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Release History

mgstep-0.557
Architectural changes to the GUI (AppKit) backend which interfaces with X11 are largely complete as of this release. The limited Display Postscript drawing API has now been replaced by an implementation of Apple's published Quartz C API. Gradient rendering is now performed via this new API and a new example application demonstrates its use. The backend structure was also simplified as a result of the many changes.

mgstep-0.556
NSInvocation was rewired to lean more heavily on ffcall. Portions of the integrated mframe function call interface were deprecated and removed in the process. Several bugs afflicting the display and scaling of gray scale images were resolved in the imaging classes. The image Viewer example now enlarges and reduces via the mouse scroll wheel. NSAffinetransform received some minor tuning.

mgstep-0.555
This is a major release which adds FreeType support while beginning the process of replacing the existing Display Postscript drawing API with Apple's very similar Quartz vector drawing API. This alpha snapshot provides native FreeType and Xrender support without the usual additional dependencies on Xft and Fontconfig. Ongoing work to support the Linux frame buffer is the long-term impetus for many of the changes. Other enhancements include a largely functional font panel. A bug fix and initial test for the NSInvocation class. And an explanation of the configuration and build process.

mgstep-0.552
Mostly minor bug fixes to issues introduced in the previous Major bug fix release. A tune-up to NSFileManager streamlines the code while also resolving a link deletion bug in the Workspace example. To avoid confusion on OS X where mGSTEP only configures itself so that some of the examples can be built, the configuration file was tweaked so that the libraries do not attempt to build. Several minor tweaks to NSText and the Workspace example.

mgstep-0.551
A Major bug fix release. Several flaws in the field editor mechanism were resolved. A fix to the behavior of tool tips when clicked. A number of bugs related to the use of the open/save panels were fixed. A few of the cluster based classes were tuned to eliminate redundant method implementations. NSPropertyList was updated from the latest myStep source tree. Changes to NSWorkspace eliminate a nuisance bug in the use of this class without a pre-configured defaults database. A package of optional icons was added to the website's Projects page.

mgstep-0.550
This release consists mostly of minor bug fixes to various classes. Also included is a minor enhancement of the support for scaled views and scaled vector graphics rendering. This resolves various glitches in the scrollview example application.

mgstep-0.549
A rewrite of NSData is the featured change. Most of the GNU extensions were eliminated. Minor enhancements to NSFileManager, NSHost, NSColorPanel and NSApplication. Topping it all off are various bug fixes and code optimizations.

mgstep-0.548
Minor bug fixes and enhancements for issues reported in the Foundation library.

mgstep-0.547
The NSTimeZone enhancement begun in the previous release is largely completed in this one. Improved compatibility with Apple's published Cocoa API was the focus. No other changes were made.

mgstep-0.546
This release includes a broad range of changes and enhancements for better compatibility with Apple's published API. Most of the changes were in Foundation. A number of minor bugs were fixed in the process. Significant enhancements were also made to NSTimeZone and NSTask.

mgstep-0.545
Significant bug fixes to NSConnection's DO link release mechanism, Protocol conformance testing and HSB/RGB conversion. A new clone of Apple's 'open' tool provides a CLI/GUI bridge utility. Several enhancements to the backend drawing engine provide better support for buffered windows.

mgstep-0.544
Enhancements to the NSApplication class greatly improve the management of windows in applications that can open multiple documents. The improvements are most noticeable in the 'Windows' menu item of the Edit and Viewer example applications. Also included are the usual minor bug fixes.

mgstep-0.542
Several minor bug fixes including a scrolling bug seen with long lines in the Edit example application, a couple of minor bugs reported in NSCalendarDate and a few minor fixes in the menus.

mgstep-0.540
This minor bug fix release like the previous is focused on achieving a stable point before more significant changes are introduced. Most of the changes were in the text classes in preparation for further development and to resolve several long-standing bugs in the Edit example application. Other bug fixes include another tweak to the way modifier keys are handled, an obscure bug fix for NSComboBox and a minor fix in the Workspace example.

mgstep-0.539
A variety of minor bugs were fixed. The most significant of these could result in unexpected application behavior after modifier keys are used. Also resolved were issues arising from miniaturizing application windows during a modal loop. NSXMLParser and NSPropertyList were updated from the latest myStep source.

mgstep-0.538
This long delayed release is focused on polishing many of the recent changes. Major improvements were made to the Edit and Viewer examples via their respective text and image rep classes. New features in Edit.app include the ability to right/left tab shift selected text while line numbering is now a user menu option. The Viewer example gained the ability to save images including those the user has scaled. Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller contributed implementations of NSXMLParser and NSPropertyList. And if all that wasn't enough there are of course a lot of bug fixes.

mgstep-0.537
This is a major release focused on integrating many of the changes from myStep. To this end NSBezierPath was added. Backend support for this class required significant changes to the implementation of both clipping and path stroking in the drawing engine. Several classes that were developed prior to the existence of a direct OPENSTEP equivalent were renamed to their respective Cocoa/OS X names (NSAffineTransform and NSGraphicsContext). Support for Gamma correction was added. Currently, the Gamma value is hard coded in the backend but in the future it will be both a user preference setting and a build option as the mGSTEP build system evolves. The effect is most useful in image rendering applications such as the Viewer example. Another new feature is an extension of NSScrollView's support for the tableview class which now allows vertical scrolling headers. This is used in the Edit example to provide the line numbering visible in the new screenshot.

mgstep-0.536
Overhauled image rendering to employ implementations of the PScomposite and PSdissolve NeXT Display Postscript System extension functions. The changes allow mGSTEP to more closely mimic the behavior and implementation of the OPENSTEP/Cocoa image rendering classes. This snapshot also contains various minor bug fixes and tweaks.

mgstep-0.535
Several bugs in the image scaling code were fixed. Improved X11 error handling to be more graceful. Significant improvements to the underlying XDND based drag'n drop. Should work well in the case of simple file drops as tested with XINE and the Qt drop demo. The Edit and viewer examples now support file drops on their app tiles as do mGSTEP's Open/Save panels. Preliminary build support for AIX 5.1 and Solaris 5.9.

mgstep-0.534
Several subtle but siginificant bugs in the handling of modifier keys were fixed. Some of the enhancements from myStep were added in.

mgstep-0.533
Minor enhancements to the drawing engine. Several additions to the FAQ section of the website.

mgstep-0.532
The major enhancement in this release is the addition of image scaling to the AppKit. The viewer example application demonstrates this and also now supports PNG in addition to the previously supported TIFF, JPG and GIF formats. As usual a wide swath of bugs were fixed including a few that were significant.

mgstep-0.531
This release addresses several minor issues that were reported and also adds a few enhancements so that a simple cross platform example (tableview) can be built. Notable changes include a revamped 'make install', a fix for those who have run into an NXConstantString error (see the faq section of the website) and support for cross platform menus.

mgstep-0.530
This snapshot includes many bug fixes and enhancements from Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller and his myStep-1.3. The changes sent in were substantial so this release represents a first pass through his package. Improvements were also made to the makefiles build system and to NSText/Edit.app.

mgstep-0.529
Minor bug fixes and enhancements.

mgstep-0.528
This snapshot includes vast improvements over the previous 0.202 which was released almost four years ago.

mgstep-0.202
This latest snapshot includes a wide variety of minor bug fixes and at least one major bug fix. Patches to NSTimeZone and NSProcessInfo were recieved from Jeremy Bettis and applied. His patch also adds regression testing to the Foundation tests. Several patches posted to 'gnu.gnustep.discuss' were applied.
New features include support for 'Services'. The Services' facility requires Distributed Objects support which gets built only on Linux and FreeBSD (tested only on Linux). Classes adapted from the GNUstep runtime include NSTabView and NSPopupButton. Also new is an emulation of the Postscript 'curveto' function which provides Bezier curve drawing. In the future the NSTabView tabs will be drawn via Bezier curves. A preliminary sample is visible in the last tab view of the Combo example. NSTextView now supports an inset which along with a few other tweaks helps to polish Edit.app and the field editor facility.

mgstep-0.168
The changes in this snapshot consist mostly of low level AppKit optimizations and bug fixes. The performance boost is noticeable in many cases and is at least several orders of magnitude in the case of the string drawing primitives. The result of the latter is that scrolling all but very large text files is now smooth even on slow hardware when a selection is present (cursor is not drawn). Once again the XRAW backend shrunk slightly and now consists of just nine classes (six posing).
On the new feature front Edit now provides basic search and replace. Also new is a non NeXT feature which facilitates the use of Edit for programming by dynamically displaying the selected line range while the user drags a selection (in plain text mode). For the most part Edit should now be useful for simple editing/programming tasks. But be advised that this is akin to pulling on the dragon's tale; you do so at your own risk.
A number of bug fixes and patches were received and applied. A special thanks to Helmut Maierhofer who found and turned in a number of difficult to find bugs/patches. The mGSTEP package makefiles recieved some polish and install capabilities thanks to Peter Rasmussen. Support for FreeBSD was provided via a patch from Tim Bissel. This snapshot should also be much more portable as I added support for George Tuparev's fake main() trick which if employed (default) disables my Assembly based technique for initializing NSProcessInfo.

mgstep-0.144
The most notable changes in this snapshot include an emulation of PSrectclip as well as an improved graphics state stack. These two changes fix many of the existing drawing issues and in general everything feels much more polished as a result. Workspace received a bit more polish and is noticeably faster in a couple of places. And of course there's the usual variety of tweaks and bug fixes.

mgstep-0.138
The latest snapshot is again bug fixes and polish mostly related to the Workspace example. The Workspace now sports a file selection scrollview just like it's big brother. Distributed Objects now builds nearly clean though the build is still not automated and is still hardwired for Linux. NSPopupButton was borrowed from GNUstep though it doesn't yet work correctly. Edit now marks it's windows' as edited ala NS (requires a patch to WindowMaker 0.6). A couple of minor bugs that had crept into the WinNT build are now fixed. ...etc...etc

mgstep-0.132
The latest snapshot is mostly tweaks and polish related to the Workspace example. Icons are properly spaced in the browser, items can be dragged off of the shelf ...etc. Most notable though is the ability to drop files onto applications in WindowMaker's dock. This assumes you are running WindowMaker 0.6 or greater and that you built it with XDND support enabled. The feature has been tested with the GIMP and Communicator. Also new in this release is preliminary support for Distributed Objects (DO). The build of DO is not yet automated. The build is hardwired for Linux and at the moment produces various warnings. To build it you must go to the DO directory and do a 'make'. Testing DO is the same as under GNUstep (start 'gdomap', 'server' and then 'client' in that order).

mgstep-0.125

mgstep.1.1.2

mgstep.1.0.5

mgstep.0.8.9

mgstep.0.7.8

mgstep.0.6.7

mgstep.0.4.9

mgstep.0.4.4