From 2fdbec7fc4861374ebb61ca78b12011631ca5a8f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Ben Pfaff Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2007 06:08:03 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Update NEWS for the upcoming release. --- NEWS | 202 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 190 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-) diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index 2ba38211..cb5b6d58 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ PSPP NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. -Time-stamp: <2007-09-22 17:48:06 blp> +Time-stamp: <2007-11-03 23:01:41 blp> Copyright (C) 1996-9, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. See the end for copying conditions. @@ -7,24 +7,202 @@ Please send PSPP bug reports to bug-gnu-pspp@gnu.org. Changes since 0.4.3: - The PSPP license is now version 3 or later of the GNU General Public - License. Previously, it was version 2 or later. + * The PSPP license is now version 3 or later of the GNU General + Public License. Previously, it was version 2 or later. - Changes in build dependencies: + * PSPP now has a graphical interface, called PSPPIRE. + + * 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/). - 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. + * 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. + + * 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: + + * 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. + + * The ASCII output 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. + + * An output device is provided that uses VT100 (and xterm) + line-drawing characters in tables. The option "-o list-vt100" + requests use of this device for output to pspp.list. + + * The default paper size for the PostScript driver 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. + + * Standard paper sizes no longer need to be specified through a + configuration file. The "papersize" configuration file is no + longer needed, or supported. + + * The HTML and PostScript prologues are no longer obtained from + the "html-prologue" and "ps-prologue" configuration files. + These configuration files are no longer needed, or supported. + + Command language changes: + + * The following commands are new: + + - GET DATA, which currently supports reading Gnumeric files. It + will be extended later to read other types of foreign data + files. + + - 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. + + - 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. + + * 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. + + 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 default paper size for the PostScript driver 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. + * 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. -- 2.30.2