[Bug-apl] APL Package Manager release 0.3 (Evey)

[David B. Lamkins]

https://github.com/TieDyedDevil/apl-pkg/releases

Date:    2015-10-06
Contact: [David B. Lamkins](mailto:address@hidden)

Announcing the 3rd Release of APL Package Manager
=================================================

The APL Package Manager is a tool to manage the development
and deployment of APL software built from a collection of
packages.

In its third release, named Evey, the APL Package Manager
supports GNU APL version 1.5 or later on GNU/Linux hosts.
This release introduces a completed package dependency
manager which not only loads dependent packages (which
has been a feature from the very first release) but also
correctly unloads unreferenced dependencies when using the
new `]pkg unload` command. Furthermore, the `]pkg load`
command does not reload packages which have already been
loaded.

The `]pkg packages` display now distinguishes four distinct
cases for a package's loaded state. These are denoted by
the following flag characters in the `L` column: `*` for a
top-level package (i.e. named in a `]pkg load` command),
`+` for a package loaded as a dependency, `-` for a package
removed with the `]pkg expunge` command but still required
as a dependency and ` ` for a package which is neither
loaded nor required.

Additionally, editor support has been reworked. Please see
`doc/EDITOR.md` for details.

See `doc/CHANGES` for further details regarding these and
other changes.

About the APL Package Manager
-----------------------------

Although APL is very good for interactive programming
based upon structured datasets, the ISO/IBM version
of the language lacks modern facilities for
programming-in-the-large. This historical limitation fosters
a culture of reinvention rather than reuse. Large software
systems were built using APL in the days of top-down
software management. Those days are gone.

The APL Package Manager defines and checks a set of
conventions to support reuse of code among far-flung and
self-managed APLers.

The central shared artifact of the APL Package Manager is a
package. A package collects one or more cohesive APL source
code files together with descriptive metadata, optional
documentation and data files, optional source code files
in other languages (e.g. for building helper applications
and interfaces), plus a control file to load the package;
these are all located within a single directory that may be
distributed as an archive file or a source code repository.

Packages may be used alongside traditional APL workspace
files or source code files. APL source code files are easily
packaged with help from the APL Package Manager.

The APL Package Manager supports deployment of completed
systems.

Future releases of the APL Package Manager will implement
additional tools and features, version management, and
remote repositories.

The APL Package Manager is designed to support additional
APL interpreters and host platforms.

The APL Package Manager is open source software distributed
under the MIT License.