Development

GCC 3.3 released

Version 3.3 of GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection, has been released thanks to the tireless efforts of these contributors.

The Changes, New Features, and Fixes page documents everything that is new with this version.

A number of changes include the removal of support for processors and obsolete features:

• These obsolete CPUs are no longer supported, this is a great place to follow industry CPU trends.
• Support for multi-line string literals has been dropped.
• The stand-alone -A- assertion is gone.
• The DWARF debugging format has been deprecated.
• The C and Objective-C compilers no longer use the "naming types" extension such as (typedef foo = bar);.
• The -traditional option has been removed from the C compiler.

Some of the new features include:

• A new Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA) scheduler for processor pipeline optimization.
• An edge coverage profiler file format for improved code profiling.
• A new superblock formation pass for optimizing functions.
• A function reordering pass for optimizing function placement.
• A pile of new language-specific improvements.
• Many GNU FORTRAN improvements.
• Separation of front-end dependencies in the compiler.
• The redirection of make install by means of the variable DESTDIR.
• Support for many new CPU targets.
• Improvements to specific CPU targets.
• Many bug fixes.
• Documentation improvements.

Comments (12 posted)

System Applications

Audio Projects

Alsa 0.9.3b released

Version 0.9.3b (and apparently version 0.9.3c) of the Alsa sound driver is available. Changes include: "ISA PnP and other fixes. We removed /proc/asound/dev directory. The 'make install' should create new device files, but in case of problems, the snddevices script should be executed."

Comments (none posted)

JACK 0.71.2 Released

Version 0.71.2 of the Jack Audio Connection Kit is available. Changes include an updated README, and removal of the fltk example client, see the release notes for more information.

Comments (none posted)

Ogg Traffic

The May 13, 2003 edition of Ogg Traffic is out with the latest Ogg Vorbis audio compression software news.

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Database Software

MySQL 4.0.13 has been released

Version 4.0.13 of the MySQL database has been released. "This is a bugfix release for the current production version."

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PostgreSQL Weekly News

The May 14, 2003 edition of the PostgreSQL Weekly News is out. "The decision has been made to push back the 7.4 release schedule by 1 month. This means feature freeze will occur on June 16th, with Beta starting July 1st. The move has been made mainly to accommodate the win32 & PITR developers, with a nod to giving client developers enough time to implement some of the new front-end/back-end protocol changes."

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psqlODBC 07.03.0100 Released

Version 07.03.0100 of psqlODBC has been released. "With this release, the ODBC 3 driver is now the default."

Comments (none posted)

Education

Linux in Education Report

Issue #96 of the SEUL/edu Linux in Education Report is out. Issues include: the UK Office of Fair Trading and anti-competitive Microsoft license issues, HOSEF, the Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation, reports from ITFirms in South Africa about Free and Open Source software in developing countries, and new educational software releases.

Comments (none posted)

Mail Software

SpamAssassin 2.54

SpamAssassin 2.54 has been released. This would normally look like a minor release, but it has a change that could almost be seen as a security fix. It seems that there were some spammers bright enough to figure out that, if they added headers to make their mail look like it came from mutt, pine, or mozilla, SpamAssassin would give their spam a bonus. Thus the curious flood of mail composed simultaneously with mutt and pine. Version 2.54 closes that hole; it's a worthwhile upgrade for anybody running SpamAssassin.

Comments (none posted)

Printing

GNU Ghostscript 7.07

Version 7.07 of GNU Ghostscript has been released. "This release contains an important security update, and all free software users are encouraged to update. Also included are improvements to the display and pngalpha devices, improved comformance with the GNU coding guidelines, and minor build tweaks. This will also be the last release of Ghostscript as a GNU project. We will continue to make releases under the GNU General Public License, but because of disagreements over censorship of the AFPL releases and our development model in the GNU release, we feel we have to part ways with the GNU project."

Comments (none posted)

LinuxPrinting.org news

The latest changes on the LinuxPrinting.org site include support for the HP DeskJet 9300, OfficeJet 5105, 6105, PSC 1100, 1110, and 1200 printers, and more.

Comments (none posted)

Web Site Development

CMF 1.4 Released (ZopeMembers)

The final release of version 1.4 of the Zope Content Management Framework (CMF) is available. See the Change Log for information on what's new.

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Zope Group Calendar version 0.1 released (ZopeMembers)

The first release of the Zope Group Calendar has been announced. This is an enhancement of the CMF calendar with interfaces for Agendas, Days, and Months.

Comments (none posted)

PABlog 1.4 released (ZopeMembers)

Zope Members News has an announcement for version 1.4 of PABlog, a blog tool that runs under CMF and plone.

Comments (none posted)

Formulator 1.4.0 released (ZopeMembers)

Version 1.4.0 of Formulator, an extensible framework for the creation and validation of web forms, has been released. "There are a number of new features, including unicode support, new options for DateTime fields and string fields, as well as a system for the public rendering of data based on the form."

Comments (none posted)

mnoGoSearch-php-3.2.0 released

Version 3.2.0 of mnoGoSearch-php, a PHP front-end for the mnoGoSearch web site search engine, is available. See the changes document for more information.

Comments (none posted)

Miscellaneous

GNOME System Tools 0.26.0 is out! (GnomeDesktop)

Version 0.26.0 of GNOME System Tools, a set of cross-platform configuration utilities, has been released. "This new release features (amongst lots of bugfixing) network profiles, so users can store several network configurations, and change between them with a couple of clicks."

Comments (none posted)

Desktop Applications

Audio Applications

MusE 0.6.0 released

Version 0.6.0 of MusE, the Linux (Midi) Music Editor, is available. Changes include a bunch of bug fixes, a Swedish translation, and more, see the ChangeLog file in the source distribution for details.

Comments (none posted)

Tkeca 1.2.0 Released

Version 1.2.0 of Tkeca, the Tk-based GUI interface for Ecasound, has been released.

Full Story (comments: none)

Desktop Environments

KDE-CVS-Digest

The May 16, 2003 KDE-CVS-Digest is out. "In this week's issue of KDE-CVS-Digest, read about the beginnings of a mobile device framework and the reworking of KMail groupware functionality. Also, bug fixes in Kate, KDE Print, Konqueror, KWin, KSpread, Kopete and many others."

Comments (none posted)

KDE Traffic

Issue #51 of KDE Traffic is out. Topics include: dot.kde.org weekly roundup and responses, karm: what is a maintainer good for?, KHTML developers: Animated GIF playing, KOffice 1.3 w/o Kexi, and KOffice's Filters on Test.

Comments (none posted)

KDE 3.1.2: The Even More Stable Release

Version 3.1.2 of KDE has been announced. "The KDE Project has released KDE 3.1.2, the second maintenance release of the KDE 3.1 release series. It features more and much improved translations and many problem corrections."

Comments (none posted)

KDE/Qt Gain Increased Support for Indic Languages

KDE.News covers the upcoming KDE 3.2 desktop, which will include improved Indic language support. "Currently, Devanagari (screenshot), Bengali (bn-2, bn-3, bn-1) and Tamil have been tested but Syriac, Tibetan, Khmer and others are expected to work as well. Dirk Mueller writes: "The KDE Project encourages interested people who understand these languages".

Comments (none posted)

Games

Animation in SDL (O'Reilly)

Bob Pendleton explains game animation basics under SDL on O'Reilly. "The Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL), a powerful, commercial grade and cross platform game development library, has been used to write or port more than 40 commercial games. SDL runs on pretty much any PC or PDA which has a graphic screen and something at least roughly like an operating system."

Comments (none posted)

TuxTyping 1.5.0 released (SourceForge)

According to SourceForge, version 1.5.0 of Tux Typing, an educational typing tutorial game, is available. "After over a year of development with no releases, we are pleased to present Tux Typing 2 "Preview" release. Most of the internals have been rewritten with a focus on extensibility and internationalization. Creating a language pack is now as simple as creating a file for translations (lang.po file), maybe finding a font [1], setting up how the keyboard maps to the characters [2], and finally creating some word lists."

Comments (none posted)

JOOLS 0.1 released (PyGame)

Version 0.1 of JOOLS is available from the PyGame site. "Jools is a graphical puzzle game in the tradition of Tetris, it is a clone of Bejeweled (TM). In a nutshell, the goal is to swap adjacent jools (jewels) within a grid, in order to create rows of three or more of a kind. These jools will then disappear, and more will fall to fill their places."

Comments (none posted)

Graphics

GIMP 1.2.4 Released

Version 1.2.4 of the GIMP, the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, has been released. "The long awaited version 1.2.4 has finally been released. This is a bugfix release in the stable 1.2 series."

Comments (none posted)

GUI Packages

flews 0.3 released

Version 0.3 of flews, a set of extended Widgets for FLTK, has been released.

Comments (none posted)

wx4J 0.1.0 has been released

wx4j, a Java binding for the wxWindows cross-platform GUI framework, has been released. "Since wx4j uses native widgets, it utilizes the native look and feel. This is the initial public release of wx4j."

Comments (1 posted)

Interoperability

CrossOver Office Version 1.3.5 available

Version 1.3.5 of CrossOver Office has been released. "The key change in version 1.3.5 is that it now operates properly on glibc 2.3 systems, including SuSE 8.2, RedHat 9.0, and Mandrake 9.1."

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Samba-3.0alpha24 released

Version 3.0alpha24 of Samba is available. Release information is available on the here. "The purpose of this alpha release is to get wider testing of the major new pieces of code in the current Samba 3.0 development tree. We have officially ceased development on the 2.2.x release of Samba and are concentrating on Samba 3.0. To reduce the time before the final Samba 3.0 release we need as many people as possible to start testing these alpha releases, and hopefully giving us some high quality feedback on what needs fixing."

Comments (none posted)

Wine Traffic

Issue #170 of Wine Traffic has been published. Topics include: TransGaming Poll Update, SpyHunter Port, More on FoxPro, Direct3D Status, Lotus Notes Breakage, NPTL Auto Detection & RH9 Packages, RPC Documentation Update, Valgrinding Wine, Separating 16/32 Bit OLE Functions, Improving Exception Handling, and SourceForge Download Stats.

Comments (none posted)

Office Applications

AbiWord Weekly News

Issue #144 of the AbiWord Weekly News is out. "Yes, we have 1.9.1 ready for your playing about (Win32 binaries STILL not available by press time). Martin has added a nice ability to copy and paste whole tables, but only after the 1.9.1 release. A c-style cast finder was created by Andrew, which I'm sure some of you may want to try out, and, finally, nyorp plays with your editor's mind just long enough to make him take a break in the middle."

Comments (none posted)

StarDict 2.1.0 released. (GnomeDesktop)

GnomeDesktop has an announcement for version 2.1.0 of StarDict. This release adds the: "dictd dictionary converter, this added about 100 dictionaries. wquick dictionary converter, this added about 150 dictionaries. dictzip support, so StarDict can use .dict.dz compressed file now. WyabdcRealPeopleTTS support, now StarDict can pronouce English words."

Comments (none posted)

Web Browsers

Epiphany 0.6.1 (GnomeDesktop)

GnomeDesktop.org mentions the release of version 0.6.1 of the Epiphany web browser. "Epiphany is a GNOME web browser based on the mozilla rendering engine. Version 0.6.1 released and it includes updated translations, bugfixes, interface improvements, new features and code changes."

Comments (none posted)

Mozilla Firebird 0.6 released

Mozilla Firebird 0.6, the first release of the browser formerly known as Phoenix since its high-profile name change, is out. The release notes detail the changes; included therein is a new default theme, a new preferences window, one-click removal of all privacy-related data, and several other new features. French and Polish language versions of this release are also available.

Comments (24 posted)

Independent Status Reports (MozillaZine)

The May 15th, 2003 Mozilla Independent Status Reports are out. "The latest set of status reports includes updates from BookSync, CardGames, Bugxula, DailyComics, Mozile, Download Statusbar, Demiurge, Linky and Xprint."

Comments (none posted)

Minutes of the mozilla.org Staff Meeting (MozillaZine)

The minutes from the May 12, 2003 Mozilla.org staff meeting are available online. "Issues discussed include a reorganisation of the CVS tree and build system, Tinderbox3 and MozTools, 1.4 Beta, 1.4 final and 1.5."

Comments (none posted)

Miscellaneous

Gaim 0.63 released (GnomeDesktop)

Gnomedesktop.org has an announcement for version 0.63 of Gaim, an internet messaging client. "This new release features a rewrite of the plugin API, support for adding chats to your buddy list, buddy list speed enhancements, and the MSN protocol plugin was rewritten, and has experimental buddy icon support as well as MSN Mobile support."

Comments (none posted)

Languages and Tools

Caml

Caml Weekly News

The May 13-20, 2003 edition of the Caml Weekly News is out with the latest Caml language news.

Full Story (comments: none)

Java

A JSTL primer, Part 4: Accessing SQL and XML content (IBM developerWorks)

Mark A. Kolb concludes his series on JSTL with Part 4, Accessing SQL and XML content. "A hallmark of Web-based applications is the integration of multiple subsystems. Two of the most common mechanisms for exchanging data between such subsystems are SQL and XML. In this article, Mark Kolb concludes his coverage of JSTL with an introduction to the sql and xml libraries for accessing database and XML content in JSP pages."

Comments (none posted)

JDBC query logging made easy (IBM developerWorks)

Jens Wyke covers JDBC logging issues on IBM's developerWorks. "A simple extension to the JDBC java.sql.PreparedStatement interface can make query logging less prone to error, while also tidying up your code. In this article, IBM e-Business Consultant Jens Wyke shows you how to apply a basic wrapping technique ("extension by wrapping," also known as the Decorator design pattern) for very satisfying results."

Comments (none posted)

How Servlet Containers Work (O'Reilly)

Budi Kurniawan explains Java servelet containers in an O'Reilly book excerpt article. "This article explains how a simple servlet container works. There are two servlet container applications presented; the first one is made as simple as possible and the second is a refinement of the first. The sole reason I do not try to make the first container perfect is to keep it simple."

Comments (none posted)

Perl

This Week on perl5-porters (use Perl)

The May 12-18, 2003 edition of This Week on perl5-porters has been published. "This week, discussions spawned across : manual pages, and their adaptation to perl's audience ; build problems ; interfaces ; conventions ; and the usual amount of bugs."

Comments (none posted)

This week on Perl 6 (O'Reilly)

The May 11, 2003 edition of This week on Perl 6 is out. Topics include: Long option Processing, Excessive memory usage?, NCI and handling of generic buffers of stuff, Calling convention changes, IMCC vs. Parrot assembler, More on stack walking, PIO work, sysinfo op, and more.

Comments (none posted)

PHP

PHP Weekly Summary

The May 19, 2003 PHP Weekly Summary is out. Topics include: "PEAR gathering in Amsterdam, RC 3, Activestate awards, Websphere MQ extension, Unbundling expat and libml2, stdio conversion."

Comments (none posted)

PHP 4.3.2RC3 Released

Version 4.3.2RC3 of PHP is available. "This is the third and final release candidate and should have no critical problems/bugs. Nevertheless, please download and test it as much as possible on real-life applications to uncover any remaining issues."

Comments (none posted)

Python

Dr. Dobb's Python-URL!

The Dr. Dobb's Python-URL for May 20, 2003 is out. This week: recommendations for other programming languages which a Python programmer might enjoy learning; the Second Annual European Python and Zope Conference; and much more.

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Using libxml in Python (O'Reilly)

Uche Ogbuji shows how to use libxml from Python on O'Reilly. "A few years ago the increase of interest in XML processing in GNOME led to the development of a base XML processing library and, subsequently, an XSLT library, both of which are written in C, the foundational language of GNOME. These libraries, libxml and libxslt, are popular for users of C, but also those of the many other languages for which wrappers have been written, as well as language-agnostic users who want good command-line tools."

Comments (none posted)

Ruby

Ruby Weekly News

The May 19, 2003 edition of the Ruby Weekly News is out. Threads include: Objects vs. Data Structures, and Enumerable #each with arguments. New softwar includes: Madeleine 0.3, an OpenSSL module for Ruby, and wxRuby Beta 0.01.

Comments (none posted)

Tcl/Tk

Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL!

The May 20, 2003 edition of Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL! has been published. Take a look for the latest Tcl/Tk news.

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Miscellaneous

Using the Subversion Client API, Part 2 (O'Reilly)

Garrett Rooney concludes his two-part series on the Subversion version control system. You may want to start with part one of the series.

Comments (none posted)

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