1 PSPP NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2 Time-stamp: <2009-12-05 20:39:07 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 0.7.2 to 0.7.3:
10 * Charts are now produced with Cairo and Pango, instead of libplot.
11 Without them, the new graphing features will not work. If you do
12 not have Cairo and Pango installed, you must run `configure' with
15 * The PostScript driver has been removed.
17 Changes from 0.7.1 to 0.7.2:
19 * Updated Perl module interface.
21 * Value labels for long string variables are now supported.
23 * Missing values for long string variables are now supported.
25 Changes from 0.7.0 to 0.7.1:
27 * Added a perl module to facilitate reading and writing of pspp system
28 files from perl programs.
30 Changes from 0.6.2-pre6 to 0.7.0:
32 * Custom variable and data file attributes are now supported.
33 Commands VARIABLE ATTRIBUTE and DATAFILE ATTRIBUTE have been added
34 for setting and clear attributes. Support for attributes has also
35 been added to commands that read and write system files, such as
36 SAVE and GET, as well as to the DISPLAY command.
38 * Numererous improvements to the Graphical User Interface have
39 made. Notable improvements include:
41 - Non-Ascii characters in strings, labels and variable names are
44 - A "Split Window" function is available, which makes it easier to
45 see different parts of a large data file.
47 - Data files can now be opened by specifing their name as the first
48 argument. This means that on a properly configured desktop, double
49 clicking on an icon will open the file.
52 * New statistical procedures:
57 NPAR TESTS now supports the WILCOXON and SIGN subcommands.
59 The CROSSTABS command has been completely re-implemented to fix numerous bugs.
61 * Three new commands to combine data files have been added: MATCH FILES,
64 * A tutorial chapter has been added to the user manual.
66 Changes from 0.6.1 to 0.6.2
70 - Dutch, thanks to Harry Thijssen.
72 - Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to Michel Boaventura.
74 Thanks for translations are also due to the coordinators at
75 translationproject.org.
77 * Statistical bug fixes:
79 - REGRESSION: Report correct standard error of the estimate (bug
82 - T-TEST: Report correct significance of paired sample T-test in
83 the common case (bug #26936) and corner cases. Thanks to Mike
84 Griffiths and Matej Cepl for reporting these bugs.
86 * Build fixes and changes:
88 - Fix build with GTK+ 2.17.4 and later.
90 - Make running "make" after running "configure" with different
91 settings reliably rebuild version.c.
93 - Cygwin and MinGW build fixes.
95 - Fixes for building with recent gnulib.
97 - The Makefile now honors two new variables, PSPP_LDFLAGS and
98 PSPPIRE_LDFLAGS, that affect linking of the PSPP and PSPPIRE
99 binaries, respectively. This makes building easier for some
102 - Fixes for "configure --enable-relocatable" (bug #25508).
104 * Data file bug fixes and changes:
106 - Fix reading text data files that contain a mix of white space
107 and commas. Now "a ,b" is treated as two fields containing "a"
108 and "b"; previously it was treated as three, with an empty field
111 - Fix writing corrupted .sav files on Windows.
113 - Fix writing variable labels longer than 252 bytes to save files.
114 Thanks to Robert Westlund for reporting this bug.
116 - Fix writing corrupted .por files (bug #26034).
118 - Fix reading .por files whose initial lines are not padded out
119 with spaces as expected.
121 - PSPP will no longer issue warnings about some .sav file records
122 or values that it does not understand. These warnings were
123 harmless, but needlessly alarmed some users.
125 - Fix crash reading empty string fields from PostgreSQL databases.
127 * Bug fixes that affect PSPP and PSPPIRE:
129 - Users may now control precision of output statistics. Instead
130 of hard coding the width and decimals of output numbers, respect
131 the default format in most instances. Counts are now normally
132 displayed with the format of the weight variable, if any.
134 - Fix crash when an INSERT command specifies the name of a file
135 that does not exist (bug #24569).
137 - Fix crash when CROSSTABS specifies a long-string variable (bugs
140 - Fix crash drawing pie charts with many segments.
142 - Fix crash when NUMERIC specifies an invalid format.
144 * PSPPIRE bug fixes and changes:
146 - On Windows, write the output file to the user's home directory
147 instead of the current directory, to better match user
150 - Some data editor fixes.
154 - Fix typo in BINOMIAL section of user manual (bug #25892).
156 Changes from 0.6.0 to 0.6.1:
158 * Statistical bug fixes:
160 - Report correct standardized regression coefficients in linear
161 regression output (bug #23567).
163 * Bug fixes that affect PSPP and PSPPIRE:
165 - Avoid crash with pie charts (bug #24014).
167 - Don't append % to count totals (bug #24003).
169 - Don't crash on bad input (bug #24031).
171 - Don't crash if "end data." is not left aligned (bug #24115).
173 - Change default workspace value to 64 MB, to avoid unnecessary
174 disk accesses on modern machines.
178 - Add ".sav" or ".por" suffix to filename when saving with Save_As
181 - Make it possible to reopen the output window on Windows (bug
184 - A POSIX regular expression library is now included and used
185 automatically if the host does not have one or has one that is
188 * Build fixes and changes:
190 - Work around bug in GSL that prevented build with recent GCC
191 versions without manually adding -fgnu89-inline to CFLAGS.
193 - Also warn about missing prerequisites as we encounter them (bug
196 - Distribute necessary files to allow users working from the
197 distributed tarball to configure with --enable-gui-tools.
199 - Append $(EXEEXT_FOR_BUILD) to output file name when building
200 q2c, fixing build problems on Windows.
202 - GSL 1.8 or later is now required.
204 - Build errors with --enable-relocatable were fixed.
206 * The German translations were removed, since native German speakers
207 found them too poor to be useful.
209 Changes from 0.4.0 to 0.6.0:
211 * The PSPP license is now version 3 or later of the GNU General
212 Public License. Previously, it was version 2 or later.
214 * PSPP now has a graphical interface, called PSPPIRE. This
215 interface allows you to enter data and variable definitions
216 interactively. Commands may be executed in syntax form, or by
217 using the interactive dialog boxes available from the dropdown
220 * A few sample syntax files are now included in the `examples'
223 * Numerous major and minor bugs have been fixed.
227 * The INSTALL file now reflects the details of how to install
228 PSPP. It is a tailored version of the generic installation
229 instructions, instead of a verbatim copy.
231 * iconv, which is ordinarily installed as part of a Unix-like
232 system, is now required. If you don't have it already, you can
233 install GNU libiconv (http://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/).
235 * libxml2 and zlib are new optional dependencies. They are
236 required to use PSPP's support for reading Gnumeric files.
238 Statistical procedure changes:
240 * REGRESSION is a new procedure for fitting linear models to data
241 via least-squares estimation.
243 * NPAR TESTS is a new procedure for non-parametric tests. In this
244 release, it supports binomial and chi-square tests.
246 * RANK is a new procedure to rank variables. It supports numerous
249 * FREQUENCIES can now output histograms and pie charts. These
250 features were present in earlier releases, but not documented.
252 User interface changes:
254 * In many situations where PSPP once terminated with a fatal
255 error, PSPP now recovers and continues execution.
257 * PSPP is now able to start up and run even if it cannot find its
260 * Journaling of interactive commands to a disk file is now
261 implemented. By default, journaling is enabled, to a file named
262 `pspp.jnl' in the current directory. SET JOURNAL may be used to
265 * The use of `+' between syntax file names on the command line to
266 prevent the dictionary from being cleared between their
267 executions is no longer supported. All syntax files are now
268 executed as if `+' had been specified.
270 * The -d/--define and -u/--undef command line options are no
271 longer supported. Instead, use /usr/bin/env or shell primitives
272 to define or clear environment variables before invoking PSPP.
274 * If a syntax file named named `rc' is found in a configuration
275 directory (such as $HOME/.pspp), it is executed before any
276 syntax file specified on the command line. The -r or
277 --no-statrc command line option may be used to disable this
282 * Output configuration options have changed. Please refer to the
283 manual for a full description of the available options.
285 In consequence, you will need to reinstall your "devices" file.
286 "make install" will do this for you.
288 * Most error messages are now written to PSPP output files by
289 default. SET ERROR can be used to disable this behavior.
291 * When invoked interactively, PSPP now by default produces output
292 on the terminal, piping it through the "more" program.
293 Previously, by default output was written only to file
294 pspp.list. On most terminals, the page length used for output
295 automatically adapts to the terminal size, even if the terminal
300 - This driver now supports charts in output. Charts are written
301 as separate files that the main output file refers to. By
302 default, charts are written in PNG format to files named
303 pspp-1.png, pspp-2.png, and so on.
305 - Configurations are provided that use VT100 (and xterm)
306 line-drawing characters in tables. The option "-o list-vt100"
307 requests use of this device for output to pspp.list.
311 - The default paper size is now determined using the PAPERSIZE
312 environment variable, or the LC_PAPER locale category on
313 systems that support it. If these are not set, the default is
314 now A4, instead of US letter. To make US letter the default,
315 set PAPERSIZE to "letter" in your environment.
317 - Font metrics are now read from AFM files, instead of
318 Groff-format metrics files. PostScript fonts can now be
321 In consequence, you will need to install an AFM file for each
322 font used in PostScript output. "make install" will install
323 AFM files for the standard PostScript fonts, including the
324 ones that the PostScript driver uses by default.
326 - Standard paper sizes no longer need to be specified through a
327 configuration file. The "papersize" configuration file is no
328 longer needed, or supported.
330 - The PostScript prologue is no longer obtained from the
331 "ps-prologue" configuration file. This configuration file is
332 no longer needed, or supported.
336 - The HTML prologue is no longer obtained from the
337 "html-prologue" configuration file. This configuration file
338 is no longer needed, or supported.
340 Command language changes:
342 * The following commands are new:
344 - GET DATA, which currently supports reading Gnumeric files and
345 text data files. It will be extended later to read other
346 types of foreign data.
348 - CD, to change the current directory.
350 - INSERT, to execute a syntax file.
352 - DELETE VARIABLES, to remove variables from the active file
355 - ADD DOCUMENT, to add text to active file documents.
357 - CLOSE FILE HANDLE (a PSPP extension; see below).
359 - XEXPORT, a PSPP extension that is a transformation equivalent
362 * The following functions for transformation expressions are new:
364 - DATEDIFF, for computing the difference of two dates.
366 - DATESUM, for advancing a date by a specified duration.
368 - VALUELABEL, to obtain the value label for a value.
370 * PSPP now supports very long string variables (over 255 bytes
373 * MATCH FILES now supports the FIRST and LAST subcommands.
375 * Previous versions of PSPP prohibited using commands to both read and
376 write a single file at the same time. Now, PSPP allows this, and
377 the new version of the file atomically replaces the old version.
379 * The following commands are no longer available. They will be
380 re-implemented in a later release:
382 - CLEAR TRANSFORMATIONS
388 * The PROCESS IF command, which was deprecated, has been removed.
389 You may replace any usage of it by SELECT IF following
390 TEMPORARY, which has the same effect.
392 * The output format for variables created by VECTOR may now be
393 specified as part of the VECTOR syntax.
395 "Scratch files", a new PSPP extension:
397 A scratch file, like a system file, consists of a dictionary and
398 any number of cases. Small scratch files are stored in memory;
399 one that grows too large is written to disk. By default, any file
400 handle whose name begins with # is assumed to refer to a scratch
403 Scratch files can be used just about anywhere a system or portable
404 file can be used. Also, portable files are now allowed in most
405 places that system files were allowed in previous PSPP version.
407 A new CLOSE FILE HANDLE command allows the storage associated with
408 scratch files to be freed. It also allows file handles to be
409 reassigned to new files.
411 For more information on scratch files, refer to the "File Handles"
412 section in the PSPP manual. For specifics of what commands now
413 allow what kinds of files to be specified, refer to the
414 documentation on those particular commands.
418 * Binary formats and IBM/360 formats, including ASCII/EBCDIC
419 translation, are now supported. Use FILE HANDLE to specify the
420 format of these files.
422 * Little-endian, big-endian, and VAX-endian formats are now
423 supported for integer binary formats when reading and writing
424 data files. The new RIB and WIB subcommands on the SET command
425 control endianness of integer data. The default is the host's
428 * IEEE 754, VAX, and IBM hexadecimal formats are now supported for
429 floating point binary formats when reading and writing data
430 files. The new RRB and WRB subcommands on the SET command
431 control the floating point format. The default is the host's
432 native floating point format.
434 * DATA LIST now supports the SKIP subcommand, to skip records at
435 the beginning of a file. For compatibility, DATA LIST now
436 treats N format as F format for FREE and LIST format input.
438 * The SAVE and XSAVE commands now support the UNSELECTED,
439 PERMISSIONS, NAMES, and MAP subcommands.
441 * The EXPORT command has been re-implemented to obtain better
442 results. Support for the UNSELECTED, DIGITS, and TYPE
443 subcommands has been added.
445 * For compatibility, PRINT now inserts a space at the beginning of
446 every output line, even lines that would otherwise be blank,
447 when OUTFILE is specified. (The behavior of WRITE is
450 * For compatibility, PRINT EJECT now inserts the digit `1' at the
451 beginning of each line that should begin a new page.
453 * For compatibility, WRITE now outputs the system-missing value as
454 a field filled with spaces. Binary formats are an exception.
455 (The behavior of PRINT is unchanged.)
459 * Input and output format descriptions have been rewritten. They
460 now precisely describe what is accepted on input and written on
463 * The descriptions of the PSPP system and portable file formats
464 have been extensively revised and improved.
466 For developers, the build system now requires Autoconf 2.60 and
469 Changes from 0.3.0 to 0.4.0:
471 Changes in build dependencies:
473 * The GNU Scientific Library (libgsl), version 1.6 or later, is
476 * libplot from GNU plotutils is optional. Without it, the new
477 graphing features will not work. If you do not have it
478 installed, you must run `configure' with --without-libplot.
480 * libgmp2 is no longer a dependency.
482 Newly implemented commands and statistical features:
484 * EXAMINE, including its graphing features.
486 * FREQUENCIES now supports percentiles.
494 * SORT CASES now sorts stably, that is, two cases with equal sort
495 criteria will be in the same relative order before and after the
498 * T-TEST (re-written).
500 * DATE and USE. These commands are parsed but otherwise ignored,
501 to enhance compatibility with certain command files that invoke
504 * VARIABLE WIDTH, VARIABLE ALIGNMENT, and VARIABLE LEVEL. These
505 currently have no effect on PSPP output, but their values are
506 written to and read from system files and thus may affect
507 third-party software.
509 * SET EPOCH implemented.
511 * DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST now support arbitrary field
514 * FILE HANDLE now supports custom tab widths.
516 Long variable names (and other identifiers) are now supported. Up
517 to the first 64 bytes of each identifier is significant. PSPP now
518 reads and writes system files compatible with SPSS version 12.
520 New --algorithm and --syntax command line options allow
521 SPSS-compatible or enhanced modes to be selected.
523 Support for transformation expressions has been rewritten and
524 significantly improved. Refer to the manual for details.
526 Calculation of moments (mean, standard deviation, kurtosis,
527 skewness) has been rewritten and should now be more accurate. In
528 --algorithm=enhanced mode moments may be more accurate than SPSS in
531 Numerous bugs have been fixed, too many to mention here. Many new
532 tests have been added, leading to the discovery and fixing of many
535 The ASCII output driver can now squeeze multiple blank lines into
538 Much of the code has been rewritten and refactored. It is now much
541 The FILE TYPE and REPEATING DATA commands have been disabled for
542 this release because their implementations were deemed too buggy to
543 be useful. They will be fixed and replaced in a future release.
545 New pspp-mode for Emacs (in pspp-mode.el).
547 Added rudimentary command-line completion for interactive input.
549 lib/julcal and lib/dcdflib are no longer used, so they have been
552 For developers, the build system now requires Autoconf 2.58 and
553 Automake 1.7. The included gettext has been updated to version
556 Some reports state that Texinfo 4.8, the latest version, may be
557 necessary to successfully format the documentation on some systems.
559 Version 0.3.0 changes since 0.2.3:
563 * Using alphanumeric variables in functions under AGGREGATE
566 * Under certain circumstances, the final case would be omitted
567 from the results of an AGGREGATE operation. Fixed.
569 * Undefined behavior was invoked by referencing a freed pointer
570 under certain circumstances. Fixed.
572 * A wrong record size was displayed when paging the active file to
575 * Not having enough temporary space for sorting caused a core
578 * Syntax errors in function descriptions on AGGREGATE caused core
581 * A null pointer was dereferenced, causing a core dump, when
582 PERCENTILES was specified on FREQUENCIES. This fixes the
583 problem, but PSPP still doesn't calculate percentiles.
585 * SORT always sorted in ascending order. Fixed.
587 * Some minor memory leaks in the expression parser were removed.
589 * Many assertions fixed for strict ANSI C compliance.
593 * SET ECHO ON now implemented, but turned off by default.
595 * PRINT specifier supported on END REPEAT.
599 * System libgmp2 library is used if installed instead of
600 unconditionally using the included libgmp2 subset.
602 * Extensive code cleanup, which continues.
604 * Added CORRELATIONS command parser, but not implemented.
606 Version 0.2.3 changes since 0.2.2:
610 * SPLIT FILE with a string variable caused a core dump. Fixed.
612 * Nested INCLUDEs didn't work. Fixed.
614 * The MATCH FILES procedure set the values of variables not present
615 to 0. It should have been SYSMIS. This is now fixed.
617 * The REMARK command was too aggressive about skipping lines. It
618 didn't like being the last command in a file.
620 * Comment parsing wasn't consistent with the rest of the code in its
621 idea of where one command ends and another starts. This meant
622 that sometimes commands would be mysteriously ignored. Thanks to
623 Dr. Dirk Melcher <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
625 * The TABLE subcommand on MATCH FILES worked only erratically at
626 best. This fixes it. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
627 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
629 * VARIABLE LABELS rejected a slash before the first variable
630 specification, contradicting the documentation. Thanks to Walter
631 M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for reporting this bug.
633 * Because of an incorrect optimization in memory allocation,
634 CROSSTABS sometimes segfaulted when asked to output multiple
635 tables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
638 * CROSSTABS didn't display value labels for column and row
639 variables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
642 * WRITE didn't write line ends. Fixed. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
643 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
645 * The TABLE subcommand on MATCH FILES worked only erratically at
646 best. This fixes it. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
647 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
649 * VARIABLE LABELS rejected a slash before the first variable
650 specification, contradicting the documentation. Thanks to Walter
651 M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for reporting this bug.
653 * Because of an incorrect optimization in memory allocation,
654 CROSSTABS sometimes segfaulted when asked to output multiple
655 tables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
658 * CROSSTABS didn't display value labels for column and row
659 variables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
662 * WRITE didn't write line ends. Fixed. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
663 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
665 * MATCH FILES corrupted memory and dumped core on some syntax
668 * MATCH FILES should set numeric values not available to the
669 system-missing value, not to 0. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
670 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
672 * KEEP didn't work properly on the SAVE procedure. Fixed. Thanks
673 to Ralf Geschke <ralf@kuerbis.org> for reporting this bug.
677 * Some systems didn't like the way open_file was coded. Thanks to
678 Hankin <hankin@rogue.consultco.com> for pointing this out.
680 * The SAVE procedure didn't save long string variables properly.
681 Fixed by this patch. Thanks to Hankin
682 <hankin@rogue.consultco.com> for this patch.
684 * Minor documentation fixes for MATCH FILES.
686 Version 0.2.2 changes since 0.2.1:
690 * Fix behavior of PRINT SPACE for negative arguments.
692 * Fix reading some unusual system files.
694 * Fix LIST problems with very long variables. Thanks to Hankin
695 <hankin@dunno.com> for this bug report.
697 * Fix problems with some string format specifiers.
699 * Fix use of $CASENUM in expressions. Thanks to Dirk Melcher
700 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
702 * Additional DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST fixes. Thanks to
703 Hankin <hankin@dunno.com> again on this one.
705 * Sometimes you may encounter a PSPP script that has to be
706 interpreted in interactive mode. Now you can use the -i flag to
709 * Warnings for egcs 1.1.1 cleaned up. (However you'll get lots of
710 `unused variable' warnings under gcc 2.7.2.3, fixing this will
715 * The files in gmp need the internationalization directory in
716 their include path. Thanks to OKUJI Yoshinori
717 <okuji@kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp> for pointing this out.
719 Version 0.2.1 changes since 0.2.0:
723 * Remember to include examples/ directory in distribution :-)
725 * Fixed gmp compile problems for some non-i386 architectures.
726 Thanks to Hans Olav Eggestad <olav@jordforsk.nlh.no> and others
729 * DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST parsing of input files is now
730 matches the documented behavior exactly, and error messages are
731 more helpful. Thanks to Mark H. Wood <mwood@IUPUI.Edu>.
733 Version 0.2.0 changes since 0.1.0:
735 Procedures now implemented:
736 * CROSSTABS. Please see documentation for caveats.
738 Transformations and utilities now implemented:
741 * CLEAR TRANSFORMATIONS
742 * DISPLAY (all subcommands).
753 Support for input and output through pipes: "|command" and
754 "command|" filenames; support for special filenames "-", "stdin",
757 New command-line features:
758 * New option --testing-mode: Invoke heuristics to assist testing.
759 * New option --safer, -s: Don't allow certain unsafe operations.
760 * New option --command=CMD, -c CMD: Perform literal command CMD.
761 * rc file ~/.pspp/rc is executed before any other files.
762 * Now multiple syntax files can be specified.
764 Operator LAG is now implemented.
766 Added missing FILE subcommand to REREAD.
768 Table output manager completely rewritten.
770 Device configuration file syntax changed. You will need to
771 reinstall your `devices' file.
773 New output driver for HTML.
775 PostScript driver and prologue simplified.
777 Many bugs fixed. General source-code cleanup.
779 Added Texinfo documentation for:
780 * PSPP system file format
781 * PSPP portable file format
782 * How to write input for q2c parser generator
785 PSPP language is now fully documented. Please report any
786 inaccuracies or omissions in the documentation.
788 Changes for version 0.1.0:
790 First public release. For changes from unreleased development
791 versions, please see ONEWS.
793 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
794 Copyright information:
796 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim
797 copies of this document as received, in any medium, provided that
798 the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved, thus
799 giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
801 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions of this
802 document, or of portions of it, under the above conditions,
803 provided also that they carry prominent notices stating who last
807 version-control: never