AbiWord Weekly News #151, (2003, week 27, released 2003.06.30)

Welcome to this issue 151 of the AbiWord Weekly News.

Update:

      This is an important notice on reference to the Anti-Abi advertising.   Before saying or doing anything regaurding this (especially clicking the google ad to death), please read this specific reply: Re: [abiword-dev] Cheeky F***ers, Negative Advertising..   Alan informs us that we could end up hindering rather than helping our cause, with summarizing and relating specific links to Google Ad Policy and SourceGear trademark information.   Due to the recency of the posting, niether Dom or SourceGear have had any input to it yet.   Just remember, the real names are "AbiWord™" and "AbiWord II: The Wrath of Dom©" -- though...one of those is really just a me-thing....

Follow-ups:

      Anti-Abi ads still abound and the first 2.0 beta is about to be antiquated.

This week in development

      Tomas expands the clipboard capabilities, MailMerge to become a new animal, Windows gets several big boosts and Beta2 soon to arrive.   Also, one of the more productive weeks for the user discussions, on our mailing list and at FootNotes.

Request for user assistance

      If you want an equally rich and powerful Windows release, we really, really could use some Windows developers.   A whole mess of people with even just an hour a week could help.   Of course, the "three with only two hours a week" model hasn't been helping!   We're desperate!   We'll take a line a day if there's enough of you!   Please help...please!   Doesn't a platform like yours deserve a chance?

      Windows users, your help is doubly requested*.   We would like to see more bug reports coming from the Windows crowd, so, if you're feeling more daring, please download and try out the Win32 binaries when they're available.   If you want some sweet functionality in AbiWord II: The Wrath of Dom, you will have to participate.   You could also consider joining Project Blue Ant.

      Attention users with spare change.   Marc ended up on the wrong end of a money conversion.   He's now 144 euros in debt for our CURRENT! alternative server at the University of Twente*.

Silliness of the Week

      What could possibly beat the menu comment from last week!?

      Well, since I can't, and I just saw the link in chat, I'll shove in...
HUB'S GUADEC PICS!
Ahh, GUADEC, where a geek can be a geek.

      Want to stop unjust things from happening in chat?   Join!   It's #abiword at irc.gimp.org

This Issue

      And remember, I give you an email address so you can talk to me, in case you're not on either mailing list.

In this issue:

• Discussion
• Development
• Bug Update
• Release HackDown

Editor(s) of this issue:  E. A. Zen

      If you're interested in using AbiWord for the first time, receiving a more up-to-date version, any particular version or special release, feel free to visit the new  Latest Releases page.

DISCLAIMER:  It should be generally noted that anything said before the "In this issue:" line is purely editorial.   Actually, everything I say is purely editorial.   You kind of get used to it.

Discussions

Traffic on the  developer mailing list has settled at about 200-400 postings per week.   This week, interesting topics on the developer list included:

1. commit (HEAD): win32 clipboard on demand and commit (HEAD): toward AW native clipboard :   Tomas is making it possible to post data to the Windows clipboard beyond the standard RTF.   The greatest plus to all of this is that less data will be lost or mangled (particularly bidi) by using proper Unicode (Abi) to \*t*char (RTF) or binary (DOC) markers.   Unfortunately, this will not be see until after the release of AbiWord II: The Wrath of Dom.

2. patch for libgnomedb headers , [Fwd: Re: patch for libgnomedb headers] and Re: patch for libgnomedb headers :   Rodrigo Moya gets back to work on the GDA plugin you've all come to know and love as "MailMerge."   Rodrigo's been snooping over at Open Office's Data Sources dialogue just to see what kind of system he might want to build up.   Windows users uninterested in Open Office can simply think of Data Sources as being an embedded Access clone; you can view the current Windows' version here.   Meantime, Dom wants to push for commandline functionality and limited application editability.   If you don't know, Abi's AbiCommand plugin allows for AbiWord to act as a document server, which can possess increased power if there's a text-only file that can be passed via standard in/out (text only) method.   The Mergeant format is considered to some extent for this.

3. commit: google and free translation plugin fixes :   Jordi has made it possible to compile the google and free translation plugins for Windows.   If a complete binary for Windows gets built this week, you may have the chance to try them out!

4. commit (HEAD): New toolbar customization system + slight fixes :   Christian, HIG's new best friend, has gone to the trouble to alter some of the toolbar options.   After some minor refactoring and a new API, you can now lock or reset the toolbar layout.   Sure, I could talk about the technicals, but you'd probably just want to see the end result.   Implemented only on the GNOME 2 platform (though, it is cross platform), I present Lock Layout.

5. Collapsible Outlining and Bidi :   Randy Kramer, who's working on getting collapsible outlining to work on Abiword, has some unanswered question about how bidi would affect it.   Nudge, nudge; wink, wink.

6. 1.99.2? aka Beta2? :   Martin has gotten release antsy while playing around in Nippon.   If things go well, you may see "Beta2" available by the end of Sunday.

Traffic on the  user mailing list is sporadic at best.   Often, a good topic comes up, but users tend to only respond to the original poster rather than the list (as well), which limits what I would add, as the only lone threads I post are announcements of importance or points of great interest.   This week, interesting topics on the user list included:

1. Re: Abiword1.99 [Solved] :   Keith Powell, a SuSE user, and James Ogley, our SuSE builder, has figured out a problem that might be of issue for SuSE/KDE users.   If your highlighting gets all funky, the problem may be due to gnome-sessions-daemon, or more accurately, the lack of it.   For whatever odd reason this dependency cropped up, you can fix it by copying the gsd to your KDE Autostart folder.   Thank you, Keith, for bringing that useful information back to the list.

2. pkgconfig and dependances... and Re: pkgconfig and dependances... :   Bernard Lambey seems to have run across and ldconfig-kind of problem, which has resulted in Jost Ammon making a Windows plug.   Jost's issue gets address last in this list.

3. Testing latest Win32 builds and Re: Testing latest Win32 builds :   Boris Kortiak experiences a problem when using the Win32 nightly binaries (thanks to all of you who do test these).   It should be pointed out that the nightly builds from pchasm (Kenneth "Jeremy" Davis) should have any installer/downloader issues reported back there (to Jeremy).   All other Win32 issues can be reported to Bugzilla or the user list (if it's not particularly a bug).   And, remember, it's usually not you who has done something wrong ^_^

4. installing the tar.gz :   Jost Ammon apologises for his beef back at pkgconfig and dependances....   For those of you who haven't read the instructions in BUILD, when compiling from source, if you don't see a configure script, try running autogen.sh

Traffic outside of the AbiDomain is tracked and occasionally reported.   This weeks includes selection(s) from: FootNotes

      Now, before I get into the FootNotes business, (capital F and N!) I would like to draw attention to readers and commentors a small point.   I would like a better idea as to whom a reply is being made for.   Seriously, I'm lining up a magazine to see where the threading is!   You can change the subject, so, please, do so!   Of course, FootNotes could implement something like ASE Forums have, and add a number to the "Re:".   That could help too....   Just the ramblings of an editor on decaf; pay no mind.

1. Re: AbiWord Weekly News #150 :   Should you click your brains out on that anti-abi advertisement?   Yes, yes you should.   I should consult with my lawyer first, but from WIRIC (What I Read In Chat), I think you can.   It's a shame that TextMaker can't, as No One In Particular put it, "stand by the features of their product rather than badmouthing" their competitors.   Must be based on American campaign advertisements.   In other news, AbiPresents is a much better name than Criawips   As for FootNotes, I think Ryan put it best in the convoluted way of supporting FootNotes, however, he has under-estimated the size of the footprint of the Gecko rendering engine.   The Abi->Nautilus->Galeon->Gecko combo will at least octople the size of Abi's footprint.   Due to consistency requirements, Gedit will need to at a four meg blanket, but that would be the least of the problems, as the snowballing of Galeon* and Nautilus, Abi could grow indefinately.   As a result, I recommend viewing FootNotes via the wget http://www.gnomedesktop.org | less command.   Lynx is for weaklings who fear markup.

2. Re: AbiWord Weekly News #150 :   Do people notice my Disclaimer?   Slashdot users may have heard of RTFA, but do I need to say RTFThread?   Before typing off in such a fury, make sure you have a really good reason to yell...yeah.   Dom clears up the discussion here, in case you, too, had worries or wonders about Dom's dead gnome dying after finding out it was dead.   You know what I've learned from all of this?   I've learned I should just post the AWN as comments, as certain quotes get me funny points ;o)

3. Re: AbiWord Weekly News #150 :   "In the vastness of space, one lone voice in all of the universe..." actually pays attention.   So special, I gave this one it's own spot on the AWN.   This voice uses an extra "r", but I can accept this failing.

4. Re: AbiWord Weekly News #150 :   RedHat users having issues with libgal dependencies?   After Beta2's release, that issue just disappears (if you don't mind a wait).   If you'd still like to try out daily builds of CVS HEAD RH9 or GTK2 rpm's, Marc has made them available here.

Development

      Track who put in how much and why.   And, while you're at it, consider whether you'd like to keep your own cvs build as well.   Tables...ooh....

      Current pows are here. This will probably be replaced next week if not this very week.

Name:  More Windows Maintainers
Description:  Jordi and Jeremy could always use help
Advertisement:  Help free people from the oppression of MSWord today!
Recommended Outline:  You must become magical to know how to fix this.
Comments:  Wouldn't be a bad idea to start with the printing bug...
System:  Windows
Challenge level:  ****. 4 stars out of 5
Current Heros:  Jordi Mas, Jeremy Davis

Bug Update

Bug Market

      This week's activity: ResoUnconf +15 (16 : 1), VeriNew +213 (218 : 5), ClosAssi -1 (3 : 4),

      Few analysts notices ResoUnconf staying a steady medium and ClosedAssi slipping into the negative, as VeriNew reached and astounding number of 213!   You get enough dedicated and hardworking users willing to test things out, you'd be amazed at what can be accomplished!   What we're wonder now is, "Will Beta2 testers surpass that number!?"

      For information about how to view the chart, please read 142's Special Interest.

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.   Ah, another release, another change of what bugs are on the "Most Wanted" list.

      Yes, we all like Open Offices format, but no one else wants to help do it...five votes there is the only change whatsoever to the lists.

Release HackDown

      This is an AbiWord Weekly News original concept:  The Release Hackdown.   In the table below, you can watch what bugs are being fixed in preparation for the very next release.   Check the key at the bottom to understand formatting.

      No pressure, guys, I'm sure only 2000 or so people will be watching to see what you do weekly.   That breaks down to about 285 people daily and 12 people hourly, so, it's like being peeked at once every five minutes, literally.   "Isn't that veird!?"

Stable

      There is not stable tracker bug, so, I'm chopping it out until told otherwise.

Head

      On our way to two-point-oh, affectionately referred to as, AbiWord II: The Wrath of Dom.

      Another windows printing bug bites the dust, and the first Windows blocker bug to be knocked off was Page-break pixeldirt when scrolling down.   Truly, a blue-letter day for the Windows crowd.

      See Announce: 2.0 release plan for more details on the intended route towards Abiword II: The Wrath of Dom.

Open Source, Open Books.

      Approximately once a month, don't hedge bets, I'll get this updated by asking (read: whining at) dom.   In the meantime, whenever you want to see how much is in and where it gets diverted, just peek down here.

      Word of caution, numbers lightly fudged due to (hopefully) temporarily incomplete data.   Like a consultant's suggested price, you'll find hidden meaning in the data if you stare long and hard.   Surgeon's General's Warning:  Staring long and hard may have psychotropic affects; keep out of reach of people who like that sort of thing.

      I cannot promise the time of de-fudging, nor can I promise there will be de-fudging any time soon. However, I feel confident that there will be some de-fudging going on.

Current Balance: $1604.34
Interest earned: $8.64

Expenditures: $950
$400 to pay for Martin's Boston Gnome Summit Trip
$400 to buy Andrew Dunbar a new computer
$ 60 to misc./entertainment expenses at GNOME summit, GUAD3C, other, paid out of dom's pocket
$225 Patch Prize (those already successfully awarded)
-   $ 45 Will Lachance
-   $ 45 Marc Maurer
-   $ 45 Ruud Vring
-   $ 45 Patrick Lam
-   $ 45 Dom Lachowicz

Unique contributors: 58*
paypal: 57
check :  3
cash  :  1
*58: plusse 3 repeat offenders whom we love dearly

Contributions: $2723.00
Less paypal and other banking fees: $115.00