PSPP NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
-Time-stamp: <2003-12-09 11:33:29 blp>
+Time-stamp: <2008-06-04 21:27:06 blp>
Copyright (C) 1996-9, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
See the end for copying conditions.
Please send PSPP bug reports to bug-gnu-pspp@gnu.org.
+
+Changes from 0.4.0 to 0.6.0:
+
+ * The PSPP license is now version 3 or later of the GNU General
+ Public License. Previously, it was version 2 or later.
+
+ * PSPP now has a graphical interface, called PSPPIRE. This
+ interface allows you to enter data and variable definitions
+ interactively. Commands may be executed in syntax form, or by
+ using the interactive dialog boxes available from the dropdown
+ menus.
+
+ * A few sample syntax files are now included in the `examples'
+ directory.
+
+ * Numerous major and minor bugs have been fixed.
+
+ Build changes:
+
+ * The INSTALL file now reflects the details of how to install
+ PSPP. It is a tailored version of the generic installation
+ instructions, instead of a verbatim copy.
+
+ * iconv, which is ordinarily installed as part of a Unix-like
+ system, is now required. If you don't have it already, you can
+ install GNU libiconv (http://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/).
+
+ * libxml2 and zlib are new optional dependencies. They are
+ required to use PSPP's support for reading Gnumeric files.
+
+ Statistical procedure changes:
+
+ * REGRESSION is a new procedure for fitting linear models to data
+ via least-squares estimation.
+
+ * NPAR TESTS is a new procedure for non-parametric tests. In this
+ release, it supports binomial and chi-square tests.
+
+ * RANK is a new procedure to rank variables. It supports numerous
+ forms of ranking.
+
+ * FREQUENCIES can now output histograms and pie charts. These
+ features were present in earlier releases, but not documented.
+
+ User interface changes:
+
+ * In many situations where PSPP once terminated with a fatal
+ error, PSPP now recovers and continues execution.
+
+ * PSPP is now able to start up and run even if it cannot find its
+ configuration files.
+
+ * Journaling of interactive commands to a disk file is now
+ implemented. By default, journaling is enabled, to a file named
+ `pspp.jnl' in the current directory. SET JOURNAL may be used to
+ control journaling.
+
+ * The use of `+' between syntax file names on the command line to
+ prevent the dictionary from being cleared between their
+ executions is no longer supported. All syntax files are now
+ executed as if `+' had been specified.
+
+ * The -d/--define and -u/--undef command line options are no
+ longer supported. Instead, use /usr/bin/env or shell primitives
+ to define or clear environment variables before invoking PSPP.
+
+ * If a syntax file named named `rc' is found in a configuration
+ directory (such as $HOME/.pspp), it is executed before any
+ syntax file specified on the command line. The -r or
+ --no-statrc command line option may be used to disable this
+ behavior.
+
+ Output changes:
+
+ * Output configuration options have changed. Please refer to the
+ manual for a full description of the available options.
+
+ In consequence, you will need to reinstall your "devices" file.
+ "make install" will do this for you.
+
+ * Most error messages are now written to PSPP output files by
+ default. SET ERROR can be used to disable this behavior.
+
+ * When invoked interactively, PSPP now by default produces output
+ on the terminal, piping it through the "more" program.
+ Previously, by default output was written only to file
+ pspp.list. On most terminals, the page length used for output
+ automatically adapts to the terminal size, even if the terminal
+ is resized.
+
+ * ASCII driver:
+
+ - This driver now supports charts in output. Charts are written
+ as separate files that the main output file refers to. By
+ default, charts are written in PNG format to files named
+ pspp-1.png, pspp-2.png, and so on.
+
+ - Configurations are provided that use VT100 (and xterm)
+ line-drawing characters in tables. The option "-o list-vt100"
+ requests use of this device for output to pspp.list.
+
+ * PostScript driver:
+
+ - The default paper size is now determined using the PAPERSIZE
+ environment variable, or the LC_PAPER locale category on
+ systems that support it. If these are not set, the default is
+ now A4, instead of US letter. To make US letter the default,
+ set PAPERSIZE to "letter" in your environment.
+
+ - Font metrics are now read from AFM files, instead of
+ Groff-format metrics files. PostScript fonts can now be
+ embedded in output.
+
+ In consequence, you will need to install an AFM file for each
+ font used in PostScript output. "make install" will install
+ AFM files for the standard PostScript fonts, including the
+ ones that the PostScript driver uses by default.
+
+ - Standard paper sizes no longer need to be specified through a
+ configuration file. The "papersize" configuration file is no
+ longer needed, or supported.
+
+ - The PostScript prologue is no longer obtained from the
+ "ps-prologue" configuration file. This configuration file is
+ no longer needed, or supported.
+
+ * HTML driver:
+
+ - The HTML prologue is no longer obtained from the
+ "html-prologue" configuration file. This configuration file
+ is no longer needed, or supported.
+
+ Command language changes:
+
+ * The following commands are new:
+
+ - GET DATA, which currently supports reading Gnumeric files and
+ text data files. It will be extended later to read other
+ types of foreign data.
+
+ - CD, to change the current directory.
+
+ - INSERT, to execute a syntax file.
+
+ - DELETE VARIABLES, to remove variables from the active file
+ dictionary.
+
+ - ADD DOCUMENT, to add text to active file documents.
+
+ - CLOSE FILE HANDLE (a PSPP extension; see below).
+
+ - XEXPORT, a PSPP extension that is a transformation equivalent
+ to EXPORT.
+
+ * The following functions for transformation expressions are new:
+
+ - DATEDIFF, for computing the difference of two dates.
+
+ - DATESUM, for advancing a date by a specified duration.
+
+ - VALUELABEL, to obtain the value label for a value.
+
+ * PSPP now supports very long string variables (over 255 bytes
+ long).
+
+ * MATCH FILES now supports the FIRST and LAST subcommands.
+
+ * Previous versions of PSPP prohibited using commands to both read and
+ write a single file at the same time. Now, PSPP allows this, and
+ the new version of the file atomically replaces the old version.
+
+ * The following commands are no longer available. They will be
+ re-implemented in a later release:
+
+ - CLEAR TRANSFORMATIONS
+
+ - MATRIX DATA
+
+ - REPEATING DATA
+
+ * The PROCESS IF command, which was deprecated, has been removed.
+ You may replace any usage of it by SELECT IF following
+ TEMPORARY, which has the same effect.
+
+ * The output format for variables created by VECTOR may now be
+ specified as part of the VECTOR syntax.
+
+ "Scratch files", a new PSPP extension:
+
+ A scratch file, like a system file, consists of a dictionary and
+ any number of cases. Small scratch files are stored in memory;
+ one that grows too large is written to disk. By default, any file
+ handle whose name begins with # is assumed to refer to a scratch
+ file.
+
+ Scratch files can be used just about anywhere a system or portable
+ file can be used. Also, portable files are now allowed in most
+ places that system files were allowed in previous PSPP version.
+
+ A new CLOSE FILE HANDLE command allows the storage associated with
+ scratch files to be freed. It also allows file handles to be
+ reassigned to new files.
+
+ For more information on scratch files, refer to the "File Handles"
+ section in the PSPP manual. For specifics of what commands now
+ allow what kinds of files to be specified, refer to the
+ documentation on those particular commands.
+
+ Data access changes:
+
+ * Binary formats and IBM/360 formats, including ASCII/EBCDIC
+ translation, are now supported. Use FILE HANDLE to specify the
+ format of these files.
+
+ * Little-endian, big-endian, and VAX-endian formats are now
+ supported for integer binary formats when reading and writing
+ data files. The new RIB and WIB subcommands on the SET command
+ control endianness of integer data. The default is the host's
+ native endianness.
+
+ * IEEE 754, VAX, and IBM hexadecimal formats are now supported for
+ floating point binary formats when reading and writing data
+ files. The new RRB and WRB subcommands on the SET command
+ control the floating point format. The default is the host's
+ native floating point format.
+
+ * DATA LIST now supports the SKIP subcommand, to skip records at
+ the beginning of a file. For compatibility, DATA LIST now
+ treats N format as F format for FREE and LIST format input.
+
+ * The SAVE and XSAVE commands now support the UNSELECTED,
+ PERMISSIONS, NAMES, and MAP subcommands.
+
+ * The EXPORT command has been re-implemented to obtain better
+ results. Support for the UNSELECTED, DIGITS, and TYPE
+ subcommands has been added.
+
+ * For compatibility, PRINT now inserts a space at the beginning of
+ every output line, even lines that would otherwise be blank,
+ when OUTFILE is specified. (The behavior of WRITE is
+ unchanged.)
+
+ * For compatibility, PRINT EJECT now inserts the digit `1' at the
+ beginning of each line that should begin a new page.
+
+ * For compatibility, WRITE now outputs the system-missing value as
+ a field filled with spaces. Binary formats are an exception.
+ (The behavior of PRINT is unchanged.)
+
+ Documentation:
+
+ * Input and output format descriptions have been rewritten. They
+ now precisely describe what is accepted on input and written on
+ output.
+
+ * The descriptions of the PSPP system and portable file formats
+ have been extensively revised and improved.
+
+ For developers, the build system now requires Autoconf 2.60 and
+ Automake 1.10.
\f
-Version 0.3.1 changes since 0.3.0:
+Changes from 0.3.0 to 0.4.0:
+
+ Changes in build dependencies:
+
+ * The GNU Scientific Library (libgsl), version 1.6 or later, is
+ now required.
+
+ * libplot from GNU plotutils is optional. Without it, the new
+ graphing features will not work. If you do not have it
+ installed, you must run `configure' with --without-libplot.
+
+ * libgmp2 is no longer a dependency.
+
+ Newly implemented commands and statistical features:
+
+ * EXAMINE, including its graphing features.
+
+ * FREQUENCIES now supports percentiles.
+
+ * ONEWAY.
+
+ * PERMISSIONS.
+
+ * SHOW.
+
+ * SORT CASES now sorts stably, that is, two cases with equal sort
+ criteria will be in the same relative order before and after the
+ sort.
+
+ * T-TEST (re-written).
+
+ * DATE and USE. These commands are parsed but otherwise ignored,
+ to enhance compatibility with certain command files that invoke
+ them unnecessarily.
+
+ * VARIABLE WIDTH, VARIABLE ALIGNMENT, and VARIABLE LEVEL. These
+ currently have no effect on PSPP output, but their values are
+ written to and read from system files and thus may affect
+ third-party software.
+
+ * SET EPOCH implemented.
+
+ * DATA LIST FREE and DATA LIST LIST now support arbitrary field
+ delimiters.
+
+ * FILE HANDLE now supports custom tab widths.
+
+ Long variable names (and other identifiers) are now supported. Up
+ to the first 64 bytes of each identifier is significant. PSPP now
+ reads and writes system files compatible with SPSS version 12.
+
+ New --algorithm and --syntax command line options allow
+ SPSS-compatible or enhanced modes to be selected.
+
+ Support for transformation expressions has been rewritten and
+ significantly improved. Refer to the manual for details.
+
+ Calculation of moments (mean, standard deviation, kurtosis,
+ skewness) has been rewritten and should now be more accurate. In
+ --algorithm=enhanced mode moments may be more accurate than SPSS in
+ some cases.
+
+ Numerous bugs have been fixed, too many to mention here. Many new
+ tests have been added, leading to the discovery and fixing of many
+ of these bugs.
+
+ The ASCII output driver can now squeeze multiple blank lines into
+ single blank lines.
+
+ Much of the code has been rewritten and refactored. It is now much
+ cleaner.
+
+ The FILE TYPE and REPEATING DATA commands have been disabled for
+ this release because their implementations were deemed too buggy to
+ be useful. They will be fixed and replaced in a future release.
+
+ New pspp-mode for Emacs (in pspp-mode.el).
+
+ Added rudimentary command-line completion for interactive input.
+
+ lib/julcal and lib/dcdflib are no longer used, so they have been
+ removed.
+
+ For developers, the build system now requires Autoconf 2.58 and
+ Automake 1.7. The included gettext has been updated to version
+ 0.12.1.
- Update build system to Autoconf 2.58, Automake 1.7, gettext 0.12.1.
+ Some reports state that Texinfo 4.8, the latest version, may be
+ necessary to successfully format the documentation on some systems.
Version 0.3.0 changes since 0.2.3: