1 PSPP NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2 Time-stamp: <2008-10-09 21:32:07 blp>
3 Copyright (C) 1996-9, 2000, 2008 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 0.6.0 to 0.6.1:
10 * Statistical bug fixes:
12 - Report correct standardized regression coefficients in linear
13 regression output (bug #23567).
15 * Bug fixes that affect PSPP and PSPPIRE:
17 - Avoid crash with pie charts (bug #24014).
19 - Don't append % to count totals (bug #24003).
21 - Don't crash on bad input (bug #24031).
23 - Don't crash if "end data." is not left aligned (bug #24115).
25 - Change default workspace value to 64 MB, to avoid unnecessary
26 disk accesses on modern machines.
30 - Add ".sav" or ".por" suffix to filename when saving with Save_As
33 - Make it possible to reopen the output window on Windows (bug
36 - A POSIX regular expression library is now included and used
37 automatically if the host does not have one or has one that is
40 * Build fixes and changes:
42 - Work around bug in GSL that prevented build with recent GCC
43 versions without manually adding -fgnu89-inline to CFLAGS.
45 - Also warn about missing prerequisites as we encounter them (bug
48 - Distribute necessary files to allow users working from the
49 distributed tarball to configure with --enable-gui-tools.
51 - Append $(EXEEXT_FOR_BUILD) to output file name when building
52 q2c, fixing build problems on Windows.
54 - GSL 1.8 or later is now required.
56 - Build errors with --enable-relocatable were fixed.
58 * The German translations were removed, since native German speakers
59 found them too poor to be useful.
61 Changes from 0.4.0 to 0.6.0:
63 * The PSPP license is now version 3 or later of the GNU General
64 Public License. Previously, it was version 2 or later.
66 * PSPP now has a graphical interface, called PSPPIRE. This
67 interface allows you to enter data and variable definitions
68 interactively. Commands may be executed in syntax form, or by
69 using the interactive dialog boxes available from the dropdown
72 * A few sample syntax files are now included in the `examples'
75 * Numerous major and minor bugs have been fixed.
79 * The INSTALL file now reflects the details of how to install
80 PSPP. It is a tailored version of the generic installation
81 instructions, instead of a verbatim copy.
83 * iconv, which is ordinarily installed as part of a Unix-like
84 system, is now required. If you don't have it already, you can
85 install GNU libiconv (http://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/).
87 * libxml2 and zlib are new optional dependencies. They are
88 required to use PSPP's support for reading Gnumeric files.
90 Statistical procedure changes:
92 * REGRESSION is a new procedure for fitting linear models to data
93 via least-squares estimation.
95 * NPAR TESTS is a new procedure for non-parametric tests. In this
96 release, it supports binomial and chi-square tests.
98 * RANK is a new procedure to rank variables. It supports numerous
101 * FREQUENCIES can now output histograms and pie charts. These
102 features were present in earlier releases, but not documented.
104 User interface changes:
106 * In many situations where PSPP once terminated with a fatal
107 error, PSPP now recovers and continues execution.
109 * PSPP is now able to start up and run even if it cannot find its
112 * Journaling of interactive commands to a disk file is now
113 implemented. By default, journaling is enabled, to a file named
114 `pspp.jnl' in the current directory. SET JOURNAL may be used to
117 * The use of `+' between syntax file names on the command line to
118 prevent the dictionary from being cleared between their
119 executions is no longer supported. All syntax files are now
120 executed as if `+' had been specified.
122 * The -d/--define and -u/--undef command line options are no
123 longer supported. Instead, use /usr/bin/env or shell primitives
124 to define or clear environment variables before invoking PSPP.
126 * If a syntax file named named `rc' is found in a configuration
127 directory (such as $HOME/.pspp), it is executed before any
128 syntax file specified on the command line. The -r or
129 --no-statrc command line option may be used to disable this
134 * Output configuration options have changed. Please refer to the
135 manual for a full description of the available options.
137 In consequence, you will need to reinstall your "devices" file.
138 "make install" will do this for you.
140 * Most error messages are now written to PSPP output files by
141 default. SET ERROR can be used to disable this behavior.
143 * When invoked interactively, PSPP now by default produces output
144 on the terminal, piping it through the "more" program.
145 Previously, by default output was written only to file
146 pspp.list. On most terminals, the page length used for output
147 automatically adapts to the terminal size, even if the terminal
152 - This driver now supports charts in output. Charts are written
153 as separate files that the main output file refers to. By
154 default, charts are written in PNG format to files named
155 pspp-1.png, pspp-2.png, and so on.
157 - Configurations are provided that use VT100 (and xterm)
158 line-drawing characters in tables. The option "-o list-vt100"
159 requests use of this device for output to pspp.list.
163 - The default paper size is now determined using the PAPERSIZE
164 environment variable, or the LC_PAPER locale category on
165 systems that support it. If these are not set, the default is
166 now A4, instead of US letter. To make US letter the default,
167 set PAPERSIZE to "letter" in your environment.
169 - Font metrics are now read from AFM files, instead of
170 Groff-format metrics files. PostScript fonts can now be
173 In consequence, you will need to install an AFM file for each
174 font used in PostScript output. "make install" will install
175 AFM files for the standard PostScript fonts, including the
176 ones that the PostScript driver uses by default.
178 - Standard paper sizes no longer need to be specified through a
179 configuration file. The "papersize" configuration file is no
180 longer needed, or supported.
182 - The PostScript prologue is no longer obtained from the
183 "ps-prologue" configuration file. This configuration file is
184 no longer needed, or supported.
188 - The HTML prologue is no longer obtained from the
189 "html-prologue" configuration file. This configuration file
190 is no longer needed, or supported.
192 Command language changes:
194 * The following commands are new:
196 - GET DATA, which currently supports reading Gnumeric files and
197 text data files. It will be extended later to read other
198 types of foreign data.
200 - CD, to change the current directory.
202 - INSERT, to execute a syntax file.
204 - DELETE VARIABLES, to remove variables from the active file
207 - ADD DOCUMENT, to add text to active file documents.
209 - CLOSE FILE HANDLE (a PSPP extension; see below).
211 - XEXPORT, a PSPP extension that is a transformation equivalent
214 * The following functions for transformation expressions are new:
216 - DATEDIFF, for computing the difference of two dates.
218 - DATESUM, for advancing a date by a specified duration.
220 - VALUELABEL, to obtain the value label for a value.
222 * PSPP now supports very long string variables (over 255 bytes
225 * MATCH FILES now supports the FIRST and LAST subcommands.
227 * Previous versions of PSPP prohibited using commands to both read and
228 write a single file at the same time. Now, PSPP allows this, and
229 the new version of the file atomically replaces the old version.
231 * The following commands are no longer available. They will be
232 re-implemented in a later release:
234 - CLEAR TRANSFORMATIONS
240 * The PROCESS IF command, which was deprecated, has been removed.
241 You may replace any usage of it by SELECT IF following
242 TEMPORARY, which has the same effect.
244 * The output format for variables created by VECTOR may now be
245 specified as part of the VECTOR syntax.
247 "Scratch files", a new PSPP extension:
249 A scratch file, like a system file, consists of a dictionary and
250 any number of cases. Small scratch files are stored in memory;
251 one that grows too large is written to disk. By default, any file
252 handle whose name begins with # is assumed to refer to a scratch
255 Scratch files can be used just about anywhere a system or portable
256 file can be used. Also, portable files are now allowed in most
257 places that system files were allowed in previous PSPP version.
259 A new CLOSE FILE HANDLE command allows the storage associated with
260 scratch files to be freed. It also allows file handles to be
261 reassigned to new files.
263 For more information on scratch files, refer to the "File Handles"
264 section in the PSPP manual. For specifics of what commands now
265 allow what kinds of files to be specified, refer to the
266 documentation on those particular commands.
270 * Binary formats and IBM/360 formats, including ASCII/EBCDIC
271 translation, are now supported. Use FILE HANDLE to specify the
272 format of these files.
274 * Little-endian, big-endian, and VAX-endian formats are now
275 supported for integer binary formats when reading and writing
276 data files. The new RIB and WIB subcommands on the SET command
277 control endianness of integer data. The default is the host's
280 * IEEE 754, VAX, and IBM hexadecimal formats are now supported for
281 floating point binary formats when reading and writing data
282 files. The new RRB and WRB subcommands on the SET command
283 control the floating point format. The default is the host's
284 native floating point format.
286 * DATA LIST now supports the SKIP subcommand, to skip records at
287 the beginning of a file. For compatibility, DATA LIST now
288 treats N format as F format for FREE and LIST format input.
290 * The SAVE and XSAVE commands now support the UNSELECTED,
291 PERMISSIONS, NAMES, and MAP subcommands.
293 * The EXPORT command has been re-implemented to obtain better
294 results. Support for the UNSELECTED, DIGITS, and TYPE
295 subcommands has been added.
297 * For compatibility, PRINT now inserts a space at the beginning of
298 every output line, even lines that would otherwise be blank,
299 when OUTFILE is specified. (The behavior of WRITE is
302 * For compatibility, PRINT EJECT now inserts the digit `1' at the
303 beginning of each line that should begin a new page.
305 * For compatibility, WRITE now outputs the system-missing value as
306 a field filled with spaces. Binary formats are an exception.
307 (The behavior of PRINT is unchanged.)
311 * Input and output format descriptions have been rewritten. They
312 now precisely describe what is accepted on input and written on
315 * The descriptions of the PSPP system and portable file formats
316 have been extensively revised and improved.
318 For developers, the build system now requires Autoconf 2.60 and
321 Changes from 0.3.0 to 0.4.0:
323 Changes in build dependencies:
325 * The GNU Scientific Library (libgsl), version 1.6 or later, is
328 * libplot from GNU plotutils is optional. Without it, the new
329 graphing features will not work. If you do not have it
330 installed, you must run `configure' with --without-libplot.
332 * libgmp2 is no longer a dependency.
334 Newly implemented commands and statistical features:
336 * EXAMINE, including its graphing features.
338 * FREQUENCIES now supports percentiles.
346 * SORT CASES now sorts stably, that is, two cases with equal sort
347 criteria will be in the same relative order before and after the
350 * T-TEST (re-written).
352 * DATE and USE. These commands are parsed but otherwise ignored,
353 to enhance compatibility with certain command files that invoke
356 * VARIABLE WIDTH, VARIABLE ALIGNMENT, and VARIABLE LEVEL. These
357 currently have no effect on PSPP output, but their values are
358 written to and read from system files and thus may affect
359 third-party software.
361 * SET EPOCH implemented.
363 * DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST now support arbitrary field
366 * FILE HANDLE now supports custom tab widths.
368 Long variable names (and other identifiers) are now supported. Up
369 to the first 64 bytes of each identifier is significant. PSPP now
370 reads and writes system files compatible with SPSS version 12.
372 New --algorithm and --syntax command line options allow
373 SPSS-compatible or enhanced modes to be selected.
375 Support for transformation expressions has been rewritten and
376 significantly improved. Refer to the manual for details.
378 Calculation of moments (mean, standard deviation, kurtosis,
379 skewness) has been rewritten and should now be more accurate. In
380 --algorithm=enhanced mode moments may be more accurate than SPSS in
383 Numerous bugs have been fixed, too many to mention here. Many new
384 tests have been added, leading to the discovery and fixing of many
387 The ASCII output driver can now squeeze multiple blank lines into
390 Much of the code has been rewritten and refactored. It is now much
393 The FILE TYPE and REPEATING DATA commands have been disabled for
394 this release because their implementations were deemed too buggy to
395 be useful. They will be fixed and replaced in a future release.
397 New pspp-mode for Emacs (in pspp-mode.el).
399 Added rudimentary command-line completion for interactive input.
401 lib/julcal and lib/dcdflib are no longer used, so they have been
404 For developers, the build system now requires Autoconf 2.58 and
405 Automake 1.7. The included gettext has been updated to version
408 Some reports state that Texinfo 4.8, the latest version, may be
409 necessary to successfully format the documentation on some systems.
411 Version 0.3.0 changes since 0.2.3:
415 * Using alphanumeric variables in functions under AGGREGATE
418 * Under certain circumstances, the final case would be omitted
419 from the results of an AGGREGATE operation. Fixed.
421 * Undefined behavior was invoked by referencing a freed pointer
422 under certain circumstances. Fixed.
424 * A wrong record size was displayed when paging the active file to
427 * Not having enough temporary space for sorting caused a core
430 * Syntax errors in function descriptions on AGGREGATE caused core
433 * A null pointer was dereferenced, causing a core dump, when
434 PERCENTILES was specified on FREQUENCIES. This fixes the
435 problem, but PSPP still doesn't calculate percentiles.
437 * SORT always sorted in ascending order. Fixed.
439 * Some minor memory leaks in the expression parser were removed.
441 * Many assertions fixed for strict ANSI C compliance.
445 * SET ECHO ON now implemented, but turned off by default.
447 * PRINT specifier supported on END REPEAT.
451 * System libgmp2 library is used if installed instead of
452 unconditionally using the included libgmp2 subset.
454 * Extensive code cleanup, which continues.
456 * Added CORRELATIONS command parser, but not implemented.
458 Version 0.2.3 changes since 0.2.2:
462 * SPLIT FILE with a string variable caused a core dump. Fixed.
464 * Nested INCLUDEs didn't work. Fixed.
466 * The MATCH FILES procedure set the values of variables not present
467 to 0. It should have been SYSMIS. This is now fixed.
469 * The REMARK command was too aggressive about skipping lines. It
470 didn't like being the last command in a file.
472 * Comment parsing wasn't consistent with the rest of the code in its
473 idea of where one command ends and another starts. This meant
474 that sometimes commands would be mysteriously ignored. Thanks to
475 Dr. Dirk Melcher <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
477 * The TABLE subcommand on MATCH FILES worked only erratically at
478 best. This fixes it. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
479 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
481 * VARIABLE LABELS rejected a slash before the first variable
482 specification, contradicting the documentation. Thanks to Walter
483 M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for reporting this bug.
485 * Because of an incorrect optimization in memory allocation,
486 CROSSTABS sometimes segfaulted when asked to output multiple
487 tables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
490 * CROSSTABS didn't display value labels for column and row
491 variables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
494 * WRITE didn't write line ends. Fixed. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
495 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
497 * The TABLE subcommand on MATCH FILES worked only erratically at
498 best. This fixes it. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
499 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
501 * VARIABLE LABELS rejected a slash before the first variable
502 specification, contradicting the documentation. Thanks to Walter
503 M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for reporting this bug.
505 * Because of an incorrect optimization in memory allocation,
506 CROSSTABS sometimes segfaulted when asked to output multiple
507 tables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
510 * CROSSTABS didn't display value labels for column and row
511 variables. Thanks to Walter M. Gray <graywm@northernc.on.ca> for
514 * WRITE didn't write line ends. Fixed. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
515 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
517 * MATCH FILES corrupted memory and dumped core on some syntax
520 * MATCH FILES should set numeric values not available to the
521 system-missing value, not to 0. Thanks to Dr. Dirk Melcher
522 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
524 * KEEP didn't work properly on the SAVE procedure. Fixed. Thanks
525 to Ralf Geschke <ralf@kuerbis.org> for reporting this bug.
529 * Some systems didn't like the way open_file was coded. Thanks to
530 Hankin <hankin@rogue.consultco.com> for pointing this out.
532 * The SAVE procedure didn't save long string variables properly.
533 Fixed by this patch. Thanks to Hankin
534 <hankin@rogue.consultco.com> for this patch.
536 * Minor documentation fixes for MATCH FILES.
538 Version 0.2.2 changes since 0.2.1:
542 * Fix behavior of PRINT SPACE for negative arguments.
544 * Fix reading some unusual system files.
546 * Fix LIST problems with very long variables. Thanks to Hankin
547 <hankin@dunno.com> for this bug report.
549 * Fix problems with some string format specifiers.
551 * Fix use of $CASENUM in expressions. Thanks to Dirk Melcher
552 <BZN-mdksh@t-online.de> for reporting this bug.
554 * Additional DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST fixes. Thanks to
555 Hankin <hankin@dunno.com> again on this one.
557 * Sometimes you may encounter a PSPP script that has to be
558 interpreted in interactive mode. Now you can use the -i flag to
561 * Warnings for egcs 1.1.1 cleaned up. (However you'll get lots of
562 `unused variable' warnings under gcc 2.7.2.3, fixing this will
567 * The files in gmp need the internationalization directory in
568 their include path. Thanks to OKUJI Yoshinori
569 <okuji@kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp> for pointing this out.
571 Version 0.2.1 changes since 0.2.0:
575 * Remember to include examples/ directory in distribution :-)
577 * Fixed gmp compile problems for some non-i386 architectures.
578 Thanks to Hans Olav Eggestad <olav@jordforsk.nlh.no> and others
581 * DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST parsing of input files is now
582 matches the documented behavior exactly, and error messages are
583 more helpful. Thanks to Mark H. Wood <mwood@IUPUI.Edu>.
585 Version 0.2.0 changes since 0.1.0:
587 Procedures now implemented:
588 * CROSSTABS. Please see documentation for caveats.
590 Transformations and utilities now implemented:
593 * CLEAR TRANSFORMATIONS
594 * DISPLAY (all subcommands).
605 Support for input and output through pipes: "|command" and
606 "command|" filenames; support for special filenames "-", "stdin",
609 New command-line features:
610 * New option --testing-mode: Invoke heuristics to assist testing.
611 * New option --safer, -s: Don't allow certain unsafe operations.
612 * New option --command=CMD, -c CMD: Perform literal command CMD.
613 * rc file ~/.pspp/rc is executed before any other files.
614 * Now multiple syntax files can be specified.
616 Operator LAG is now implemented.
618 Added missing FILE subcommand to REREAD.
620 Table output manager completely rewritten.
622 Device configuration file syntax changed. You will need to
623 reinstall your `devices' file.
625 New output driver for HTML.
627 PostScript driver and prologue simplified.
629 Many bugs fixed. General source-code cleanup.
631 Added Texinfo documentation for:
632 * PSPP system file format
633 * PSPP portable file format
634 * How to write input for q2c parser generator
637 PSPP language is now fully documented. Please report any
638 inaccuracies or omissions in the documentation.
640 Changes for version 0.1.0:
642 First public release. For changes from unreleased development
643 versions, please see ONEWS.
645 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
646 Copyright information:
648 Copyright (C) 1996-9, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
650 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim
651 copies of this document as received, in any medium, provided that
652 the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved, thus
653 giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
655 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions of this
656 document, or of portions of it, under the above conditions,
657 provided also that they carry prominent notices stating who last
661 version-control: never