[catsoop-users] catsoop Version 19.0.1 Released

[adam j hartz]

Hi All,

Just a quick note to let you know that a new catsoop version (19.0.1)
has been released.  This is a new LTS release, so the plan is to support
it for at least 2 years.

There have been quite a few changes since the last release (which was
made around this time last year), some of which require some changes to
your existing catsoop courses.  I'll summarize some of the big changes
in this message, but you can see the full changelog under the "Version
19.0.1" and "Version 19.0.0" headers at the following link:
    https://catsoop.org/hg/catsoop/file/v19.0.1/CHANGELOG


Due to a change in the version numbering scheme, if you're upgrading,
you may need to use the --force-reinstall flag to pip:
    $ pip3 install --force-reinstall catsoop~=19.0

If you are installing on a public-facing server (rather than just a
local copy), you should install catsoop[server] instead.

If you installed from Git or Mercurial, you should delete your existing
copy of the repository and re-clone with one of:
    $ hg clone https://catsoop.org/hg/catsoop
    $ git clone git://catsoop.org/catsoop.git


The big changes/additions are:

    * Two breaking changes to the specification language:

        * Two catsoop variable names have been changed to better reflect
          their meaning:
             - csq_python_sandbox => csq_python_sandbox_type
             - csq_python_interpreter => csq_python_sandbox_interpreter

        * All <section>, <subsection>, ..., and <ref> tags must now be
          prefixed with catsoop-, e.g., <catsoop-section>

        A script is included in the catsoop distribution that will
        attempt to make these changes for you.  It can be found in
        catsoop/scripts/util/convert_course_to_19.0.py in the
        repository, or you can also download it here:
            https://catsoop.org/hg/catsoop/raw-file/tip/catsoop/scripts/util/convert_course_to_19.0.py

        That script takes as its sole argument the root directory of
        your catsoop course.  It will make changes in-place, so it may
        not be a bad idea to save a copy of your course elsewhere before
        running it.

    * Improved support for screen readers and keyboard-based navigation.

    * Improved page load times, especially for big pages.

    * Support for dark mode (a long-standing feature request).

    * Lots of bugfixes, including improvements to some catsoop-related
      error messages.


If you have any questions about the changes, or if you need help with
the process of updating your catsoop install, or if you encounter any
other issues, please let me know!

Thanks,
-Adam