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AbiWord Weekly News #87, (2002, week 15, released 2002.04.15)
Welcome to issue 87 of the AbiWord Weekly News.
We seem to have released 0.99.5, even though there wasn't much of an announcement. Anyhu, announcement or not, I've updated the links to the binaries. And you might have to hurry if you want to use 0.99.5 since 1.0 RC1 will be tagged later today (2002.04.15) and, if things pan out, 1.0 final on Thursday (2002.04.18).
This week I finished the AWN overhaul (for now) replacing the list of release binaries with Yet Another Table. Looks neater, IMO. Hope you like the new format....
If you want to help with the QA process during the 0.99.x cycle, you can find nightly builds for Windows here: http://abiword.pchasm.org/ and less frequent (but more stable builds) here: http://www.niksbiks.dk/Abi/. For Linux/GNOME you can find nightly builds here: http://pinohuis.dhs.org/uwog/abiword/. Thanks!
In this issue:
Editor(s) of this issue: Jesper Skov
CVS Stats
| CVS checkins 2002.04.08 - 2002.04.14 | ||
| Who | Commits | In summary |
| dom | 388 | Fixed some help menu bugs, bumped version number, modules version checking code (from Jesper Skov), removed old help files, fix MSVC breakage, unix file dialog tweak, abiword exporter export doctype before xml, fixed QNX crasher. Fixed Bugs 1742, 2633, and 3059. |
| fjfranklin | 196 | Install credits file, mkpkg improvements (from Gabriel Gerhardsson), install new docs, fix diving makefiles's version, abispell update (from Gabriel Gerhardsson), wv fixes (from Vladimir), BE dictionaries, Hebrew, Gaelic and Flemish language code fixes, clean up paper name space, Catalan speller fix, iconv fix, bumped plugin version numbers, removed some GNUmakefile.in files. And fixed Bug 1531. |
| phearbear | 19 | QNX stuff: packager fix for new docs, two new TTF font descriptions, columns fix, scrollbar fix, always antialias, faster font loading, added EncodingManager variant, wordcount dialog fix, options fix, and a few other tweaks. Also fixed some spellchecker options and behavior, and fixed a Makefile. |
| plam | 15 | Fixed xhtml importer segfault, fix pointer issue with images, S390 (from Gerhard Tonn), allow UT_stricmp, UT_strnicmp to use GCC implementations, revert inlining patch, save as dialog fix (from Jordi Mas). Fixed Bugs 1965 and 2918. |
| mpritchett | 13 | CygWin configure fixes, MSVC6 support, and fixed Bugs 2899 and 3072. |
| jeremyd | 11 | Got MSVC6 build to show toolbars, Win32 build fixes, Win32 paper namespace tweak, MSVC7 build fix (from Andrew Venier). |
| msevior | 11 | Added visualedit to AbiCommand, make RTF importer honor page size, AbiCommand work. |
| rms | 8 | Polish updates (from Andrzej), sv-SE update (from Per Larssen), pt_PT update, nn-NO update (from Karl Ove Hufthammer), RPM spec tweak. |
| jskov | 3 | Fix FAQ, try to fix GNOME --version output. |
| phma | 2 | French update (from Gilles Saint-Denis). |
| uwog | 2 | nl-NL update. |
| hub | 1 | Fixed Bug 2000 (from Jordi Mas) |
Project Of the Week
POW (Project Of the Week) and the new uPOW (User Project Of the Week) is an attempt at attracting new developers and entice help from users by lowering the bar of entry to doing something constructive for AbiWord. A POW will describe a goal and often outline how to get there.
Presently we have a few unclaimed POWs. Please see the POW status page for more details.
| Type | POW | Summary |
| uPOW | 2001.17 | Where to send AbiWord announcements |
| uPOW | 2001.09 | Determining Locale Status |
| uPOW | 2001.07 | Host for AbiWord BugDay |
| uPOW | 2001.06 | Update Feature and UI matrices |
| POW | 1999.47 | Make translated dialogs fit |
| uPOW | 1999.37 | CS folks wanted... |
Bug Update
Here's the AbiWord bug update for the last week. If you can spare some time, please help us triage the bugs - you don't need to be a programmer to do this.
Bug Statistics
Bug Votes
These are the week's Top 20 Bugs in the categories problems and requests for enhancements. Influence next week's results by casting your own votes.
| Top 20 Problems | |||
| ID | Votes | Milestone | Summary |
| 1030 | 333 | Future | Installing AbiWord messes up fonts in other applications (e.... |
| 376 | 79 | 1.2 | File assosciate problems for all file types with Win32Slurp |
| 1124 | 69 | 1.2 | Does not honor config/-geometry request |
| 1402 | 55 | Future | Can not use other than original type1 fonts |
| 1406 | 48 | Future | xhtml documents fail to open: "Bogus html document" msg |
| 1747 | 42 | 1.2 | background colour of text selection is always grey |
| 2598 | 36 | 1.2 | Abiword installs bogus fonts of dubious heritage |
| 1046 | 33 | 1.0 | Some localized strings truncated in Windows version |
| 1818 | 20 | --- | Font reverts to Times New Roman when it shouldn't |
| 1194 | 20 | 1.2 | alt+xxxx does not insert special symbols |
| 2421 | 20 | --- | TM, Bullet, Euro, Smart Quotes and other symbols originating... |
| 1394 | 17 | 1.2 | on-screen landscape actually prints portrait in Win95 |
| 2299 | 15 | --- | Prints incorrect margins with split page. |
| 372 | 15 | Future | consolidate identical platform code |
| 2868 | 15 | 1.2 | character widths are not calculated correctly for some fonts... |
| 1474 | 11 | 1.2 | libiconv Korean broken |
| 2275 | 10 | 1.2 | dbk not valid after save |
| 1184 | 10 | Future | Doc import not 100% correct |
| 1333 | 10 | Future | Inserting a word is O(n) in the number of words in the docum... |
| Top 20 Requests For Enhancement | |||
| ID | Votes | Milestone | Summary |
| 1276 | 705 | 1.2 | Table support |
| 1261 | 343 | Future | Need to support footnotes and endnotes |
| 2321 | 182 | Future | [RFE] Maths/Equation Editing, as a plugin maybe? |
| 2183 | 80 | --- | Fully Support OpenOffice's XML file format |
| 1374 | 64 | Future | [RFE] print odd and/or even pages only (for front & back pri |
| 2365 | 45 | Future | AbiWord needs 'view codes' |
| 1950 | 42 | Future | Wish for automatic Table of Contents |
| 1929 | 36 | Future | Hyphenation is missing in Abiword |
| 1144 | 32 | Future | Improve KWord import/export filters |
| 515 | 25 | Future | columns change should only affect selected text |
| 1270 | 23 | Future | Abiword should graphical columns ala wordperfect 8/9 |
| 1875 | 22 | Future | Import of StarOffice Writer documents (*.sdw) |
| 808 | 21 | 1.2 | Tables not imported from RTF |
| 2169 | 21 | Future | Line numbering |
| 2360 | 20 | Future | Resizing bitmap images |
| 2294 | 20 | Future | Tool palette instead of toolbars |
| 1525 | 20 | Future | Preferences -> Toolbars, Button Style, Both |
| 1262 | 18 | 1.2 | [RFE] need to rewrite RTF import |
| 1935 | 17 | Future | inconsistecy re "units" selection in 3 different places |
Closed Bugs
In the past week, the following Bugs have been closed. The listed Bugs have all been put in QA TO VERIFY mode as either FIXED or WORKSFORME and have been verified by the people listed below. Other causes of closing a Bug (e.g. as INVALID) are not tracked since they usually do not represent a fixed problem.
| Bugs Closed This Week | |
| Bug ID | Description |
| 434 | Line spacing is incorrect if a section break is added at a f |
| 478 | Opens an untitled document when it cannot parse the document |
| 1066 | AbiWord crashes opening HTML document |
| 1081 | Spell Check problem with apostrophies |
| 1437 | DocBook export breaks high-bit chars (like apostrophes) |
| 1509 | List formattting using dialog affects only first paragraph o |
| 1531 | Import XHTML encoding/charset |
| 1652 | Asserts on opening a document. |
| 1965 | This Word doc crashes AbiWord |
| 2000 | Save File on Crash in Windows |
| 2171 | Insert field box not wide enough |
| 2313 | Bad postscript generated - overlapping characters/cuttoffs/s |
| 2402 | Problem importing Word document |
| 2460 | English text "Show Paragraphs" is misleading. |
| 2465 | Cursor lingers when inserting a field at the end of a row |
| 2486 | modify/new style preview window checks the spelling |
| 2503 | Default font size code not saved to blank lines in RTF Files |
| 2558 | Problem with long names |
| 2602 | Does not use gtk-config for inlude path |
| 2617 | Editing-window-centric normal/draft mode |
| 2633 | RTF documents that crash abiword |
| 2656 | abiword-0.99.1-1.src.rpm does not compile on RedHat 7.1 w/o |
| 2657 | full view, print layout: vertical ruler messed up |
| 2664 | text after apostrophe is printed over text before |
| 2678 | AbiWord crashes when told to print. |
| 2689 | windows margin size dlg: inch/cm mess, bad error message |
| 2693 | Spelling doesn't work with words from custom.dic if these wo |
| 2709 | Bad Defaults for Header and Footer Margins |
| 2723 | Scrollbars missing in Windows: insert->hyperlink |
| 2789 | Opened 2 word docs at the same time |
| 2793 | Dutch translation error |
| 2819 | page margins in cm or mm do not work |
| 2820 | unproper font for bulletts |
| 2895 | last letter in italics look weird |
| 2906 | numbered-heading-lists bug not fixed yet |
| 2940 | [crash] Inserting hyperlink at beginning of document causes |
| 2952 | Debian unstable AbiWord freezes at first 'space' entered |
| 2956 | No toolbar under Win95B - COMCTL32.DLL checking |
| 2999 | rescaling page dumps core |
| 3006 | Crash when changing style |
| 3014 | zoom dialog preview not working |
| 3053 | abi word crashes when I attempt to open a second document |
| 3066 | Help->Report a Bug doesn't take me to AbiWord's Bugzilla. |
| 3093 | Abi doesn't import this rtf doc right |
| 3102 | Windows download of 0.99.5 is pointing to the wrong URL. |
| 3112 | Opening MSWord Documents always asks for password |
| 3114 | abiword crashes when I attempt to load a particular RTF file |
| This Week's 5 Most Active QA Helpers | |
| Closed | Name |
| 12 | webmaster@dofty.zzn.com |
| 8 | Luis Miguel García |
| 5 | j.m.maurer@student.utwente.nl |
| 4 | Hubert Figuiere |
| 3 | jensend@iname.com |
To get your name in neon, help QA the Bugs. If you want your name rather than your email address to appear, drop me a line.
Latest Releases
Here are links to the latest official releases of AbiWord for various architectures and operating systems.
| OS | CPU | Type | URL |
| AbiWord 0.99.5- Release Notes | |||
| QNX | i386 | abiword-0.99.5.qpr.gz | |
| Linux/GNOME | i386 | abiword-gnome-0.99.5-1.i386.rpm | |
| Linux/GTK | i386 | abiword-gtk-0.99.5-1.i386.rpm | |
| Linux/GTK | i386 | BiDi | abiword-gtk-bidi-0.99.5-1.i386.rpm |
| Linux | Sources | abiword-0.99.5-1.src.rpm | |
| Linux | i386 | Clipart | abiword-clipart-0.99.5-1.i386.rpm |
| Linux | i386 | Fonts | abiword-fonts-0.99.5-1.i386.rpm |
| Win32 | i386 | setup_abiword-0995.exe | |
| Win32 | i386 | BiDi | setup_abiword_bidi-0995.exe |
| Sources | abiword-0.99.3.tar.gz | ||
| AbiWord 0.99.3- Release Notes | |||
| MacOSX | PPC | XAbiWord-0.99.3-1.dmg.gz | |
| Linux/GNOME | PPC | abiword-gnome_0.99.3_powerpc.deb | |
| Linux/GTK | PPC | abiword-gtk_0.99.3_powerpc.deb | |
| Linux/GNOME | i386 | BiDi | abiword-gnome-bidi-0.99.3-1.i386.rpm |
| AbiWord 0.99.2- Release Notes | |||
| AbiWord 0.99.1- Release Notes | |||
| AbiWord 0.9.6- Release Notes | |||
| AbiWord 0.9.5- Release Notes | |||
| AbiWord 0.9.4- Release Notes | |||
| Linux/GTK | i386 | abiword_0.9.5_i386.deb | |
These are links to snapshot builds of AbiWord for a subset of the supported architectures/operating systems.
Note that the snapshot builds may not work (at all!), but are likely to include more features and have fewer bugs than (older) official releases. Use the official releases for "production systems" and the snapshot builds for testing and when you want to help with Bug triaging.
| OS | CPU | URL | Comment |
| AbiWord Snapshots | |||
| Linux (GNOME+GTK) | i386 | http://pinohuis.dhs.org/uwog/abiword/ | Provided by Marc Maurer. These are updated daily. Plugins, clip art, fonts and help files are available too. |
| Win32 | i386 | http://abiword.pchasm.org/ | Provided by Jeremy Davis. These are updated twice a day. Plugins are available too. |
| Win32 | i386 | http://www.niksbiks.dk/Software/Abi/ | Provided by Nikolaj Brandt Jensen. These are updated about once a week. BiDi builds are available too. |
On the Mailing List
Traffic on the developer mailing list has settled on about 200 postings per week.
You may also find interesting threads on the user and documentation lists (unfortunately the archive for the latter is broken at the moment).
This week, interesting topics on the developer list included:
GUADEC & other Photos now online: Dom posted some photos of AbiWord hackers, taken at GUADEC and elsewhere.
GUADEC talk online: Hub put the GUADEC paper and slides on the web site for you to look at.
Newbie volunteer -- need some directions and help: Roshan Mathews asked for help getting started as a contributor. Lots of good hints in this thread.
AbiWord 1.0 Bugs: Earlier in the week (or the week before, I forget) Dom announced that AbiWord 1.0 will be released soon and any remaining Bugs will remain unfixed for 1.0 unless someone post patches. So I went through BugZilla and did some triaging for 1.0 Milestone Bugs: closing some that had already been fixed, closed one or two really old ones (7.14 crashers with no feedback since opening are hardly useful), and pushed more to the 1.2 Milestone. In short, I closed or pushed any Bugs I felt I knew would or could not be fixed, or which really didn't matter much. The result was a list of 27 Bugs which now get a lot more attention than they would have before - and it appears to be working, as we're now down to 19 (and I know some of these have been fixed rather than just pushed to 1.2). Hopefully more will be fixed in time for 1.0... The clock is ticking!
1.0 binaries, platform status.: MG took status of the platforms we could build 1.0 binaries for. If your platform is not mentioned, and you would like to help build binaries, please drop us a note on the developer mailing list.
Special Interest --
From time to time, this section will contain essay-style text about various special interests of the AbiWord development.