PSPP extension that is a transformation equivalent
299 * The following functions for transformation expressions are new:
301 - DATEDIFF, for computing the difference of two dates.
303 - DATESUM, for advancing a date by a specified duration.
305 - VALUELABEL, to obtain the value label for a value.
307 * PSPP now supports very long string variables (over 255 bytes
310 * MATCH FILES now supports the FIRST and LAST subcommands.
312 * Previous versions of PSPP prohibited using commands to both read and
313 write a single file at the same time. Now, PSPP allows this, and
314 the new version of the file atomically replaces the old version.
316 * The following commands are no longer available. They will be
317 re-implemented in a later release:
319 - CLEAR TRANSFORMATIONS
325 * The PROCESS IF command, which was deprecated, has been removed.
326 You may replace any usage of it by SELECT IF following
327 TEMPORARY, which has the same effect.
329 * The output format for variables created by VECTOR may now be
330 specified as part of the VECTOR syntax.
332 "Scratch files", a new PSPP extension:
334 A scratch file, like a system file, consists of a dictionary and
335 any number of cases. Small scratch files are stored in memory;
336 one that grows too large is written to disk. By default, any file
337 handle whose name begins with # is assumed to refer to a scratch
340 Scratch files can be used just about anywhere a system or portable
341 file can be used. Also, portable files are now allowed in most
342 places that system files were allowed in previous PSPP version.
344 A new CLOSE FILE HANDLE command allows the storage associated with
345 scratch files to be freed. It also allows file handles to be
346 reassigned to new files.
348 For more information on scratch files, refer to the "File Handles"
349 section in the PSPP manual. For specifics of what commands now
350 allow what kinds of files to be specified, refer to the
351 documentation on those particular commands.
355 * Binary formats and IBM/360 formats, including ASCII/EBCDIC
356 translation, are now supported. Use FILE HANDLE to specify the
357 format of these files.
359 * Little-endian, big-endian, and VAX-endian formats are now
360 supported for integer binary formats when reading and writing
361 data files. The new RIB and WIB subcommands on the SET command
362 control endianness of integer data. The default is the host's
365 * IEEE 754, VAX, and IBM hexadecimal formats are now supported for
366 floating point binary formats when reading and writing data
367 files. The new RRB and WRB subcommands on the SET command
368 control the floating point format. The default is the host's
369 native floating point format.
371 * DATA LIST now supports the SKIP subcommand, to skip records at
372 the beginning of a file. For compatibility, DATA LIST now
373 treats N format as F format for FREE and LIST format input.
375 * The SAVE and XSAVE commands now support the UNSELECTED,
376 PERMISSIONS, NAMES, and MAP subcommands.
378 * The EXPORT command has been re-implemented to obtain better
379 results. Support for the UNSELECTED, DIGITS, and TYPE
380 subcommands has been added.
382 * For compatibility, PRINT now inserts a space at the beginning of
383 every output line, even lines that would otherwise be blank,
384 when OUTFILE is specified. (The behavior of WRITE is
387 * For compatibility, PRINT EJECT now inserts the digit `1' at the
388 beginning of each line that should begin a new page.
390 * For compatibility, WRITE now outputs the system-missing value as
391 a field filled with spaces. Binary formats are an exception.
392 (The behavior of PRINT is unchanged.)
396 * Input and output format descriptions have been rewritten. They
397 now precisely describe what is accepted on input and written on
400 * The descriptions of the PSPP system and portable file formats
401 have been extensively revised and improved.
403 For developers, the build system now requires Autoconf 2.60 and
406 Changes from 0.3.0 to 0.4.0:
408 Changes in build dependencies:
410 * The GNU Scientific Library (libgsl), version 1.6 or later, is
413 * libplot from GNU plotutils is optional. Without it, the new
414 graphing features will not work. If you do not have it
415 installed, you must run `configure' with --without-libplot.
417 * libgmp2 is no longer a dependency.
419 Newly implemented commands and statistical features:
421 * EXAMINE, including its graphing features.
423 * FREQUENCIES now supports percentiles.
431 * SORT CASES now sorts stably, that is, two cases with equal sort
432 criteria will be in the same relative order before and after the
435 * T-TEST (re-written).
437 * DATE and USE. These commands are parsed but otherwise ignored,
438 to enhance compatibility with certain command files that invoke
441 * VARIABLE WIDTH, VARIABLE ALIGNMENT, and VARIABLE LEVEL. These
442 currently have no effect on PSPP output, but their values are
443 written to and read from system files and thus may affect
444 third-party software.
446 * SET EPOCH implemented.
448 * DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST now support arbitrary field
451 * FILE HANDLE now supports custom tab widths.
453 Long variable names (and other identifiers) are now supported. Up
454 to the first 64 bytes of each identifier is significant. PSPP now
455 reads and writes system files compatible with SPSS version 12.
457 New --algorithm and --syntax command line options allow
458 SPSS-compatible or enhanced modes to be selected.
460 Support for transformation expressions has been rewritten and
461 significantly improved. Refer to the manual for details.
463 Calculation of moments (mean, standard deviation, kurtosis,
464 skewness) has been rewritten and should now be more accurate. In
465 --algorithm=enhanced mode moments may be more accurate than SPSS in
468 Numerous bugs have been fixed, too many to mention here. Many new
469 tests have been added, leading to the discovery and fixing of many
472 The ASCII output driver can now squeeze multiple blank lines into
475 Much of the code has been rewritten and refactored. It is now much
478 The FILE TYPE and REPEATING DATA commands have been disabled for
479 this release because their implementations were deemed too buggy to
480 be useful. They will be fixed and replaced in a future release.
482 New pspp-mode for Emacs (in pspp-mode.el).
484 Added rudimentary command-line completion for interactive input.
486 lib/julcal and lib/dcdflib are no longer used, so they have been
489 For developers, the build system now requires Autoconf 2.58 and
490 Automake 1.7. The included gettext has been updated to version
493 Some reports state that Texinfo 4.8, the latest version, may be
494 necessary to successfully format the documentation on some systems.
496 Version 0.3.0 changes since 0.2.3:
500 * Using alphanumeric variables in functions under AGGREGATE
503 * Under certain circumstances, the final case would be omitted
504 from the results of an AGGREGATE operation. Fixed.
506 * Undefined behavior was invoked by referencing a freed pointer
507 under certain circumstances. Fixed.
509 * A wrong record size was displayed when paging the active file to
512 * Not having enough temporary space for sorting caused a core
515 * Syntax errors in function descriptions on AGGREGATE caused core
518 * A null pointer was dereferenced, causing a core dump, when
519 PERCENTILES was specified on FREQUENCIES. This fixes the
520 problem, but PSPP still doesn't calculate percentiles.
522 * SORT always sorted in ascending order. Fixed.
524 * Some minor memory leaks in the expression parser were removed.
526 * Many assertions fixed for strict ANSI C compliance.
530 * SET ECHO ON now implemented, but turned off by default.
532 * PRINT specifier supported on END REPEAT.
536 * System libgmp2 library is used if installed instead of
537 unconditionally using the included libgmp2 subset.
539 * Extensive code cleanup, which continues.
541 * Added CORRELATIONS command parser, but not implemented.
543 Version 0.2.3 changes since 0.2.2:
547 * SPLIT FILE with a string variable caused a core dump. Fixed.
549 * Nested INCLUDEs didn't work. Fixed.
551 * The MATCH FILES procedure set the values of variables not present
552 to 0. It should have been SYSMIS. This is now fixed.
554 * The REMARK command was too aggressive about skipping lines. It
555 didn't like being the last command in a file.
557 * Comment parsing wasn't consistent with the rest of the code in its
558 idea of where one command ends and another starts. This meant
559 that sometimes commands would be mysteriously ignored. Thanks to
560 Dr. Dirk Melcher <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
562 * The TABLE subcommand on MATCH FILES worked only erratically at
563 best. This fixes it. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
564 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
566 * VARIABLE LABELS rejected a slash before the first variable
567 specification, contradicting the documentation. Thanks to Walter
568 M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for reporting this bug.
570 * Because of an incorrect optimization in memory allocation,
571 CROSSTABS sometimes segfaulted when asked to output multiple
572 tables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
575 * CROSSTABS didn't display value labels for column and row
576 variables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
579 * WRITE didn't write line ends. Fixed. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
580 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
582 * The TABLE subcommand on MATCH FILES worked only erratically at
583 best. This fixes it. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
584 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
586 * VARIABLE LABELS rejected a slash before the first variable
587 specification, contradicting the documentation. Thanks to Walter
588 M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for reporting this bug.
590 * Because of an incorrect optimization in memory allocation,
591 CROSSTABS sometimes segfaulted when asked to output multiple
592 tables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
595 * CROSSTABS didn't display value labels for column and row
596 variables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
599 * WRITE didn't write line ends. Fixed. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
600 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
602 * MATCH FILES corrupted memory and dumped core on some syntax
605 * MATCH FILES should set numeric values not available to the
606 system-missing value, not to 0. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
607 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
609 * KEEP didn't work properly on the SAVE procedure. Fixed. Thanks
610 to Ralf Geschke <ralf@kuerbis.org> for reporting this bug.
614 * Some systems didn't like the way open_file was coded. Thanks to
615 Hankin <hankin@rogue.consultco.com> for pointing this out.
617 * The SAVE procedure didn't save long string variables properly.
618 Fixed by this patch. Thanks to Hankin
619 <hankin@rogue.consultco.com> for this patch.
621 * Minor documentation fixes for MATCH FILES.
623 Version 0.2.2 changes since 0.2.1:
627 * Fix behavior of PRINT SPACE for negative arguments.
629 * Fix reading some unusual system files.
631 * Fix LIST problems with very long variables. Thanks to Hankin
632 <hankin@dunno.com> for this bug report.
634 * Fix problems with some string format specifiers.
636 * Fix use of $CASENUM in expressions. Thanks to Dirk Melcher
637 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
639 * Additional DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST fixes. Thanks to
640 Hankin <hankin@dunno.com> again on this one.
642 * Sometimes you may encounter a PSPP script that has to be
643 interpreted in interactive mode. Now you can use the -i flag to
646 * Warnings for egcs 1.1.1 cleaned up. (However you'll get lots of
647 `unused variable' warnings under gcc 2.7.2.3, fixing this will
652 * The files in gmp need the internationalization directory in
653 their include path. Thanks to OKUJI Yoshinori
654 <okuji@kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp> for pointing this out.
656 Version 0.2.1 changes since 0.2.0:
660 * Remember to include examples/ directory in distribution :-)
662 * Fixed gmp compile problems for some non-i386 architectures.
663 Thanks to Hans Olav Eggestad <olav@jordforsk.nlh.no> and others
666 * DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST parsing of input files is now
667 matches the documented behavior exactly, and error messages are
668 more helpful. Thanks to Mark H. Wood <mwood@IUPUI.Edu>.
670 Version 0.2.0 changes since 0.1.0:
672 Procedures now implemented:
673 * CROSSTABS. Please see documentation for caveats.
675 Transformations and utilities now implemented:
678 * CLEAR TRANSFORMATIONS
679 * DISPLAY (all subcommands).
690 Support for input and output through pipes: "|command" and
691 "command|" filenames; support for special filenames "-", "stdin",
694 New command-line features:
695 * New option --testing-mode: Invoke heuristics to assist testing.
696 * New option --safer, -s: Don't allow certain unsafe operations.
697 * New option --command=CMD, -c CMD: Perform literal command CMD.
698 * rc file ~/.pspp/rc is executed before any other files.
699 * Now multiple syntax files can be specified.
701 Operator LAG is now implemented.
703 Added missing FILE subcommand to REREAD.
705 Table output manager completely rewritten.
707 Device configuration file syntax changed. You will need to
708 reinstall your `devices' file.
710 New output driver for HTML.
712 PostScript driver and prologue simplified.
714 Many bugs fixed. General source-code cleanup.
716 Added Texinfo documentation for:
717 * PSPP system file format
718 * PSPP portable file format
719 * How to write input for q2c parser generator
722 PSPP language is now fully documented. Please report any
723 inaccuracies or omissions in the documentation.
725 Changes for version 0.1.0:
727 First public release. For changes from unreleased development
728 versions, please see ONEWS.
730 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
731 Copyright information:
733 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim
734 copies of this document as received, in any medium, provided that
735 the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved, thus
736 giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
738 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions of this
739 document, or of portions of it, under the above conditions,
740 provided also that they carry prominent notices stating who last
744 version-control: never