From: rae@lyx.org
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 04:28:34 +0100 (CET)
To: lwn@lwn.net, lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org
Subject: LyX Development News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
LyX is an advanced open-source document processor running on many Unix
platforms, OS/2 and on Windows NT with the Cygwin environment.  It is
called a "document processor" because, unlike standard word processors,
LyX encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your
documents not their appearance.  LyX lets you concentrate on writing,
leaving the details of visual layout to the software.  LyX automates
formatting according to predefined rule sets, yielding consistency
throughout even the most complex documents.  LyX produces high quality,
professional output by using LaTeX, an open-source, industrial strength
typesetting engine, in the background.

In September of 1999 the LyX Team decided that we could no longer
successfully use the two strand development process like the Linux kernel.  
We are in the process of switching to a development model similar to that
used by Fetchmail where we will only make small stable changes between
releases and release more often.  All future releases should be stable
although we are currently in a transition period where some major changes
have to be introduced and are likely to affect the stability in the short
term.

These changes include:
    * Use of C++ Standard Library features such as the Standard
      Template Library (STL), string and streams.
    * Establishing the foundations of GUI/system independence,
    * Rearrangement of the directory structure,
    * Use of libtool, automake and autoconf.

Once the transition is over the 1.1 series should be very stable and we
will then release 1.2.0.  This new series will be in a state of continual
advancement.  Note the word "advancement" and not "development."
Development will be occurring in branches of CVS and once the
feature/modification has proved stable it will be merged into the main
releases.

A new numbering scheme for releases will be used.  At present we are using
a Linux kernel style odd/even development/stable numbering scheme.  This
will be replaced by a continuous numbering scheme where odd or even
numbering is no longer significant.  Prereleases will be labelled with a
"pre" suffix and any fixes required between stable releases will have a
"fix" suffix.  Thus there are three possible file names:
	lyx-1.1.4.tar.gz       -- stable release
	patch-1.1.4fix1.gz     -- bug fix of the 1.1.4 stable release.
	lyx-1.1.5pre1.tar.gz   -- potentially unstable test release

The fix releases are only provided as a patch.  They contain no new
functionality; only fixes that have already made their way into the cvs
repository.

The old development strand has been put on ice and we will be backporting
and improving on the changes we experimented with in that series.  Thus,
the developers gain a stable platform to build upon and users will get
those wonderful new features sooner. In particular, the move to GUI and
system independence will be a priority.  Development will continue to use
a CVS repository with each area of change having its own development
branch. This will allow the developers to test their changes and get them
stable before they are merged into the main code.  Thereby, ensuring that
each release should be very stable.
 
If you are interested in a particular area of development then you will be
able to checkout the appropriate development branch using CVS.  If you're
unable to use CVS then contact one of the developers of that branch and
ask them to make a snapshot available.  A list of current major branches
and the developer responsible for that branch will be maintained on the
LyX website.  Major branches are likely to include GUI independence,
Asian-language support, pdf and SGML editting.

Our fourth release of the new series is lyx-1.1.4 and contains many of the
significant changes listed above.  This is the fourth transitional release
and contains many bug fixes.  It is almost as stable as the 1.0.4 release
although with all the changes some new bugs have crept in. A 1.1.4fix1 has
just been released.  Please consider trying it out on your existing
documents (if you've never used LyX before give this version a try) and
contact the <A HREF="mailto:lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org">developers list</a>
if you find any bugs.
 
Learn more about LyX, including screen shots, the LyX Graphic Tour and a
list of ftp mirror sites and mailing lists at:
	http://www.lyx.org/

On behalf of the LyX Team,
Allan. (ARRae)