[FT2 Status Update]

[David Turner]

Hello,

  it seems the mail server has still some problems
  (or it may be some problems in my local setup),
  in all cases, several persons have complained about
  not receiving some mail lately. Please accept
  my apologies.

  In the mean-time, I'd like to make a brief update
  on FreeType 2 and the release:

   - The documentation is nearly completed. Have a look
     at the content of "docs/design" for a new document
     describing the library's design..

   - I have updated the API reference generator. It now
     works well and I even added sorting/filtering but
     is still experimental (in other words, don't try
     to use it for now :-). It now basically needs indexing
     and paging capabilities to be complete.

   - the cache sub-system is now basically complete, though
     still contains a major bug that seems to completely
     wreck programs when the "small bitmaps" cache is used
     (the current demo programs do not trap though, you
      can use them safely)

     Strangely, a tool like "insure++" wasn't capable of
     telling me what it was. If someone has Purify, I'd be
     glad if he could run some tests (please contact me for
     exact instructions).

   - I have started rewriting the native Type 1 hinter, but
     this will apparently need more work than I expected. I
     now tend to think that it'd be better to work on the
     auto-hinter instead, though I've not made up my mind.

     In all cases, I think that it wouldn't be a good idea
     to delay 2.0 again, given that a number of important
     projects have started depending more or less heavily on
     FreeType 2 and are expecting a stable release.
     
     I thus propose to make the 2.0 release next week, on
     Wednesday 8th November.

     In the meantime, I'll keep fixing bugs, updating documentation.
     The web and mail servers will also be moved to a new machine.
     Fortunately, this means we'll now use Mailman, and enjoy
     web-based archives too..

     I'd appreciate any help in maintaing documentation, web site
     content, formatting, etc.. until we move.

     And I would like to thank all people who got involved in
     finding and fixing bugs these next weeks. You've been
     very helpful :-)

Opinions, Comments, Donuts ??

Best Regards,

- David