ANN: IPython 0.6.4 is out.

[Fernando Perez]

Hi all,

I'm glad to announce that IPython 0.6.4, an enhanced interactive Python shell,
is finally out. IPython's homepage is at:

http://ipython.scipy.org

and downloads are at:

http://ipython.scipy.org/dist

I've provided RPMs for Python 2.2 and 2.3, plus source downloads (.tar.gz and
..zip for Windows users).

Debian, Fink and BSD packages for this version should be coming soon, as
therespective maintainers have the time to follow their packaging procedures
many thanks to Jack Moffit, Andrea Riciputi and Dryice Liu)

Many thanks to Enthought for their continued hosting support for IPython, and
to all the users who contributed ideas, fixes and reports.


*** WHAT is IPython? IPython tries to:

1. Provide an interactive shell superior to Python's default. IPython has many
features for object introspection, system shell access, and its own special
command system for adding functionality when working interactively.

2. Serve as an embeddable, ready to use interpreter for your own programs.
IPython can be started with a single call from inside another program,
providing access to the current namespace.

3. Offer a flexible framework which can be used as the base environment for
other systems with Python as the underlying language.


*** IMPORTANT NOTE:

Unless any important bugs are found, this version will likely be the last
ipython release for quite some time. I intend to (finally) start a major
internal cleanup, as described in:

http://ipython.scipy.org/doc/new_design.pdf

This process will likely take a while; even though it's relatively
straightforward, there is a _lot_ of code to go through. In a few weeks, I
will probably open a separate CVS branch for this, so that I can still fix
bugs for version 0.6.4 in CVS HEAD if they are found. Needless to say, any
volunteers are welcome to help

Once the new branch becomes reasonably stable, it will be released, and I hope
this will soon after lead to an official '1.0' release for ipython.


*** NEW for this release:

Now, on to the usual summary of changes in IPython 0.6.4 vs 0.6.3. As always,
the complete NEWS file can be found at http://ipython.scipy.org/NEWS, and the
whole ChangeLog at http://ipython.scipy.org/ChangeLog.

- License changed to BSD: IPython is now fully licensed under the terms of the
BSD license (except for a few MIT-licensed files which have always been there;
the MIT license is very similar to BSD).

- Changed the explicit magic escape from @ to %, to conform with the
introduction of Python @decorators in Python 2.4. IPython 0.6.4 should be
100% compatible with Python 2.4.

- Many small improvements which mainly matter to users of the matplotlib
support (via -pylab). These fix a number of problems, crashes and annoyances
present in 0.6.3.

- Small fixes and hardenings against crashes which could be caused by buggy
third-party code run from within ipython. There are currently no known
ipython crash cases.

Enjoy, and as usual please report any problems.

Regards,

Fernando Perez.

 

[Stefan Behnel]

In a few weeks, I
will probably open a separate CVS branch for this, so that I can still fix
bugs for version 0.6.4 in CVS HEAD if they are found. Needless to say, any
volunteers are welcome to help

Just a quick note on this one:

If you are already planning to abandon the current tree after the
restructuring, why don't you put the current version into a CVS branch and
continue working on CVS HEAD? You can still make changes to the branch in
case someone finds bugs in it.

I think that's the usual approach.

Stefan

 

[Fernando Perez]

Just a quick note on this one:

If you are already planning to abandon the current tree after the
restructuring, why don't you put the current version into a CVS branch and
continue working on CVS HEAD? You can still make changes to the branch in
case someone finds bugs in it.

Thanks! That is indeed my intention, so I'll probably follow your advice. But
will this mean that unsuspecting souls using CVS will get HEAD automatically?
If that's the case, I'll add a nice warning about HEAD becoming _really_
unstable for a while, so I don't burn anyone. So far HEAD has been the place
for users to get cutting-edge bugfixes, so at least I should warn them that
this may change in the future.

I've never used branches in CVS, so I didn't really know. Feel free to expand
with further advice, as I'm sure it will be extremely useful to me.

Regards,

f

 

[Robert Kern]

Thanks! That is indeed my intention, so I'll probably follow your advice. But
will this mean that unsuspecting souls using CVS will get HEAD automatically?
If that's the case, I'll add a nice warning about HEAD becoming _really_
unstable for a while, so I don't burn anyone. So far HEAD has been the place
for users to get cutting-edge bugfixes, so at least I should warn them that
this may change in the future.

You could also leave CVS HEAD as it is and hop on the SVN bandwagon for
the new version.

Come on! You know you want to!

--
Robert Kern
(e-mail address removed)

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
-- Richard Harter

 

[Fernando Perez]

You could also leave CVS HEAD as it is and hop on the SVN bandwagon for
the new version.

Come on! You know you want to!

Mmh. I've thought about it. The problem is that I'm addicted to Cervisia
(KDE's CVS gui), esp. to its super-clean graphical diff interface. And SVN
support in cervisia is not there yet, unfortunately. Suggestions?

f