- Inkscape Devel - Inkscape Mailman

Prep for releasing Inkscape 0.37
by Bryce Harrington 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

Sounds like it's time to start in on getting the Inkscape 0.37 release process underway. There's been a lot of great effort from many people going into this release, and we're all looking forward to delivering 0.37 to the community. I read over the latest version of the release notes yesterday and am amazed at how much has been acheved, well beyond the planned objectives. The steps we need to take to do this release are the same as before. 1. First, there are a couple last code cleanup tasks that remain: We need to remove the #if 0 code, and we need volunteers for that. We need to finalize the code style guidelines, which basically means getting concensus on keeping tabs or converting tabs into 4-spaces. 2. Next we will declare feature freeze. Anyone working on features right now will need to either get them in by then, or delay/disable them until after the release, or move the work onto a branch. In addition to removing high priority bugs we need to ensure we haven't lost features (like grid snapping). 3. Once the tarball release is cut, I would like to see us take an organized approach to creating and testing the binary packages, so that they are consistently named and of high quality. I'll try to draw up a plan for this for us. 4. Lastly is to get word out about this release. We have tasks identified in the roadmap for doing this. A suitable goal would be to match the Sodipodi 0.32 page view and download numbers. I think we can do it if we put some organized effort into it; we've got a good product and a lot of people will be thrilled to get word about it.

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'HACKING' file updated
by Bryce Harrington 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

I've rewritten the old (Sodipodi) HACKING file to make it shorter and to briefly outline our development philosophy for those wanting to get involved in the future. I've enclosed it below for review. Bryce Contributing to Inkscape ------------------------ Inkscape welcomes your contributions to help turn it into a fully SVG-compliant drawing program for the Open Source community. While many developers work on fixing bugs and creating new features, it is worth strong emphasis that even non-programmers can help make Inkscape more powerful and successful. You probably already have an idea of something you'd like to work on. If not, here are just a few ways you can help: * Pick a bug, fix it, and send in a patch * Choose a feature you want to see developed, and make it * If you speak a language in addition to English, work on your language's i18n file in the po/ directory * Find a new bug and report it * Help answer questions for new Inkscapers on Jabber, IRC or the mailing lists * Write an article advocating Inkscape * Author a HOWTO describing a trick or technique you've figured out CVS Access ========== We give CVS access out to people with proven interest in helping develop the codebase. Proving your interest is straightforward: Make two contributions and request access. Patch Decisions =============== Our motto for changes to the codebase is "Patch first, ask questions later". When someone has an idea, rather than endlessly debating it, we encourage folks to go ahead and code something up (even prototypish). This is then incorporated into the development branch of the code for folks to try out, poke and prod, and tinker with. We figure, the best way to see if an idea fits is to try it on for size. Coding Style ============ Please refer to the Coding Style Guidelines if you have specific questions on the style to use for code. If reading style guidelines doesn't interest you, just follow the general style of the surrounding code, so that it is at least consistent.

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RE: [Inkscape-devel] RE: couple of functionality tweaks
by bulia byak 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

> > Perhaps this is a misunderstanding: It should deselect any selected >nodes > > (they must become all gray), but not deselect the shape itself (why >would > > you need that in node edit?) If you need to edit nodes of another shape, > > however, you can click on it, and it will be selected instead (i.e. the >old > > shape's nodes will disappear, and the new shape will show its nodes, > > initially deselected (gray)). > > >The reason you need to be able to click on the canvas to not see the >nodes is if the shape you are editing has many nodes and it becomes hard >to see the original shape or curve or whatever. Trust me, it is really >helpful to be able to deselect quickly by clicking on nothing (aka, the >canvas). In node edit, you're supposed to work on nodes, so naturally it displays nodes for you. Just press f1 or f3 or space if you want to "hide" nodes. Or open a new view where you can switch (ctrl-tab) for a quick look without any noise - this way you won't even lose your selected nodes when you switch back. These and more are all natural ways to do what you want, while deselecting _object_ in _node_ edit does not seem quite legal to me. On the other hand, I might program it so that on the first click it deselects any nodes, and on the second click, deselects the shape (hiding its nodes). However I'm reluctant to do this because this may lead to occasional unintended deselections that may be quite annoying. Anyone else has an opinion? _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcomm&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.ms…

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glade/ -> icons/
by MenTaLguY 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

Just a quick heads-up that we've put renaming the glade/ directory to icons/ on the TODO, since it contains icons and no glade files. -mental

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] RE: keyboard shortcuts + man page
by bulia byak 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

>Right now I'm in favor of firing up a browser rather than the full help >system before the release. Yes, I too think it's the best approach in the short term. >You can be assured to get a browser on linux (mozilla), iexplore on >windows, and safari on OS X. I guess browser preference could be another >pref, which would be separate from the option of a open file for preview >pref. Yes, let it be a preference for now. >Any thoughts? When are we going to start the feature freeze? Maybe >WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY, prior to our next release? As for me, I'm already in the "freeze" and actively working on bugs. Bryce, do you think you will be able to provide at least some marker functionality for the release? Anyone else working on anything feature-wise at the moment? _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

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clone example
by bulia byak 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Here's a simple example to give you an idea. Edit the bottom shape (drag, rotate, node-edit) and the top one will respond. As you see there is some support in the program already, but it's quite buggy. Hopefully it can be cleaned up and made usable. (You could help, too, given that you need it for your designs :) _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoi…

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] remove/apply transformations?
by bulia byak 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

>Suppose I'm drawing a snowflake: >http://members.rogers.com/rcrosbie/images/woodworking/snowflake_2c.jpg > >I only need to work on one branch of that snowflake, group the paths and >the others are copies of that branch that are rotated. It's the perfect case for svg:use (I propose to call it "clone" in the UI). You create clones, rotate/move them, then work on the shape of the original and all clones are updated automatically. If there are no showstoppers in the current svg:use support, I will try to make this possible for the next release. (Which means you won't need the "preserve" mode, after all - the clones would work the same in both modes.) >I wouldn't have to do things like this if inkscape had some CAD-like path >features such as: Connect path A to the midpoint of Path B; Clip path A at >it's intersection with path B; etc. I'm constantly making objects to >precisely find these points that I need. When I need to draw something with such constraints, I use KSEG (http://www.mit.edu/~ibaran/kseg.html). It's very nice and powerful, although you can't easily export its drawings into SVG :( >It consists of 5 copies of the same path that are rotated, but I had to >draw a lot of intermediary objects and paths to ensure that that one path >would be seamless when it was rotated and combined into the larger object. >It's the intermediary objects that I need to apply the transformations to. Exactly, this is where clones are badly needed. I always wanted to have them in my vector editor, but so far no application offered exactly that kind of feature. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoi…

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] remove/apply transformations?
by Robert Crosbie 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

---8<---Snip--->8--- >>Lets say I want to draw a regular hexagon. I will draw 3 >>identical lines, rotate one 60, another -60, then apply the >>transformations. The endpoints of these paths will give me the >>control points to draw the hexagon. > >From this example, however, I don't see why you need preserving >transformations - if you apply them at once! This means you just >want the rotate command (in the Transformation dialog, I suppose) to >work in the "optimize" mode, i.e. apply the transformations for >you. Or am I missing something? In this particular case, optimize mode would work well, but I am actually constantly switching between the two. Suppose I'm drawing a snowflake: http://members.rogers.com/rcrosbie/images/woodworking/snowflake_2c.jpg I only need to work on one branch of that snowflake, group the paths and the others are copies of that branch that are rotated. In this case I want to work in preserve mode because If I make a change to one of the branches, I can copy that change to the transformed groups. But suppose I want the side-branches to meet. I will then use my hexagon example above to find the point where side-branches intersect and use that as my endpoint. I usually want to optimize the transformations in jig objects that are used to find points for my preserved object. Does that make sense? I wouldn't have to do things like this if inkscape had some CAD-like path features such as: Connect path A to the midpoint of Path B; Clip path A at it's intersection with path B; etc. I'm constantly making objects to precisely find these points that I need. Check out this celtic knot: http://members.rogers.com/rcrosbie/images/woodworking/plate5of3a.jpg It consists of 5 copies of the same path that are rotated, but I had to draw a lot of intermediary objects and paths to ensure that that one path would be seamless when it was rotated and combined into the larger object. It's the intermediary objects that I need to apply the transformations to. Cheers, Rob. _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

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RE: [Inkscape-devel] RE: couple of functionality tweaks
by bulia byak 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

>Hey, wait a minute, actually I programmed this long ago - and it works for >me! Could you please describe in detail how it's not working? With a sample >file and step-by-step instructions? Perhaps this is a misunderstanding: It should deselect any selected nodes (they must become all gray), but not deselect the shape itself (why would you need that in node edit?) If you need to edit nodes of another shape, however, you can click on it, and it will be selected instead (i.e. the old shape's nodes will disappear, and the new shape will show its nodes, initially deselected (gray)). _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/features&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin…

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RE: couple of functionality tweaks
by bulia byak 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

>While I was editing a shape using the node-select tool, I tried to >deselect the shape by clicking on the canvas, which is kinda standard >practice, and the shape was still selected (ie, the nodes were active). >When one is using the node edit tool and they click on open space, all >nodes should be deselected. > >I'm putting an RFE in on this one, but I figured it might be a simple >change. >https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=884979&group_id=9… Hey, wait a minute, actually I programmed this long ago - and it works for me! Could you please describe in detail how it's not working? With a sample file and step-by-step instructions? Anyone else having problems with this? _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

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