PSPP NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
-Time-stamp: <2006-05-06 13:24:08 blp>
-Copyright (C) 1996-9, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Time-stamp: <2009-05-24 22:25:04 blp>
+Copyright (C) 1996-9, 2000, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
See the end for copying conditions.
Please send PSPP bug reports to bug-gnu-pspp@gnu.org.
-Changes since 0.4.2:
+Changes from 0.7.1 to 0.7.2:
- 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.
-\f
-Changes since 0.4.0 to 0.4.1:
+ * Updated Perl module interface.
+
+ * Value labels for long string variables are now supported.
+
+ * Missing values for long string variables are now supported.
+
+Changes from 0.7.0 to 0.7.1:
+
+ * Added a perl module to facilitate reading and writing of pspp system
+ files from perl programs.
+
+Changes from 0.6.1 to 0.7.0:
+
+ * Custom variable and data file attributes are now supported.
+ Commands VARIABLE ATTRIBUTE and DATAFILE ATTRIBUTE have been added
+ for setting and clear attributes. Support for attributes has also
+ been added to commands that read and write system files, such as
+ SAVE and GET, as well as to the DISPLAY command.
+
+Changes from 0.6.0 to 0.6.1:
+
+ * Statistical bug fixes:
+
+ - Report correct standardized regression coefficients in linear
+ regression output (bug #23567).
+
+ * Bug fixes that affect PSPP and PSPPIRE:
+
+ - Avoid crash with pie charts (bug #24014).
+
+ - Don't append % to count totals (bug #24003).
+
+ - Don't crash on bad input (bug #24031).
+
+ - Don't crash if "end data." is not left aligned (bug #24115).
+
+ - Change default workspace value to 64 MB, to avoid unnecessary
+ disk accesses on modern machines.
+
+ * PSPPIRE bug fixes:
+
+ - Add ".sav" or ".por" suffix to filename when saving with Save_As
+ (bug #23137).
+
+ - Make it possible to reopen the output window on Windows (bug
+ #24033).
+
+ - A POSIX regular expression library is now included and used
+ automatically if the host does not have one or has one that is
+ inadequate.
+
+ * Build fixes and changes:
+
+ - Work around bug in GSL that prevented build with recent GCC
+ versions without manually adding -fgnu89-inline to CFLAGS.
+
+ - Also warn about missing prerequisites as we encounter them (bug
+ #24445).
+
+ - Distribute necessary files to allow users working from the
+ distributed tarball to configure with --enable-gui-tools.
+
+ - Append $(EXEEXT_FOR_BUILD) to output file name when building
+ q2c, fixing build problems on Windows.
+
+ - GSL 1.8 or later is now required.
+
+ - Build errors with --enable-relocatable were fixed.
+
+ * The German translations were removed, since native German speakers
+ found them too poor to be useful.
+
+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.
- Added support for very long string variables > 255 bytes.
+ * 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:
In consequence, you will need to reinstall your "devices" file.
"make install" will do this for you.
- * The PostScript driver now obtains font metrics from AFM files,
- instead of Groff-format metrics files. It can now embed
- PostScript fonts in its output.
+ * Most error messages are now written to PSPP output files by
+ default. SET ERROR can be used to disable this behavior.
- 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 files, including the ones that
- the PostScript driver uses by default.
+ * 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.
- Newly implemented commands and statistical features:
+ * 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.
- * CLOSE FILE HANDLE (a PSPP extension; see below).
+ * The following functions for transformation expressions are new:
- * REGRESSION.
+ - DATEDIFF, for computing the difference of two dates.
- * XEXPORT (a PSPP extension).
+ - DATESUM, for advancing a date by a specified duration.
- New PSPP extension:
+ - 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 new PSPP extension called "scratch files" has been implemented.
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
allow what kinds of files to be specified, refer to the
documentation on those particular commands.
- PSPP is now able to start up and run even if it cannot find its
- configuration files.
+ 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
Changes from 0.3.0 to 0.4.0:
Changes in build dependencies:
projects / pspp-builds.git / blobdiff