[Pspp-cvs] pspp NEWS

[Ben Pfaff]

CVSROOT:        /cvsroot/pspp
Module name:    pspp
Changes by:     Ben Pfaff <blp> 07/11/04 06:08:04

Modified files:
        .              : NEWS 

Log message:
        Update NEWS for the upcoming release.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/pspp/NEWS?cvsroot=pspp&r1=1.21&r2=1.22

Patches:
Index: NEWS
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/pspp/pspp/NEWS,v
retrieving revision 1.21
retrieving revision 1.22
diff -u -b -r1.21 -r1.22
--- NEWS        23 Sep 2007 05:59:01 -0000      1.21
+++ NEWS        4 Nov 2007 06:08:03 -0000       1.22
@@ -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.
 
@@ -7,25 +7,203 @@
 
 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 default paper size for the PostScript driver is now determined
+    * 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 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.