Merge fixes from branch 'xorn' into stable-1.10

[geda-gaf.git] / NEWS

==============================================
 'gschem and Friends' Electronic Design Suite
==============================================

Copyright (C) 1998-2020 gEDA Developers

This file documents important user-visible changes in gEDA/gaf.  For
more information, please consult the `ChangeLog' file.


Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.10.2
==================================

* Re-added support for Guile 2.0 and some older library versions


Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.10.1
==================================

* Migrated to Guile 2.2.

* Duplicate symbols in a library are now only considered an error if
  one of the symbols has been referenced.

* Fixed handling of packages and nets in multi-page subschematics.

* gnetlist ignores the `--report-gui' option and falls back to console
  output if the Python GTK bindings are missing.

* Added power symbols based on the newer netname= convention to the
  standard symbol library.

* Moved visibility columns in the attribute editor to the left side.

* When promoting an attribute manually in the attribute editor, the
  new attribute is now visible by default.

* After pasting objects, the newly-pasted objects are selected.

* Page size and orientation can be changed in the print dialog.

* Removed the option `bus-ripper-rotation'; both symmetric and
  non-symmetric bus rippers are now placed correctly.

* Fixed bugs:
  - lp-1878401  Geda* Will Not Compile On Fedora 32
  - lp-1853617  incorrectly placing the component attribute on the printout
  - lp-1849621  Fix 'parentheses around assignment used as truth value' war...
  - lp-1848838  Some Guile tests fail in geda 1.10.0
  - lp-1848837  geda 1.10.0 fails to build
  - lp-1783027  Install fails if INSTALL doesn't specify full path of insta...
  ...and several more which never made it to the bugtracker.


Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.10.0
==================================

General changes
---------------

* Added the library "xornstorage" and the Python package "gaf" as a
  (currently quite minimal) way to access gEDA/gaf functionality from
  outside of gschem.  These are on the long term intended to replace
  libgeda, making the core gEDA/gaf functionality available as a
  library to both gschem and other applications.

* Added command-line tool `xorn' for low-level schematic and symbol
  file manipulation.

* Added experimental XML file format (currently only supported by
  gnetlist and the `xorn' command line utility).

* Objects colors are limited to 21 (up to and including FREESTYLE4).
  More recent colors added for GUI purposes can be set in colormaps
  but aren't automatically added to the file format specification.

* The symbol directories "gnetman", "verilog", and "vhdl" are now
  installed to the new location PREFIX/share/gEDA/extra-sym/.  This
  allows adding the default library with "component-library-search".

* The directory to which gEDA programs write log transcripts can be
  changed by setting the environment variable `GEDALOG' (the default
  being ~/.gEDA/logs/).

* All tests now use the parallel test harness, speeding up `make
  check' runs considerably when used with multiple jobs (-jN).

* Fixed bugs:
  - lp-698501   gschem file preview function renders files twice
  - lp-698524   gnetlist ignores duplicate inout-symbols
  - lp-698768   No ordering requirement for attribute attach/detach
  - lp-701637   gschem "Scheme Interaction" window
  - lp-1266316  gschem exits on color value < 0
  - lp-1367462  undo messes with the view even though undo panzoom is disabled
  - lp-1492834  These docked dialogs should remember their size
  - lp-1496899  gschem: dock window wishlist
  - lp-1497659  gnetlist -v -g spice-sdb generates bad verbose netlist
  - lp-1514209  gschem: multiattrib Value textview improvements
  - lp-1532794  Build fails on missing colors.h
  - lp-1576918  Memory and file handle leak in libgeda
  - lp-1590757  partlist3 yields wrong netlist in some cases
  - lp-1625474  xorn does not build on FreeBSD
  - lp-1661961  "format not a string literal and no format arguments" warning
  ...and a lot more which never made it to the bugtracker.


gschem changes
--------------

* Tool windows are now "dockable", i.e., they can be either used as
  modal/non-modal dialogs or docked to the edges of the main window.

* The action mechanism used for menu items, tool buttons, and key
  bindings has been redesigned, making several improvements possbile:

  - Actions can now be used interchangeably in the main menu, toolbar,
    context menu, and keymap.  They are defined in a single place
    ("actions.c" for C actions and "builtins.scm" for Guile actions),
    including metadata like name, icon, and tooltip.

  - Menu items and tool buttons representing options have a little
    check or radio box beside them indicating their current state.

  - Menu items and tool buttons are greyed out while they can't be
    used.

  - Toolbar and context menu are customizable.

  - Menu and toolbar definitions are simple Scheme variables, allowing
    users to add actions to the menu without having to copy the menu
    definition.  Actions are represented in Scheme code as applicable
    SMOBs, allowing them to be called like procedures while retaining
    the action information necessary for rendering the menus/toolbar.

  - "Repeat Last Action" (usually bound to ".") uses the same logic as
    the middle mouse button repeat action does, i.e., only actions
    that "make sense" qualify for repeating.

* The menus, toolbar, and keymap have been revamped to more closely
  resemble the "standards" for a desktop application.  Some actions
  have been assigned more accessible or memorable keys.

* Added a command-line option "--control-fd=stdin|FD" which allows
  remote-controlling gschem via a file descriptor.  This is intended
  for project managers like Igor2's "genxproj".

* File operations have been consolidated: opening, saving, closing a
  file and so on should now behave identical regardless of how the
  operation was initiated.  Related improvements:

  - When opening multiple files, the first one (instead of the last
    one) is initially shown.

  - The symversion= mismatch dialog is shown whenever a symversion=
    mismatch is detected while opening a file, not just for files
    specified on the command line.

  - gschem now keeps track of which files are untitled, listing them
    as "untitled page" instead of assigning them a temporary filename.
    The Scheme procedure `page-filename' returns #f for untitled
    pages.

  - "Save all" used to produce spurious "untitled_1.sch" files.  This
    was due to three issues working together, which have been fixed:

    - When gschem is invoked without specifying filenames on the
      command line, an untitled page is created.  This page wasn't
      removed when opening files, staying invisibly in the background.

    - "Save all" didn't check which files needed saving but just
      unconditionally saved anything.

    - "Save all" didn't behave like the interactive "Save", asking for
      a filename for untitled pages, but just saved each page to its
      internally stored filename.

  - The file chooser dialog on "Open" and "Save As" is now always
    opened in the current directory.

  - When opening a file which is already open but has since been
    changed on disk, the user is asked whether to reload the file.

  - When the currently edited file has been modified on disk, a
    notification is shown offering the user to reload the file.

  - If the user enters a filename with an unusual extension while
    saving, a confirmation dialog is shown.

  - When trying to open a file or descend into a subschematic which
    doesn't exist, gschem now offers to create a new file with that
    name.

* Some improvements have been made to the multi-attribute editor:

  - Editing a single attribute invokes the multi-attribute editor.

  - Trying to edit an inherited attribute edits the attached attribute
    with the same name if it exists, or promotes the attribute and
    edits its value if it doesn't exist yet.

  - Attributes are shown in the order in which they are listed in the
    configuration (via "attribute-name").

* Attaching and detaching attributes now work as expected:

  - "Attributes / Attach Attributes" used to depend on the order in
    which objects were selected, taking the first selected object as
    the base object to attach attributes to, regardless of its type.
    Now, the selected objects are searched for a base object of
    suitable type, and only if exactly one is found, the attributes
    are attached to it.

  - "Attributes / Detach Attributes" used to work on selected
    components and nets, detaching all attributes from these objects.
    It now works on the selected *attributes*, allowing the user to
    selectively detach specific attributes while leaving the rest
    attached.

* "Lock Component" used to lock components as well as non-component
  objects, bringing the latter into an invalid state that would last
  until the next "Undo" (or until the page was saved and loaded back
  from file manually).

  This has been fixed: "Lock Component" and "Unlock Component" now
  only operate on components, changing the color of attached
  attributes as they used to do with any selected text.

* The "Light Color Scheme" (V L) selected from the menu now has a
  truly white background.  For compatibility, selecting the "lightbg"
  colormap in gschemrc loads the old, light-gray color scheme; the new
  color scheme can be selected as "whitebg".

* The library window has been made fit to be used as a dock window:

  - When the dialog is resized to be taller than a certain aspect
    ratio, it switches automatically to a stacked layout where the
    preview and attribute panes are located below the symbol selector.

  - While in stacked layout, the bottom panes can be expanded and
    collapsed to give more room to the symbol selector.

  - The window is automatically refreshed on library updates.

* Symbol editing has been improved:

  - The page can now be scrolled to negative coordinates, making it
    feasible to edit symbols without moving them away from the origin,
    then translating them back.  This also allows to consciously
    choose something that makes sense for the symbol as the location
    of the origin.

  - The coordinate origin is now indicated with slightly darker grid
    lines.  (This can be enabled/disabled via "View / Show Origin".)

  - The "Symbol Translate" action has been replaced with "Place
    Origin" which lets the user select the position of the origin
    interactively.

* Added support for back-annotation from pcb-rnd.

* Double-clicking a subschematic component enters the subschematic.

* Right-clicking in path mode works as expected.

* Pins are allowed to have zero length.

* "File / Revert" only asks for confirmation if the file has been
  modified.

* The "repeat" function of the middle mouse button now evaluates
  actions at the current mouse position.

* Mouse gestures work properly again.

* libstroke has been merged into gEDA/gaf.  This removes the
  dependency on libstroke and makes mouse gestures always available.

* Added new mouse gestures for page navigation:
  - swiping left goes to the previous, swiping right to the next page
  - swiping right and then down enters a subschmatic
  - swiping left and then down enters a symbol
  - swiping up and sideways (in any combination) goes back to the
    parent schematic

* The coordinate dialog has been replaced with an option to display
  the coordinates in the status bar.

* Added further menu items:

  - "Add / Last Component" (A C)

  - "Object / Toggle Text Overbar" (T O)

  - "View / Show Menubar" (V M)
  - "View / Show Toolbar" (V T)
  - "View / Show Scrollbars" (V S)

  - "Tools / Select Locked Objects" (T L)

* Fixed various issues related to undo/redo:

  - The menu items "Edit / Undo" and "Edit / Redo" now show the name
    of the action that will be undone/redone.

  - The current viewport used to be restored on undo/redo regardless
    of the "undo-panzoom" setting (which prevents pan and zoom
    operations from being recorded in the undo history).  This turned
    out to confuse users, so if the setting is enabled, undo/redo now
    doesn't change the viewport at all.

  - The default mode ("undo-panzoom" disabled) now works correctly.

  - After undoing the first action which changed a page, the page will
    be considered "unchanged" again.

  - Adding an attribute, changing the slot of a component, replacing
    the contents of a picture, and selecting "Pan" from the menu used
    not to be correctly un-doable.  This has been fixed.

  - Selecting a picture to be added doesn't cause the page to be
    treated as changed any more.

  - "Object / Update Symbol" can't be undone with the current undo/
    redo system, so it isn't listed as something that can be undone
    any more.

  - Several actions (attach/detach attribute, text actions, embed/
    unembed, lock/unlock component, show/hide specific text) changed
    the undo history even in the case that they didn't have any
    effect.  This has been fixed.

  - Several actions (attach/detach, embed/unembed) didn't update the
    "changed" flag correctly; this has been fixed.


gnetlist changes
----------------

* Refactored gnetlist:

  - gnetlist is now part of the Python package "gaf" and uses the new
    libraries instead of libgeda to work with gEDA files.

  - Netlist backends can also be written in Python.

  - When reading broken schematics and/or symbols, gnetlist doesn't
    silently fail or produce bad output any more.  Conversely, this
    means gnetlist has become more picky about input files: whenever
    it occurs something that is likely to result in bad output, it
    issues a warning or an error.

  - In case there should be any problems with the refactored codebase,
    the "old" gnetlist is still available as "gnetlist-legacy".

* If gnetlist is invoked with the `pcbfwd' backend or the new option
  `--report-gui', errors and warnings are displayed in a GUI dialog
  instead of printing them to stderr.

* There are new semantics for power and I/O port symbols:

  - Power symbols can now use a netname=NET instead of a net=NET:1
    attribute.  This allows using the attribute value as a visible
    label, removing the need for power symbols for individual rails.

  - I/O port symbols in subschematics can now use a portname=PORT
    instead of a refdes=PORT attribute to distinguish them from
    regular components.  This allows checking that unconnected port
    symbols aren't silently included in the netlist as components.

* Hierarchical schematics can now use a simple form of parametrization
  where the instantiating component contains an attribute of the form
  `param=NAME=VALUE' and some attribute value in the subschematic
  contains the pattern `$(NAME)', which will be replaced with `VALUE'.
  This only works with regular attribute lookup from netlist backends
  and won't affect special attributes like slot= or netname=, though.

* The netlisting options "hierarchy-traversal", "net-naming-priority",
  "unnamed-netname", and "unnamed-busname" are once again configured
  via gnetlistrc, making them consistent with the refdes=, net=, and
  netname= mangling options.

* Duplicate I/O ports in subschematics and duplicate I/O pins in
  subschematic symbols are now treated correctly.

* Added a netlist backend for pcb-rnd's tEDAx format.

* Added backends which dump the netlist in various generic formats
  (dumpindent, dumpjson, dumplihata, dumptext, dumpxml).


Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.9.2.1p
====================================

* The gEDA/gaf source tarball no longer includes libintl.  When
  building gEDA/gaf with internationalisation support, a GNU
  gettext-compatible libintl is now required.

* A new Scheme API function, `log!`, has been added to the `(geda
  log)` module.  It allows Scheme code to emit log messages in the
  same way that the tools' C code does.


Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.9.2
=================================
* Build system changes:

  - Guile 2.0 or newer is now required.

  - top-level control file allowing continuous integration using
    Travis CI has been added.

* Nullor expansion has been fixed in the `spice' and `spice-sdb'
  backends.

  - Element name prefix "E_" has been substituted for "E-" to prevent
    errors output by some simulators (e.g. ngspice).

  - A default gain value has been added in the nullor expansion code.

* Two obsolete scripts verilog2vhdl.sh and script.sed have been
  removed.

* Undocumented and ambiguous feature of the `spice-sdb' backend for
  gnetlist consisting in the possibility of using the "value="
  attribute instead of "file=" only for include blocks and only in
  embedding mode has been removed.

* The following scripts and programs have been moved from the `utils'
  directory to a new `contrib' directory and are no longer installed
  by default:

         smash_megafile          olib
         gmk_sym                 convert_sym
         sarlacc_schem           sarlacc_sym
         pads_backannotate       sw2asc
         gnet_hier_verilog.sh

* `gpstoimage' has been removed from the distribution; equivalent
  functionality is provided by the `gaf' command.

* `convert_sym.awk' has been removed from the distribution; equivalent
  functionality is provided by the `convert_sym' command.

* gnetlist now supports output of netlists to the standard output.

* New Scheme procedures and hooks have been added.  Please see the
  "geda-scheme" info manual for more details.

  - `set-component-with-transform!' is a modified version of
    `set-component!', which applies all the specified transformations
    to a component and immediately updates it.

  - `auto-refdes-reset!' resets components' refdeses

  - `copy-objects-hook' is called whenever an object is copied, it can
    be used, for example, to reset component's refdes on copy.

* The following gschem configuration items have been added:

  - `third-button-cancel' cancels draw actions by the third mouse
    button in mousepan mode.

  - `grid-mode' sets default grid mode.

* Fixes/updates to the *BSD, Mac OS X, and MinGW builds.

* Changes in the gschem UI event state machine:

  - New drawing modes apply immediately.

  - Indication of an action being in progress has been added.

  - Mirror action can now be used during an object placement.

  - Show/hide text function is now enabled during other actions.

  - RMB panning is now enabled during placing or drawing.

* Some gschem dialog have been merged, made non-modal, and placed in
  sidebar:

  - Color, line, fill and pin type dialogs have been merged into one
    non-modal object properties dialog with widgets applying values
    immediately.

  - Text properties dialog.

  - Options to control the magnetic net mode and the net rubber band
    mode as well as grid mode and grid snap mode have been merged into
    one options dialog.

* The following dialogs/windows have been converted into an info bar
  and are now placed in bottom notebook:

  - Log (status) window.

  - Find text dialog.

* The following dialogs are now popup & docked the same way as the
  execute script dialog:

  - Show and hide text dialogs.

  - Translate dialog.

* Other gschem GUI changes:

  - Hotkeys and menu items to show/hide the sidebar and status window
    have been added.

  - Swatch for fill types has been added.

  - Slot edit dialog now displays number of slots.

  - Library folder structure in gschem is now displayed as tree.

  - Indication of page change has been added in gschem main window's
    title.

* Improved find text functionality:

  - When searching for text, gschem now descends all files specified
    in the comma separated list of the source attribute.

  - There is now a widget that lists all occurences of the text
    objects that contain the search string.

  - The find text operation does not switch the current schematic in
    the view or interfere with the most recent page up.

  - The find text operation also searches all open pages instead of
    the current one.

  - The behavior of the find text operation works with multiple
    toplevel windows open while running concurrent find text
    operations.

  - The find text operation can now use either a substring, pattern,
    or regex. The pattern style uses * and ?. The regex uses glib,
    which adheres to perl compatible regular expressions.

* Several symbols have been fixed/improved.

* gschemdoc has been enhanced to search in the user documentation
  directory.

* Several translations have been added/updated.

* Man pages for gsymcheck and gschlas have been updated.

* Switches --help and -h have been added for most of gEDA utilities.

* Fixed the following bugs:

  -  900122: Gschem crashes on ctrl-x.
  - 1258834: spice-sdb crashes on non-existing files.
  - 1463178: Gsch2pcb crashes when using `m4-pcbdir' option.
  - 1478760: Gschem segmentation fault during find text.
  - Gschem crashes on pressing the third mouse button.
  - SVG output bug in `gaf export'.
  - Several other bugs.


Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.9.1
=================================

* Unbalanced overbar markers are now rendered correctly.

* Most tools now no longer set the GEDADATA or GEDADATARC environment
  variables (they still obey them though).

* `gschem' now provides a path drawing tool, accessed using <A H> or
  the "Add Path" menu item.

  - Add a cusp node by left-clicking.

  - Add a Bezier curve node by left-dragging from the node point to
    the control point.

  - End the path by clicking on the same node point twice, or clicking
    on the start node to close the path.

* On desktops that reparent menu bars (e.g. Ubuntu Unity) it is once
  again possible to paste the clipboard using the menus.

* A number of `gschem' editing behaviour changes were made:

  - Double-clicking on an entry in the "In Use" tab of the component
    selector now behaves the same way as double-clicking in the
    "Libraries" tab.

  - When new attributes are attached to a net, they are placed at a 50
    unit offset.

  - The text color is now used as the default color for `pinlabel='
    attributes.

  - Pin attributes are no longer automatically replaced when rotating
    or mirroring pins.

  - It is possible to edit a text object even when other non-text
    objects are selected.

  - Control grips are now always drawn at the same on-screen size.

* The multi-attribute editor dialog in `gschem' has been extended to
  support more cases:

  - It now supports editing attributes of multiple selected
    objects. These are aggregated into the dialog's attribute list.

    Multiple attributes with the same name attached to any given
    object are still shown in separate rows, but identically named
    attributes from multiple selected objects will share a row. If a
    row has differing values between objects, its value shows the text
    "<various>" in a muted colour.

  - Where an attribute is present in some, but not all selected
    objects its name in the list is shown in red. A new popup menu
    option allows copying such attributes to all selected objects.

  - If no complex, placeholder, pin, net or bus objects are selected,
    the dialog now falls back to editing any selected attribute text.

    This allows editing of unattached or floating attributes in
    symbols, or any attributes seleccted independantly of their owning
    object. In this fallback mode, all attributes with the same name
    shown in separate rows, and the "add attribute" functionality is
    disabled.

* `gschem' has new icons for many editing commands.

* Several bugs were fixed in `gnetlist':

  - Invalid attributes are ignored.

  - Correct detection of graphical symbols.

  - Components with no `refdes=' attribute are reported.

  - Crash fixes for `drc' and `switcap' backends.

* `gaf export' now accepts a `--scale' option.

* The `--size', `--margins' and `--align' options to `gaf export' can
  now accept their multiple arguments separated with a space ` ', a
  colon `:' or a semicolon `;'.

* `gaf config' now handles the `-p' option properly.

* `gnetlist', `gsymcheck' and `gaf' now output internationalised
  messages.

* New Scheme procedures were added. Please see the "geda-scheme" info
  manual for more details.

  - The (gschem action) module contains procedures for working with
    user editing actions (i.e. commands accessed via the menus or
    keybindings).

  - Two new hooks were added: `bind-keys-hook' is called whenever
    keymap bindings are changed; `action-property-hook' is called when
    action properties are changed.


Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.9.0
=================================

* A new schematic renderer library, `libgedacairo' has been added, and
  all tools have been updated to use it.  Related changes:

  - The following configuration functions have been removed:

         output-capstyle         paper-sizes
         output-color            postscript-prolog
         output-orientation      print-command
         output-type             setpagedevice-orientation
         paper-size              setpagedevice-pagesize

  - The following `gschem' configuration items have been added:

         print-paper             print-color
         print-orientation

  - `gschem' now generates PDF files rather than PostScript or EPS
    files.

  - `gschem' now uses a standard GTK print dialog (with printer
    selection, print preview, etc.)

* A new `gaf' command-line utility has been added.  It provides a
  number of subcommands:

  - `gaf export' can be used to convert schematic files to PNG, SVG,
    PDF, PS and EPS, with detailed control of paper size and margins.
    It supports multi-page PDF and PS output.

  - `gaf config' can be used to manipulate the project, user, and
    system configuration stores (see below).

  - `gaf shell' provides a Scheme REPL for batch manipulation of
    schematic and symbol files.

* New project, user and system configuration stores have been added,
  using a format similar to .desktop files.  They can be manipulated
  using the `gaf config' tool.  Configuration parameters for most
  tools will be converted to use this mechanism in future releases.

* The changes to highlighting of dangling net ends in gEDA/gaf 1.8.0
  have been reverted.  All dangling ends are once again flagged with a
  brightly-coloured square.

* When editing a component with the `gschem' multi-attribute editor,
  the dialog will now show the symbol name in its title.

* When using "Down Schematic" command in `gschem', an error message
  will now be displayed if the subcircuit schematic cannot be loaded.

* Printing now uses a light background color map by default.

* Objects can now have the line end "cap style" adjusted in `gschem'.

* `gnetlist' now accepts the `-i' and `-g' command-line arguments
  together.  If you specify both `-i' and `-g', `gnetlist' will enter
  the Scheme REPL after loading the requested backend but before
  executing it.

* `gattrib' now has translations for the user interface and various
  messages.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.8.2
=================================

Bugfix release.

* [994361] Fixed a libgeda crash bug involving nets inside symbols.

* [1226246] Fixed a gnetlist data corruption bug when using refdes
  containing the string "POWER".

* Updates to build system to allow compilation from git on systems
  with Automake >= 1.13.0.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.8.1
=================================

Bugfix release with correct dynamic version information for libgeda.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.8.0
=================================

* `gschem' and `gnetlist' have updated and rewritten user guides.

* All tools now give more informative error messages if they are
  unable to load schematic or symbol files due to syntax errors.

* All tools now correctly handle schematic and symbol files with `\r',
  `\n', or `\r\n` line endings, or a mixture.

* Unconnected pin ends and net ends are now all drawn with the same
  box marker in `gschem' and printed output.

* Net segments with at least two connections (including indirect
  connections via `netname=' attributes) are now drawn with arrowheads
  rather than box markers on dangling ends in `gschem' and printed
  output.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.7.2
=================================

* `geda-gaf' now requires GTK+ 2.16.0 or later.

* A greatly expanded Scheme API has been added to gEDA/gaf for use by
  extension authors.  See the `geda-scheme' Info manual for more
  details.  Existing extensions may need to be modified to load the
  `(geda deprecated)' or `(gschem deprecated)' modules.

* The `component-library-search' function for `gafrc' files now skips
  directories without symbols, and searches for libraries recursively.

* `gschem' keybinding improvements:

  - Keybindings are now unaffected by Caps Lock.

  - Keystrokes are displayed using the same characters as on keycaps
    (e.g. `:' instead of `colon').

  - Keystrokes may use extended modifiers (Super, Hyper and Meta).

  - Key bindings can be modified in any rc file or interactively using
    the `global-set-key' function.  See notes in `system-gschemrc' for
    examples.

* `gschem' now displays help files and component documentation on all
  platforms, including Windows.  The `locate' tool is no longer used
  to search for component documentation files.

* The `schdiff' tool for generating visual diffs of schematics and
  symbols has been added.  It can be used with most version control
  systems.  See `man schdiff' for more details.

* The `bom' and `bom2' backends to `gnetlist' now give error messages
  if no attribute file can be found.  The `-O attrib_file=FILE' and
  `-O attribs=ATTRIB,ATTRIB...' options have also been added.

* A new `ewnet' backend has been added to `gnetlist'.  This outputs
  netlists for use with the National Instruments ULTIboard layout
  tool.

* The `verilog' backend to `gnetlist' now supports concatenated net
  naming like "{a,b,c[3:0]}".

* `gsch2pcb' no longer supports the `m4_command' parameter in project
  files.

* The `--m4-pcbdir' and `--m4-file' arguments to `gsch2pcb' now work
  again.

* `gsymfix.pl' has been renamed to `gsymfix'.

* Man pages are now available for all programs installed as part of
  gEDA/gaf.

* The undocumented programs `gnet_hier_verilog', `gsymupdate', `gschupdate'
  and `sch2eaglepos.sh' are no longer installed to ${prefix}/bin.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.7.1
=================================

* gEDA is now compatible with Guile 2.0.

* gEDA/gaf applications no longer complain when trying to load an rc
  file twice, or when an rc file doesn't exist.

* `gschem' allows objects to be moved by dragging without having to
  select them first.

* `gschem' now supports keybindings with more than one modifier key,
  and "Deselect" is bound to <Control Shift A> by default.

* `gnetlist' correctly handles multiple renames of the same net.  This
  resolves some long-standing bugs with multipage schematics.

* The `spice-sdb' backend for `gnetlist' now has built-in support for
  `SUBCKT_NMOS' and `SUBCKT_PMOS' devices.

* A new `makedepend' backend has been added to `gnetlist'.  It
  generates Makefile code for SPICE simulation dependencies.

* Visibility of embedded component attributes are now preserved by
  `gattrib'.

* `gsch2pcb' correctly handles footprint names with hyphens (`-').

* `gsch2pcb' project files support quoting and escaping in
  `schematics' entries.

* Considerable enhancements to Unicode support when printing
  schematics or exporting PostScript.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.7.0
=================================

* All gEDA/gaf applications now handle configuration files much more
  strictly, and provide much more useful feedback when an error
  occurs.

* Several changes to `gschem' command-line options:

  - The `-t' option is no longer supported.

  - Several command-line options now support a long-form alternative.

  - The `-s' option can now be used to run multiple Scheme scripts
    during `gschem' startup.

  - A new `-c' option is available, which runs a Scheme expression
    during `gschem' startup.

  - A new `-L' option is available, which adds a directory to the
    Scheme load path.

  - A new `-V' or `--version' option is available, which displays
    version information.

* `gschem' now provides a "Select All" function, which is bound to
  <Control a> by default, along with a corresponding "Deselect"
  function.

* In the `gschem' "Add component" dialog, filtering the component
  library will expand matching libraries.  If the filter is cancelled,
  all libraries are collapsed.  Components can now be selected by
  double-clicking on them in the component list.

* The `gschem' "Edit Text Properties" dialog now has an easier to use
  "Alignment" menu.

* Printed text size now better matches on-screen text size in
  `gschem'.

* Special characters, including commas, are now escaped or quoted
  appropriately in `gattrib' CSV output.

* Several changes to `gnetlist' command-line options:

  - Four command-line options specific to the `spice-sdb' backend have
    been removed.  They can be replaced with `-O <option>' according
    to the following table:

        -e, --embedd              -O embedd_mode
        -I, --include             -O include_mode
        -n, --nomunge             -O nomunge_mode
        -s, --sort                -O sort_mode

  - The list of available backends is now obtained using a new
    `--list-backends' option.  `-g help' no longer outputs a list of
    backends.

  - A new `-L' option is available, which adds a directory to the
    Scheme load path.

  - A new `-V' or `--version' option is available, which displays
    version information.

  - When run with invalid command-line arguments, `gnetlist' now exits
    with non-zero exit status.

* Several `gnetlist' backends have now been fixed so that it should no
  longer be necessary to set an expanded Guile stack in gEDA's config
  files.

* The `spice-sdb' backend for `gnetlist' now supports probes
  (`TESTPOINT' devices).

* The undocumented `mk_verilog_syms' program is no longer installed.
  The symbols it creates are still installed to
  `${prefix}/share/gEDA/sym/verilog'.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.6.2
=================================

 * PNG export from `gschem' will now be cropped correctly.

 * The `partlist' backends for `gnetlist' now handle hierarchical
   refdes correctly.

 * On Windows, `gschem' and `gattrib' will no longer launch with a
   command window visible.

 * `gnetlist-arg' is no longer valid in `gsch2pcb' project files.

Several other bugs were fixed, including a major crash bug in
gnetlist.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.6.1
=================================

* Added accelerator mnemonics for root menus in gschem

* Lots of updated and new language translations in libgeda, gschem, and
  gattrib.  (Courtesy of language translators and Launchpad)

* Updated the shipped documentation from the official gEDA wiki

* Fixed the following bugs:

  - 2876373: Fix rendering with zoomed out dashed lines
  - 2901183: Fix for some manpage issues
  - 2904715: Don't update page connectivity from o_place_rotate()
  - 2949232: Fix slot editing routines to not edit inherited attributes
  - Cherry picked some other bug fixes from master that should be in
    this release

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.6.0
=================================

* Fixed the GtkItemEntry code inside of gattrib code so that it builds
  using gtk+ > 2.16.x.

* In gschem, rubberband pin to pin connections by adding nets.

* Cleanup of the slot handling code in libgeda.

* Fixes/updates to the MinGW port.

* Updated the shipped documentation from the online wiki.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.5.3/1.5.4
=======================================

* NOTE: gEDA/gaf 1.5.3 was released with some critical bugs, so
        it was withdrawn before it was widely distributed.

* Text rendering using native system fonts:

  - The various programs in gEDA/gaf no longer uses its own built-in
    line font.

  - Native system fonts are used for rendering, giving support for a
    wider range of symbols, and better looking schematics.

* Always use PostScript fonts in gschem's PostScript output.  The
  "output-text", "text-output" and "output-vector-threshold" config
  functions have been removed.

* Image rendering in 'gschem' uses cairo instead of GDK.

* Numerous build system changes:

  - gEDA/gaf is now distributed as a single source archive, called
    gEDA-<version>.tar.gz.

  - GTK+ 2.10 or newer and Guile 1.8 or newer are now required.

  - `intltool' is no longer required.

  - Documentation is now installed to ${docdir} (usually
    ${prefix}/share/doc/gEDA).

* The attribute edit dialog in `gschem' now has completion of most
  common attribute names.

* The multi-attribute edit dialog in `gschem' now shows unpromoted
  symbol attributes.

* Menu items in `gschem' now have icons and properly aligned key
  bindings. They also support accelerator keys.

* The `gschem2pcb' and `PCBboard' netlist backends have been removed.
  It is recommended to use `gsch2pcb' instead.

* Check for and reject non-footprint PCB files in 'gsch2pcb'.

* Removed unimplemented "File->Open" feature in 'gattrib'.

* Added --disable-gattrib command line flag to ./configure to disable the
  building of 'gattrib'.  This is useful if you are building against
  gtk+ 2.17.x which breaks 'gattrib'.

* 'gnetlist' does not recommend drc2 every time it runs.  The drc2
  backend is only useful in certain circumstances.

* Assign shortcuts "vd" and "vl" for changing between color schemes
  in 'gschem'.

* Fix problem with attached net attribute not being honored in 'gnetlist'.

* Focus the "save" button in the close confirmation dialog in 'gattrib' and
  'gschem'.

* Accept empty attributes in the src file in 'tragesym'.

* Cleaned up the slot dialog box in 'gschem'.

* Changed the grip size rendering in 'gschem' to be reasonably sized when
  zoomed in a lot.

* Introduction of a new attribute searching API in 'libgeda' and 'gschem'.

* Improvements and cleanup to the 'gnetlist' and 'gsymcheck' test suites.

* Fixed the following bugs:

  - 1758673: Combine source tarballs
  - 2058707: gschem, gattrib: Dangerous button focus in "Save changes"
             dialog at quit
  - 2430369: gschem: Deselect invisible attribs with their parent object.
  - 2449060: Graphic state left inconsistent cancelling from net mode
  - 2460301: libgeda: Make o_complex_promote_attribs() respect keep_invisible
             and libgeda: Make o_complex_copy() actually copy.
  - 2455061: Gnetlist output changed, and tests fail with recent GLib
  - 2655088: autogen.sh: Make sure to exit if autopoint fails.
  - 2823703: gnet-pcbpins.scm: Quote pins names if they contain comma
             or close parenthesis.
  - 2823755: gnetlist: Fix DEBUG builds.
  - 2836109: build-sys: Add check for groff html driver.

* Spanish translation were updated.

* Lots of code, infrastructure, and doxygen documentation cleanup and
  refactoring.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.5.2
=================================

* `gschem' now uses Cairo for all rendering.  This allows for
  everything to be rendered anti-aliased.

* `gschem' now uses a mesh grid instead of dots by default.

* Net junction cues in `gschem' are drawn smaller now.

* Copy and paste now works between different `gschem' instances (using
  the X selection).

* Recent files are no longer opened in a new `gschem' window.

* Major, *backwards-incompatible* changes to color handling in
  `libgeda' and `gschem'.

  - All colors are specified using hexadecimal `#RRGGBB' or
    `#RRGGBBAA' syntax.

  - The print and display color maps are now separate.

  - A new Scheme syntax is used to inspect and modify color maps.

  - If you wish to use a light background in `gschem', add the line:

      (load (build-path geda-rc-path "gschem-colormap-lightbg"))

    to your personal or project gschemrc file.

* Attributes of embedded objects are now shown in the right color.

* Bus pins are now supported by `gschem' and `libgeda', but are *not*
  properly supported by the netlister.  The pin type can be modified
  by selecting a pin, then right-clicking it and selecting `Edit pin
  type...'.

* All of the symbols were modified to use overbar markup tags ("like
  \_this\_") instead of separate lines.

* Log files are now saved to $HOME/.gEDA/logs rather than being
  dropped in the current directory.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.5.1
=================================

* GTK+ version 2.8.x or later is now required.

* The selection behaviour in `gschem' was changed.

  - Lines, unfilled boxes, unfilled circles, arcs, pins, nets, and
    buses must be selected by clicking on the drawn path itself.

  - Filled boxes, circles, text, and components, may be selected by
    clicking anywhere in the bounding box.

  - The default mouse click distance required to select an element was
    increased to 10 pixels.

  - Double-clicking on a net segment selects all connected net
    segments.

* The percentage step in or out while zooming the display in `gschem'
  is now configurable with the `zoom-gain' gschemrc parameter.  The
  default value is 20%.

* The size of steps when panning with the mouse wheel or with a
  trackpad in `gschem' is now adjustable with the `scrollpan-steps'
  gschemrc parameter.  The default setting scrolls in steps of 1/8 of
  a screen.

* A number of improvements were made to the `gschem' component
  selection dialog.

  - The dialog now shows a table of top-level attributes in the
    selected symbol.

  - It is now possible to expand/collapse a library by clicking
    anywhere on its row.

* Changes to fill- and line-styles in `gschem' can now be undone.

* Arcs can now be adjusted in `gschem' using an arc angle dialog.  It
  can be accessed by selecting an arc and selecting Edit->Edit.

* It is now possible to rotate objects while placing them in `gschem'.

* Support for arbitrary filled and unfilled paths, using a subset of
  the SVG path syntax.  For more information, please see the file
  format specification.
  <http://wiki.geda-project.org/geda:file_format_spec>

  - `gschem' does not yet provide a GUI for creating or editing path
    elements.  However, it does support rendering them.  They can also
    be printed.

  - Some of the symbols in the component library were updated to use
    paths.

* A Scheme evaluation prompt was added to `gschem'.  It can be
  accessed by typing `:'.

* Improved algorithm for drawing hatched fills both on screen and in
  PostScript output.

* Color selection dialogs and menus in `gschem' now show the actual
  color as well as the description.  Color names are now translatable.

* `gattrib' now prompts to save changes.

* All of the unimplemented menu items and pages in `gattrib' were
  removed.

* The `always-promote-attributes' gafrc parameter now takes a list of
  strings as an argument.  The space-delimited string syntax is
  deprecated.

* Some optimisations were made to the `gnetlist' connection traversal
  algorithm to speed up netlisting large designs.

* A new netlist backend was added to support Liquid PCB.
  <http://www.liquidpcb.org/>

* The `bom2' netlist backend now generates a `qty' column.

* Several improvements and fixes were made to the `systemc' backend.

* The `--gnetlist-arg' option to gsch2pcb can now be used to pass
  extra `gnetlist' arguments.

* `gsch2pcb' now emits files with the latest `pcb' file format.

* The `gxyrs' pick-and-place tool was added.

Notable changes in gEDA/gaf 1.5.0
=================================

* Magnetic net mode in `gschem'. Magnetic mode lets you draw nets and
  automatically connect to valid end points (such as pins and other
  nets).  The `magnetic-net-mode' gschemrc parameter can be used to
  enable/disable this feature.

* Rotating a component while moving it in `gschem' now rotates around
  the current mouse location.

* The `verilog' and `vhdl' backends now work again.

* Embedded components can now be mirrored.

* The `pads' netlist backend now uses CRLF line endings.

Older versions
==============

Release notes for older versions of gEDA/gaf are available on the gEDA
website.  <http://www.gpleda.org/news/index.html>

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