[This thread was started with messages from another that had veered off-topic. This first response is mine, resulting from a comment that 0.43.1 is available in a stable release. I have seen or heard no announcements about it, thus my surprise.]

0.48.3 stable has been released? When did that happen?

Edit
I see on inkscape.org is still linking to 0.48.2 as the current stable.

[Edit #2
Oh I'm sorry, my finger must have slipped when I was looking up the proper path for that filter.] irrelevant to this topic.

So 0.48.3 is available for Linux and Windows, but not for Mac?

I'm sorry that I don't understand some of the language. "Pre-built binary" means the EXE installer (for Windows)? Or do you mean that 0.48.3 is available for people who know how to compile it? Is "tar ball" what is used to compile?

Well this probably explains something I stumbled upon.....geez, probably almost 6 months ago. I don't remember where it was (maybe google+) but I saw something that said 0.48.3 had been released, but when I went to inkscape.org to get it, it was showing 0.48.2 as the current stable. I suppose there's nothing that ordinary users like me can do, to help with this delay. When you say "resources" it makes me wonder if there are some fees that need to be paid, or something. Otherwise, I wouldn't expect to be able to help.

So does this mean that we can expect 0.48.3.1 any day now? Or is the delay expected to be much longer?

Thanks for the info

brynn wrote:So does this mean that we can expect 0.48.3.1 any day now? Or is the delay expected to be much longer?

Hi Brynn, does this mean you could not find the files that ~suv mentioned? If so, here is a link that is absolutely current (today, august 20, 2012!) for 0.48.3.1-2, compiled june 30. 0.48.3.1 has been available here for several months now.
However! Your system is Windows 7and might be 64bit so I am not sure if the installer will work or what you normally use. There is also a 7z folder which is the way normally go...
http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkscape/files/inkscape/0.48.3.1/

Hi druban,
I'm not sure what files you mean, that ~suv mentioned. I've seen the files on the page you linked, but at the top, it still says the current version is 0.48.2. I see the Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe file, but it's not made clear it's for Windows, at least not to me. I thought that was probably a development version. Usually the file I need has win32 or something like that as part of the filename, like in the current version at the top.

I do use Win7, 64-bit. And I might infer from your comments that the EXE file I mentioned might not work for 64-bit, (how should I know?) but that I should be able to use the 7z version. But in the past ~suv has cautioned against using the 7z version, and that she wasn't sure why that version is even available for non-developers. Some people say everyone should use the development version because of cool new features. While others caution against it.

And it's just all this confusion that makes me think I should wait for the stable version to be announced, and released in a way that I can use it (with some degree of confidence). Yeah, you know I've taught myself to use my computers, and to use Inkscape. But I walk a very fine line between enjoying the computer, and wanting to heave it out the window! Things that are obvious to you or ~suv or others, are not necessarily obvious to me. (And I'm not alone!) (Well, I may be alone here. But in general, there are a lot of what I call "ordinary users" who would see a file called "Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe" without any notes or comments or system requirements, who would not know if they should use it or not!) ( Sorry!)

I appreciate your comments, druban. But I'm a bit miffed at the poor communication from development community to user community.

To do what you want with the links, you can use the URL button (right beside IMG) in the message editor. After that, you have to insert "=address" without quotes, between "L" and "]" in the opening tag. Like Maestral showed

Edit
Testing

Ah-ha!

Well, I didn't mean to hijack the topic, but I'm still thoroughly confused! If a new version has been released it should have been announced.
If anyone can or wants to explain, I would welcome a PM.

I agree that this thread has completely lost its thread. I have contributed to it, sadly. Maybe a new thread could be started and have all the extraneous posts moved to it?

Later edit- Wow, someone actually took my suggestion - and now the second half of this post, that was on topic in the previous thread, is off-topic in this thread! I am off-topic no matter where i am! But at least not off-color...

Previous messages in this topic were split from another. Additional messages from here on are only about whether 0.48.3.1 stable has been released.

I'm sorry to be so dense, but I still don't understand.

brynn wrote:Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe file, but it's not made clear it's for Windows, at least not to me.

Just to clarify an EXE file is a Windows executable program. So "Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe" must be for Windows.



(actually there are exceptions, but for Brynn's purposes *.exe generally means "Windows application")

Xav wrote:Just to clarify an EXE file is a Windows executable program. So "Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe" must be for Windows.

Furthermore, (and this is all for Windows) although it's not true for every progam, Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe is an installer. The actual program will always be Inkscape.exe on your computer. The .zip (old) and .7z archives are going to be compressed folders that do not require installing to run the Inkscape.exe program in them, but will not register the program with Windows and will not show up in your add and remove progams panel. But once you have an installed version of Inkscape on your system, there's no reason that I know of (which probably means that there are several! ) that you should avoid the 7z archives. Of course you need 7z to open them.
It's an unfortunate truth that using opensource software means that you have to take some risks with stability and learn by experimentation. But it's also extremely unlikely that running an installer from sourceforge will endanger your system. You should scan any .exe installer or folder with an .exe file you download anyway; your AV probably does it automatically. So you download Inkscape 0.48.3.1 and it crashes. Inkscape is not the kind of program that entangles itself with your computer. All the resources it uses are nicely tucked away in its own folder; it's not going to kill your system software, and your multimillion dollar project is not the one to be working on with untried software anyway, so what do you have to lose?

brynn wrote:But in the past ~suv has cautioned against using the 7z version, and that she wasn't sure why that version is even available for non-developers.

I would be very interested about the comment you are talking about here. I have completely the opposite impression of ~suv's attitude toward the 7z archives, and I thought ~suv had been very cautionary and informative but definitely not discouraging about the risks of uisng these unofficial versions. I would really like to read the original comment, (I can't see ~suv saying, "I was misquoted!"; it's not ~suv's style insofar as `suv might have a style, and that i might actually know what it is ) but it seems that you might be perhaps misinterpreting something?
It would especially be confusing to hear ~suv say that only developers should have access to these versions, because developers would either be working with source code or with a Linux version AFAIU. These Windows versions are just posted out of "kindness". I might be quite wrong, but I believe they have little to do with the debugging process, compared to the Linux versions.

Xav wrote:

brynn wrote:Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe file, but it's not made clear it's for Windows, at least not to me.

Just to clarify an EXE file is a Windows executable program. So "Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe" must be for Windows.

Do you mean that only Windows uses EXE? No other operating systems use it? If that's the case, then I could look at the file and assume I can use it. But I didn't know that. And an announcement of its release would have been nice!

druban wrote:But it's also extremely unlikely that running an installer from sourceforge will endanger your system.

I wasn't worried about the file being unsafe, or containing security issues. Because there was no announcement of a new stable release, I assumed that 0.48.2 is the current stable, and anything after that must be developmental.....or at least unstable. Plus, I didn't know that EXE meant Windows and Windows only. I thought other operating systems also use EXE, and I didn't want to install something that might be meant for a different operating system.

I apologize to ~suv if I have misinterpretted something. I've searched and searched, and found discussions around the time when I read it, and related to the 7z version. But I can't find the specific message, to provide a link to or quote specifically. I think the comment was slightly off topic, like an aside, in an otherwise unrelated topic. But I can't find it. It was something to the effect that most people should use the EXE installer, and that the 7z version is mostly for developers. (To me, that sounds like a caution.)

druban wrote:These Windows versions are just posted out of "kindness".

I'm not sure what you mean?

I meant that there are many applications that have interim builds, as in between stable releases, that don't provide a windows version or require you to compile them yourself. Some don't provide any windows versions. Those applications will say something like, 'we don't provide a windows version, but so-and-so compiles them for windows', and provides a link.
look at the Mac version of inkscape - it's not getting released because no one is compiling it for Mac. Windows could easily go the same way, were it not for the generosity of those people compiling it for windows on their own time as it were, outside the Inkscape project.

Perhaps... just perhaps, this illustrative comparison might solve brynn`s doubts.

Let`s say that you are The Landlord of your computer. When you run installer`s .exe it`s like that program came with a movers, trucks, boxes etc. and since you gave it a permission to move in, it becomes resident (takes some room, shelfs, invades bathroom schedule etc,). When you run dev build`s .exe, it`s like it came with a suitcase (.zip, .7z, .rar...) and it will be a guest as long as it`s there (takes some room, but no shelfs and most certainly no invasion on bathroom schedule,). So, when you run "guest" program, in some point system and a guest would struggle about the resources, privileges & similar and most usually system wins -None shall pass the Doors of the Bathroom! That`s what makes "guest" program unstable (roughly putted,)

Not all of us are willing/capable to host unstable guests and I presume that is a reason why developers of Inkscape are careful with the announcements about each and any versions. Still, they are kind enough to pack guest`s suitcases for us and they do update a list of packed things as Inkscape grows. Also, bare in mind that not all of our "real estates" are the same, which mostly defines bathroom rules ,)

On the other hand, both residents and guests are coming with an .exe but when you`re moving in you`ll call for a truck and you wouldn`t need that large suitcase, as guest does. Even more, resident has just one .exe while "guest" has to carry both .exe and a large suitcase all the time.

The Landlords on Mac are using .app but in general they are pretty much similar to the Win Landlords and .exe`s. Both are using automated processes "on reception" for a residents and guests, while Linux ones are more precise and would like to know where and what shelfs are taken by residents and guests (roughly putted).

The original message which sparked this debate:

~suv wrote:

brynn wrote:Oh no! Well, 0.48.3 is a development version

No - Inkscape 0.48.3 is a stable release version. Development builds use 'Inkscape 0.48+devel' as version identifier.

…and then the brouhaha started.

Probably I should have used different wording (but I doubt it would have prevented or changed anything):

Oh no! Well, 0.48.3 is a development version

No - Inkscape 0.48.3 is based on the stable release branch (the upcoming bug-fix release still to be officially announced on inkscape.org). Development builds use 'Inkscape 0.48+devel' as version identifier.

The difference I cared about was between stable release branch (0.48.x - the base for bug fix releases) and development branch (0.48+devel - trunk) - to avoid that Linux users get unnecessarily unsettled by users of a different operating system (OS) claiming that the stable Inkscape package available for Linux users (on some distros) actually installs an unstable development snapshot build.

Then, the response basically was: «WHAT???? A release I haven't heard of? Can't be, must not be.»

Yes, sometimes release processes don't run as smooth as everyone wants them to - and the on-going delay of the offical announcement of bug-fix release Inkscape 0.48.3.1 is one of them (frustrating for developers as much as for users).

A couple of notes:

• The first step of a release is creating a compressed archive of the source code and making it available for download.
• The availability of this compressed archive of the source code is announced on the developers' mailing list.
• This compressed archive is available for download to everyone - but it's just that: a compressed archive with lots of "text" files containing the source code - it can't be run as application, it needs to be compiled first.
• Packagers (as well as advanced users) can download this compressed archive of the source code to compile Inkscape for their operating system (OS). Packagers usually do this to provide installers, or packages, for other users of the same operating system (OS) / distribution.
• The Inkscape projects tries to provide packages for Windows and Mac OS X in a timely manner.
• Linux distros have their own packaging guidelines, rules and time frames - independent of the Inkscape project.
• Inkscape packages available on Linux are based on the compressed archive of the source code provided by the Inkscape project. Which Inkscape version is when available for Linux users of a specific distro is up to the package management of that distro.
• Up to now, the Inkscape project waited with the official announcement of a bug-fix (or major) release until the official packages for Windows and Mac OS X had been done and uploaded to the official site hosting the stable releases (stable Inkscape releases are hosted at sourceforge.net).
• This policy has caused delays of the official announcement if - for whatever reason - packages for Windows (or those for Mac OS X) are delayed.
• While the official announcement is delayed (held back to cater the needs of Windows and Mac users), the compressed archive of the source code is already available for download, and used for packages provided by some Linux distros, and in package management systems like e.g. MacPorts and Fink (for Mac users).

Current state:
The current official stable package available for Windows and Mac OS X users is Inkscape 0.48.2.
The announcement of current stable bug-fix release Inkscape 0.48.3.1 has been held up.
Any further news about a new release will be communicated on inkscape.org.

Anyone interested in additional details, is free to read about it in the archives of the developers' mailing list.

Future:
To avoid confusion in the future, it has been decided for future releases to officially announce a release as soon as a compressed archive of the source code is ready.
Availability of official Windows packages (installer) and official Mac OS X packages for download will be announced separately.
All information will be communicated on inkscape.org.

brynn wrote:

Xav wrote:

brynn wrote:Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe file, but it's not made clear it's for Windows, at least not to me.

Just to clarify an EXE file is a Windows executable program. So "Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe" must be for Windows.

Do you mean that only Windows uses EXE? No other operating systems use it? If that's the case, then I could look at the file and assume I can use it. But I didn't know that. And an announcement of its release would have been nice!

Yes, that's what I meant. No other operating system uses EXE files.



There is, however, a bit of software called WINE. This is an implementation of the Windows API (the functions that Windows exposes to applications) which can run on Linux or MacOS. So, using WINE, it is actually possible to run a Windows EXE on other operating systems. Because it's not a complete and perfect implementation of the API, not all software will run properly using WINE, but some does run just fine.

Summary: EXE files are Windows executables. They may run on other systems using WINE, but for Brynn's purposes, yes they are a Windows-only thing.

Maestral wrote:Perhaps... just perhaps, this illustrative comparison might solve brynn`s doubts.

I'm not so much having doubts, as I am confused. I do doubt whether Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe is something I can use, emphasizing I (i.e. me). But I only have doubts because I'm confused.

The Landlord analogy is helpful. I think it means that if I were to use Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe, I would also need something else.

~suv wrote:Probably I should have used different wording (but I doubt it would have prevented or changed anything):

~suv wrote:

brynn wrote:Oh no! Well, 0.48.3 is a development version

No - Inkscape 0.48.3 is based on the stable release branch (the upcoming bug-fix release still to be officially announced on inkscape.org). Development builds use 'Inkscape 0.48+devel' as version identifier.

The difference I cared about was between stable release branch (0.48.x - the base for bug fix releases) and development branch (0.48+devel - trunk) - to avoid that Linux users get unnecessarily unsettled by users of a different operating system (OS) claiming that the stable Inkscape package available for Linux users (on some distros) actually installs an unstable development snapshot build.

Actually, if you had said "No - Inkscape 0.48.3 is based on the stable release branch", I never would have said "0.48.3 stable has been released? When did that happen?". I would have thought "branch? I don't know what a branch is, so I don't need to install it". I might have asked what a branch is, but I would not have thought that there was a stable release that wasn't announced.

I apologize for calling 0.48.3 a development version. In fact I deeply regret it, and apologize for this whole discussion. I should know better asking ~suv questions at all, by now. (because I won't understand the answer)

However, I do appreciate everyone's comments, and attempts to help me understand. Thank you all very much

brynn wrote: I would have thought "branch? I don't know what a branch is, so I don't need to install it".

'branch' (or 'branching') is a frequently used term in software development, describing that for a (stable) release version you branch off (separate) the complete source code at that point from the main development branch, so that team members can continue developing new features in the main branch without interfering with the code base used for the stable release.

Consider a similar workflow for any project you work on yourself:
Let's assume a small Inkscape project - a directory called 'myProject', in it a main Inkscape SVG file, a couple of small bitmap images (originals) you then embedded into the SVG file, and maybe a text file with notes about what this project is about.

You have been working for some days on the SVG file, until you achieve a result which is quite ok for the time being. At this point, you might want to make a copy of the directory 'myProject' and rename the copy to 'myProject-1.0'. You might share it with some other people (send them a copy).

A few weeks later you decide to redo parts of the image, and edit the original main SVG file in 'myProject'. After another few days of work, you might have reached another point where the new result is satisfying your expectations, and you might decide to preserve this state: you again make a copy of the directory 'myProject' and rename the copy to 'myProject-2.0'.

After some time passed, you notice that early on, you made a typo in one of the texts in the SVG file, and decide to fix it everywhere: you will first edit the file in 'myProject' (main branch) to fix the typo. Now what to do about the file(s) in 'myProject-1.0' and 'myProject-2.0'? If you want to share the corrected version again, you could make a copy of the directory 'myProject-1.0' and rename the copy to 'myProject-1.1' (same for 'myProject-2.0'): then you fix the typo in 'myProject-1.1' and in 'myProject-2.1' separately.

The goal is to have each level of the project which has reached a certain (stable) state preserved, and to be able to modify (fix) things for each of those levels (branches) separately, in a fine-grained controlled workflow (in large software projects, you rely on revision control software to handle the details and history of changes). The files in the directory 'myProject' (main branch or trunk) will always reflect the most current state of the project.

This is how the relationships of such a hypothetical tree with branches would look like:

Code: Select all

   myProject
      ╷
      │
      ├──┬─── myProject-1.0
      │  │
      │  └────── myProject-1.1
      │
      ├──┬─── myProject-2.0
      │  │
      │  ├──┬─── myProject-2.1
      │  │  │
      │  │  └────── myProject-2.1.1
      │  │
      │  └────── myProject-2.2
      │
      ╵
      …

For Inkscape, there is

• a main branch for current development (new features, rewrite and optimize old code, bug fixes - often referred to as 'trunk' (or 'master' in other projects)), and
• for each major release there is a separate 'release branch' (diverted from the main branch at the time of the initial release (for example 0.48)).

The bug-fix releases (sometimes also called 'dot releases') like for example 0.48.1 and 0.48.2 are based on the stable release branch '0.48.x' (they don't have any of new features from the main development branch):
To prepare a new release, a compressed archive of source code in the release branch is prepared and made available for download. Packagers then will download this new archive file, compile inkscape for a specific operating system, package it (e.g. as installer (EXE) for the Windows port of Inkscape, or as application bundle for Mac OS X in a DMG file), and upload that package to sourceforge.net. Packagers for Linux distributions will share the packages for the new bug-fix release via the package management system used by the distribution so that users can rely on the system software update feature to always get the newest available version.

At what point in time a new release is officially announced might be a bit of an academic discussion (and is handled by different projects differently): is a release ready when the source code has been made available, or only when packages for some of the supported platforms (more specifically: for users of proprietary, closed-source commercial operating systems like Windows and Mac OS X) are available? What actually defines a 'release' - the source code (the work of developers & translators & other contributors) or the state of packaging?

Sorry, but I do not feel like reading all 19 posts. The question is ..... Where is hiding version 0.48.3?


Ponny

Ponny wrote:Sorry, but I do not feel like reading all 19 posts. The question is ..... Where is hiding version 0.48.3?

I know what you mean! I only got as far as the 18th reply myself.... Sorry!

Hmf, I just had Inkscape 0.48.3.1 r9886 to crasc in W7 when trying to use the extension «Color marker to match stroke».

Inkscape encountered an internal error and will close now.
Automatic backups of unsaved documents were done to the following locations:
K:\<sorrycannotrevealwholepath>\Nr22\Gogleearth-2.svg.2012_08_23_09_30_36.0.svg

Haven't tested this on XP because the beta versions (or what you want to call those versions) seems more stable on XP than W7.

Thank you ~suv for that explanation. I don't understand all of it, but don't want to ask any more questions, because there is no end to my capacity for misunderstanding. But I appreciate your efforts

Now that I know what a branch is, it does sound like something I should be able to use. But Maestral's comment in his landlord analogy:

On the other hand, both residents and guests are coming with an .exe but when you`re moving in you`ll call for a truck and you wouldn`t need that large suitcase, as guest does. Even more, resident has just one .exe while "guest" has to carry both .exe and a large suitcase all the time.

leads me to think that I would need something else with Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe.

Ponny, the short version of this discussion is that the source code for stable 0.48.3.1 has been released, and that version is apparently available for Linux based users. But the release has not been announced, because the Mac version is not ready yet. What I'm still not clear about, is if Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe is the Windows version that is ready to be used right now, by Windows users. Or whether the Windows version is being held back until the Mac version is ready.

Xav and druban seem to think that Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe is the stable Windows release, and druban suggests that inkscape-0.48.3.1-2-win32.7z is actually the same thing except in the zipped file. Usually the Windows stable has win32 somewhere in the filename. So together with Maestral's comment, I'm still unsure. Maybe the 7z version is the stable release, but the EXE installer is being held back?? Or maybe they just aren't putting win32 in the file name this time, and Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe is indeed the stable release for Windows?

Grobe wrote:Hmf, I just had Inkscape 0.48.3.1 r9886 to crasc in W7 when trying to use the extension «Color marker to match stroke».
(…)
Haven't tested this on XP (…)

Thx - no need to do any further tests, this is an unfortunate regression in 0.48.3.1 and has already been reported multiple times. The cause is known, a proper fix is already in trunk, and will also be in the next planned bug-fix release (0.48.4):

• Bug #944077 “inkscape crashed with SIGSEGV in Inkscape::Extension::Implementation::Script::effect()”
  (see comment #11 there for a workaround with affected files)

brynn wrote:...But Maestral's comment in his landlord analogy:

On the other hand, both residents and guests are coming with an .exe but when you`re moving in you`ll call for a truck and you wouldn`t need that large suitcase, as guest does. Even more, resident has just one .exe while "guest" has to carry both .exe and a large suitcase all the time.

leads me to think that I would need something else with Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe.

Ou contre, ou contre... ,)

Here we have Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe in the blue corner and in the red corner is Inkscape.exe (inside of the folder inkscape_r11xxx-2012xxxxxxxx, extracted from the downloaded file inkscape_r11xxx-2012xxxxxxxx.7z). The blue one is the future resident and as in most cases, guests are in red ,) When I mentioned the truck, movers etc. I was alluding on organized approach to a subject, which in this case represents the installer since you have one file which would EXEcute the whole operation of installing. In the meanwhile, guest is forced to drag his "suitcase" (folder inkscape_r11xxx-2012xxxxxxxx) since otherwise his .exe file wouldn`t work if left on it`s own.

You`ll notice that when Inkscape-0.48.3.1-2.exe is installed it would look like guest`s "suitcase", it would have a folder / structure of the folder is pretty much similar / has an inkscape.exe in it... etc. but after the installation, if you move that folder somewhere else, it wouldn`t work any more. OTOH you can drag guests folder where ever you want and it`s .exe would still work.