[galib] galib development status

[matthew wall]

On 25 Dec 2004, at 10:53, Jonas Karlsson wrote:

> GALib doesn't compile with the latest versions of gcc or MS visual
> studio.    Are there any plans for a new release, or is galib end of
> life?


hello everyone,

recently there have been some questions about the state of galib.


gcc3 and ms vs7 compatibility:

i have recently installed the latest ms compiler and i will soon have 
the latest ms visual studio.  so i will finally have a proper windows 
environment in which to build and test galib.


next minor release:

i plan to release galib 2.4.6 with the following fixes:
  - clean compile with gcc3
  - clean compile with visual studio 7
  - incorporation of various bug-fixes
so this will be a minor, maintenance release.

i was hoping to have it out in the fall of 2004, but various personal 
incidents and the lack of the windows build/test environment have 
hampered that.


next major release:

i have been working on a major galib release.  it will probably be 
called galib 3.0 since it will require not only a recompile but also 
(in some cases) modifications to the code that uses galib.

this will include the following:
  - saving the state of an evolution to xml (for all built-in genome 
types)
  - pause/restart of an evolution for any built-in types.
  - removal of the pseudo rtti stuff, and removal of other hacks to
      accommodate ancient compilers.
  - incorporation of baseline implementations of various 'standard'
      evolutionary algorithm 'best practices' that use the components in
      galib.  in some cases these will
  - refactoring/rewrite of the examples.
  - incorporation of a unit testing framework similar to junit.
please let me know if there are specific features you would like to see 
in the release.

i am sorry, but there is not yet an eta for this major release.


public access to the galib cvs repository:

the hardware for lancet.mit.edu will soon be upgraded.  when this 
happens, the galib cvs repository will be made available so that you 
can get the latest snapshots and so that we can have easier direct 
contribution to galib.


if anyone has suggestions or other feedback, please let me know.

matthew