Re: NEWS for upcoming release

[Jason Stover]

On Sat, Nov 03, 2007 at 11:11:01PM -0700, Ben Pfaff wrote:
>         * Jason, I notice that there is a GLM procedure, but that
>           it has no documentation and no tests.  Is it ready for
>           users?

No. I have avoided adding any code to it for fear of
breaking something big before the release. I'll get back to it
after the release.

-Jason

> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 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.
> 
>   * 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/).
> 
>     * 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 -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.
> -- 
> "doe not call up Any that you can not put downe."
> --H. P. Lovecraft
> 
> 
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