February 2008 - Inkscape Devel

Re: [Inkscape-devel] [Inkscape-user] Interested in helping on os x
by jiho 11 Feb '08

11 Feb '08

On 2008-January-31 , at 00:45 , carl olsen wrote: > I'm very interested in contributing to the project. I have > intermediate programing experience, but need someone to mentor me. I > pick this stuff up pretty fast so I just need to get in touch with > someone who knows about developing on os x and can tell me what to > work on. That's great news! If you are looking into developing the OS X side of Inkscape (integration with the OS, appearance, building with native GTK), it has been my area of focus for a while. I don't have much time right now but know what needs to be done and where to look. If you are interested in developing Inkscape in more general sense and that OS X just happens to be your platform of choice, there are at least two people you can contact: Jon Cruz (jon at joncruz.org) and Michael Wybrow (michael.wybrow at infotech.monash.edu.au). They have been silent for a little while though, so you may need to be patient to get an answer. However, developing on OS X is quite straightforward and very similar to the process on Linux (we don't use XCode or any other OS X specific environment, so you only need a text editor, a terminal, gcc and make). Once you get Inkscape to compile as per these instructions: http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/CompilingMacOsX you're ready to go (I advise you to remove the option --enable-osxapp at configure time and just keep Inkscape as a plain command line app, which is easier to debug and run with special options). Then, to know more about Inkscape internals, development practices or what's on the wish list, subscribe to the devel mailing list and hang out on the IRC channel, you'll find plenty of clever people there. It's release time right now so focus is on bug fixes and major development has to happen in branches. You can use a SVN branch or use git locally (via git-svn) and prepare your patches with it. The "rule" is that, once you get two solid patches accepted, you are given direct SVN access. Thanks for offering your help! PS: I'm ccing you and the devel list so that people hav your address if they want to reply directly. However you should really subscribe to the devel list afterwards. JiHO --- http://jo.irisson.free.fr/

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Feature missing from Roadmap
by Michael Grosberg 11 Feb '08

11 Feb '08

Correct me if I'm wrong, but skimming the roadmap I was unable to find any reference to work on a swatch palette for named colors, grdients and patterns. I'm talking about a single dialog where the user can create named colors which would later be referenced by name in the XML (I don't know if SVG allows it) - for example, suppose I create buttons and other graphic elements for a website design. I have many of them and they are differently shaped. I might want to paint them with a blue color. I then create a new swatch, name it "buttonBackground" and set all the background rectangles to use it. Later, I may want to change the entire color scheme of the website - in this case all I need to do is just access that swatch and change its value to, say, red - and all The button backgrounds immediately update. I feel this is a very basic, important feature missing from Inkscape. I know from experience I use this extensively on other applications, and even on Inkscape I try to fake this feature by creating gradients with two identical colors and sharing them between shapes (but it's awkward and the gradients can't be named and are hard to find among the long list of used gradients in a large document).

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0.46 Press Release Planning.
by ryan lerch 10 Feb '08

10 Feb '08

With the release looming, work has been progressing on the planning of the Press Release for the 0.46 release. The planning is being done at http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/AnnouncePlanning046 There are drafts of the Informal and Formal press releases there, so please give them a once over to help refine and add anything that may be missing. There is also an outline release plan, on how 0.46 will be announced, and a list of contacts. Please add and contacts and their details to the relevant lists. cheers, ryanlerch

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] Tutorial translations: switching to xml2po
by Colin Marquardt 10 Feb '08

10 Feb '08

"Xavier Conde Rueda" <xavi.conde@...400...> writes: > What will happen to those tutorials that doesn't have a PO file? Will > the current tutorials be used instead? Yep. > For instance, in Catalan we don't an advanced PO file translated, > but the tutorial exists. I agree that PO files is the best, but > for now I want to ensure that the old svg tutorials will be > included. I'm right? Yeah, copying them over to the directory where Inkscape finds them is still done regardless of how they were generated (it just looks at what SVG files are around, so no problem there. You just won't get a HTML version then. I just updated all the generated tutorial translations and committed them to SVN, so please check if everything is right. Cheers Colin

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PDF Export (Cairo) stress testing
by Daniel Stiefelmaier 10 Feb '08

10 Feb '08

Hi all, first I need to say that the Cairo PDF export is A W E S O M E !!! (now prepare for some nagging... ;) For some weeks I was working on a bigger project (0.5 x 3 in meters ;) and it was quite an adventure to print it out... Inkscape 0.44 export didn't work for me, as I wanted pictures and transparency. So I compiled rev. 17189 from SVN on gentoo. (Sa, 26 Jan 2008) To verify, use the SVGs in http://home.arcor.de/caliga/timeline.zip Exporting without text-to-curves the result is: - Console: (inkscape:5847): WARNING **: Parameter <blurToBitmap> might not exists 9354,330078 1275,590576 - PDF-Output: about 1kb in size, therefore not completed... one time I got: (inkscape:5847): CRITICAL **: SPObject* sp_object_unref(SPObject*, SPObject*): assertion `object != NULL' failed Exporting with text-to-path: Well, today I could not reproduce it, but after a long time of swapping I saw messages similar to "Warning! Allocating large amount of memory. Possible memory leak." today it just said "Killed" after swapping arround for a while. (unfortunately I had to this on my old 512mb machine as my Laptop broke...) I actually got a working PDF from the smaller version (Zeitstrahl 18.svg). Hey, I thought this is just vectors? How does size matter? Well, I suspect that the "preferred DPI" option plays a part here. However, I needed the xxl version, with a lots of DPI ;). So I went to my friend with the big (!) printer (plotter) and installed Inkscape 0.46-pre0 (win). Direct printing didn't work, so we tried to create a PDF there. Without text-to-path we got an error message. With text-to-path it worked for "Zeitstrahl 19 xxl single.svg", but not for the double version. I think we had set "preferred DPI" to 150. However, later my friend told me that he *could* create a PDF from the double version... Summary: Well... if you please, it would be nice if Inkscape could create a Cairo-PDF from Files like "Zeitstrahl 19 xxl double.svg" with any combination of options set, on a 500MB machine, in no time ;) Thanks :) Daniel P.S.: Another way of stressing Inkscape quite a bit (at least with 500MB RAM), is to select all objects of one timeline (in xxl double) and trying to group them. (Didn't work for me...)

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Low activity next months
by unknown＠example.com 08 Feb '08

08 Feb '08

Hi all, The next few months I will probably be laying low on Inkscape activity (or at least, I am uncertain of how it will be), since I'm going to Switzerland on a 3 month 'internship'. No fear for the French students though: I will be able to answer email and try to be on jabber. Cheers, Johan

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Feature Freeze
by Bryce Harrington 08 Feb '08

08 Feb '08

Hi all, We're ready to move into Feature Freeze at this time (actually we've been unofficially in this mode for about a week). No further feature work is permitted at this point. Any remaining tasks regarding documentation needs to be wrapped up ASAP, as we will be moving to string freeze soon. 4. Feature Freeze. No further development work. Disable features that aren't finished Post additional inkscape-0.46-pre*.tar.gz releases Focus on critical bug fixing. Finalize all tutorials, docs, etc. Finalize all extensions Finalize about screen Translators create translations. Inkscape must pass 'make distcheck' Establish the Stable Branch for release Disable features that won't be turned on in the release Recruit Release Wardens for Hard Freeze Post inkscape-0.46-beta.tar.gz I think most of the work required above is already completed, so we probably just need to doublecheck them, and hopefully can proceed through this phase quickly. There are only 4 remaining release-critical bugs milestoned for 0.46, so hopefully these can get sorted out soon: 168586 Crash related with ungrouping 179452 export to openclipart.org in dev version 180890 work around deficiencies of feBlend-based blend modes 187290 Extensions not working on Windows with rel 0.46-pre0 There are also 14 High priority milestoned bugs; several of these we'll probably need to get re-milestoned to 0.46.1 but they're all pretty important so that'd be a tough decision - much better to get them sorted out now. You can see the list here: http://tinyurl.com/259gwb Bryce ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Open development. 2. Chill. Development focuses on wrapping up. Identify 'make distcheck' issues Triage bug reports Run an About Screen contest First draft of Release Notes. Update tutorials and other docs 3. Frost. Most development complete. Release Notes should be >90% filled in. Bug Hunt: 500 points Post inkscape-0.46-pre0.tar.gz 4. Feature Freeze. No further development work. Disable features that aren't finished Post additional inkscape-0.46-pre*.tar.gz releases Focus on critical bug fixing. Finalize all tutorials, docs, etc. Finalize all extensions Finalize about screen Translators create translations. Inkscape must pass 'make distcheck' Establish the Stable Branch for release Disable features that won't be turned on in the release Recruit Release Wardens for Hard Freeze Post inkscape-0.46-beta.tar.gz 5. Hard freeze. Only release wardens can commit to Stable Branch No further string changes Complete any late-late-late work under advisement of Wardens Focus on release-critical bug fixing. Finalize translations, release notes, etc. Packagers test creating pkgs of the -pre* releases Publish more release candidates until ready for release. Final verification of packaging, release notes, docs, etc. 6. Release. Post inkscape-0.46.tar.gz Post packages Post official announcements Plan 0.46.1+ release(s), if needed 7. Open development.

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introducing inkscape gallery
by davide|inkscapegallery 08 Feb '08

08 Feb '08

Hello, my name is Davide i come from italy, some of you already know me, i suppose, i started introducing my work in the inkscape's user list. I've made a web-site, that is called inkscape gallery, it is meant as a meeting point for the inkscape's user community where to post and show inkscape made drawing and where to talk about inkscape and open-source software in general. I used drupal and i've just realized that inkscape.org is being rebuilt on the same powerful and open-source cms... You may found a brief presentation in a pdf here: http://test.inkscapegallery.net/files/inkscapegallery.pdf It is a full featured social network web site, with many features that i'm going to introduce: * Bilingual content and interface, english and italian * images upload showing them in 6 sizes * Svg upload * user pictures * voting on images * service links (stumbleupon, digg, delicious etc...etc...) * free tagging and tag cloud * 4 roles registration to the website * user profile * user gallery * user block like "user's images" * newsletter * license release * advanced search to look for licensed drawing or user images * two forums (italian and english) * random gallery * slideshow surfing * tutorial section * link to sourceforge for inkscape download * link to inkscape.org and many others... The inkscape gallery layout is entirely made with inkscape. Now you may ask, why did you do this? Cause i started using inkscape from the beginning, i've never used other vector graphic software, then graphics became a work and i'm still using inkscape. Now i have a small company, it's called nois3lab (http://nois3lab.it ...but it is in italian only and we're now upgrading it) and i'm trying to achieve the purpose of a graphic and web-design agency (not only, we also work on customizing linux distros for companies and administration, for example) working with free and open-source software exclusively. So, i started looking around to find inkscape resources and it seemed something was missing. A place, expecially made for inkscape, where to share our drawing, to share our thoughts, a place where to go to see how great inkscape is. I've found many resources on inkscape.org and i know there's a gallery section too, but i wanted to make a gallery web site where to spend time viewing beautiful images in their own context. in the previous weeks i was trying to make it well known in the community before releasing officially, it is at http://test.inkscapegallery.net, right now. Now i think it's ready, we're going to pre-release it on day 11 of february and it will be at http://www.inskcapegallery.net. What it seems interesting to me, as well as the project itself is the chance to make inkscape.org and inkscape gallery work together, cause both are meant to spread the inkscape knowledge and use. We have many ideas about this, and maybe we can share them in the next days. But, for now, i also wanted to announce that we are working on a plugin for inkscape to publish on inkscape gallery directly from inkscape. We know that there's the jayeshsalvi's work on alt canvas and i hope he's reading me, cause we didn't decide what to do at the moment. We could use that plugin and extend it to support inkscape gallery or write another one, independent plugin. But it has to be cross-platform; linux , windows and mac too. Thanks, hope you'll like the website and you'll find it to be useful. See you, Da. http://test.inkscapegallery.net http://www.inkscapegallery.net

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Updated W3C tests for Inkscape
by Tavmjong Bah 08 Feb '08

08 Feb '08

Hi, I've updated the W3C tests for Inkscape on my website. You can see the current status (for the development version) at: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/W3C_SVG/htmlInkscapeHarness/full-index.html To make it easier to see the results relevant to Inkscape, I've removed most tests with animation, links, or other SVG interactive features. Note, that Inkscape passes a few tests interactively that it fails when used from the command line. These tests all involve the feImage filter with an external image. Tav

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grids, guides, snapping UI
by bulia byak 07 Feb '08

07 Feb '08

Hi guys, overall you did a terrific job on these features, but I have several comments/questions on the UI: Doc prefs: - "snap guides while dragging" option does not seem to work - no snapping to grid, other guides or objects - can we disable the remove button when there's nothing to remove in Grids? - can we give grid names that at least reflect their type, e.g. AxGrid2222 or RectGrid2222 instead of grid2222? - why two checkboxes, "enabled" and "visible"? what's the difference? It's not clear. I propose to rename them to "Snapping enabled" and "Grid visible". Also if I uncheck "enabled", visible does not work - why? if that's intentional, please just gray out the rest of the grid options when "enabled" is unchecked. - why there's no option for hex grid to show dots? - Snap tab: for what snaps/nodes, the tooltip lists what they may snap to, but here, more important is another question - what are nodes? only path nodes, or special points in shapes? what about gradient handles and text baselines - are they "nodes" too? I think this needs to be clarified right here. What they snap to is clear from the rest of options below. - same about what snaps/bboxes: what they snap _to_ is not important here, it's clear from the rest of options anyway, but that it only works in selector is important. Oops, no, wait; I just noticed that bboxes don't snap to paths/nodes, and nodes don't snap to bboxes. In that case this should be mentioned in the tooltips of course (e.g. "snap to bounding boxes of other objects but not to their paths" and vice versa). - "Snap at specified distance" is misleading; better something like "Snaps only when closer than:" - "Miscellaneous" is a bad label - doesn't this option belong in "what snaps"? Maybe as a suboption under "nodes" - am I right in assuming the rotation center is considered a "node" for snapping? - in any case, "Also snap the rotation center of an object when snapping nodes or guides" - why are guides mentioned here? how can I snap rotation center of a guide? - finally, I think we should rearrange the tabs again :) Tooltips that include "see previous tab" are a sign that something is very awkward here. As I understand the options, I would propose dividing them as follows: first tab: "Snapping" - enable snapping - what snaps, including the rotation center option second tab: "Snap targets" - snap to guides - snap to grids - snap to objects - snap to intersections (in this order!) What do you think? -- bulia byak Inkscape. Draw Freely. http://www.inkscape.org

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