Hi Now we''ve got the download problems nailed, shall we do an announcement on comp.lang.ruby? I can do it if you''re really busy, but Kevin I think you have first refusal as you''re owed the biggest chunk of kudos for getting us this far. re patch backlog: no worries - just clearing the decks before having another go at integrating wxScintilla - but I can''t see myself getting it to it til next week. cheers alex
Alex Fenton wrote:> Now we''ve got the download problems nailed, shall we do an announcement > on comp.lang.ruby? I can do it if you''re really busy, but Kevin I think > you have first refusal as you''re owed the biggest chunk of kudos for > getting us this far.I would love to have a shot at proofreading the announcement, but I don''t feel a need to author it, partly because I don''t subscribe to c.l.r. More importantly, Alex, you are kind of the voice of the project right now, so it seems appropriate to come from you. I feel like somewhere between a figurehead and a guy in the shadows whispering advice to you guys who are doing the real work. I wish I could do more, but I''m really glad you all have stepped up. One of my requirements for any announcement is that within the first sentence, it has to explain what wxruby IS and why someone should care enough to keep reading. The project description on the rubyforge page is a pretty good starting point for that piece of it. Let''s announce this thing. Kevin
> Now we''ve got the download problems nailed, shall we do an announcement > on comp.lang.ruby?Forgot to mention: We should post an announcement on rubyforge at the same time. You probably knew that, but just in case... Kevin
Kevin Smith wrote:> I would love to have a shot at proofreading the announcement, but I > don''t feel a need to author it, partly because I don''t subscribe to > c.l.r.Cool - see a draft below. It''s a bit long, but think it''s worth it. Let me know if it looks OK, or send me revisions if needed. I follow c.l.r. via Usenet so can look out for feedback. Happy to post a rubyforge announce, but I don''t currently have permissions to do that. Will follow it up with a wxSugar announce - I plan to tag and release a new version with some minor updates. alex --- wxRuby2 preview 0.0.36 has been released! wxRuby brings wxWidgets, a mature cross-platform GUI toolkit to Ruby. It uses native widgets on Windows, OS X and Linux/GTK; you can write GUI code once and still give users the look, feel and behaviour they expect from applications. = INSTALLING WXRUBY Binary gems for major platforms and a source tarball are available at: http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=35&release_id=7185 or via gems: gem install wxruby2-preview NB: this is an alpha-quality release, and is probably not yet stable enough for production use - but it''s evolving quickly! Feedback, feature requests and bug reports are very welcome. All the packages come with a wide array of sample code to demonstrate how to use the library. Documentation is available online and can be downloaded for off-line reference. = WHAT''S NEW? wxRuby2 is the result of a complete - and lengthy - re-engineering of an original port. Here''s a few reasons why the wait''s been worth it: * based on wxWidgets 2.6, giving vastly improved appearance on OS X and Linux * support for many new windows, controls and widgets * more complete API coverage within classes * unicode (UTF-8) support for creating multilingual apps * uses exceptions rather than segfaults to warn you about incorrect usage ;) * downloadable Ruby documentation * easier to extend and add C++ classes, by using SWIG * simpler and more permissive licence * binary gems for all major platforms = WHY WXRUBY? There are several great GUI toolkits available for Ruby - but no other has all the features we like about wxRuby2: * cross-platform, with a wide selection of widgets * native widgets mean that applications look and work how users expect * native widgets work well with accessibility tools and assistive software * simple licence that''s compatible with free and proprietary software * mature foundation: wxWidgets has been around for over 10 years, and is actively developed * binaries are easy to bundle and redistribute in end-user apps, no external dependencies = TODO This version still has some memory management problems, which can cause crashes - but we''re ironing these out! Before we move to beta, we want to support all the GUI classes that were available in the last (0.6.0) release of the old series of wxruby. And there are improvements to be made to the Ruby documentation. wxRuby is a big project, and volunteers are very welcome. There''s opportunities to use all sorts of skills, from Ruby and C++ hacking to documentation and publicity. = CREDITS wxRuby is a genuine team effort. Kevin Smith, Roy Sutton, Sean Long, Nick and Alex Fenton are major contributors to getting wxRuby2 this far. Thanks also to many others who submitted patches, bug reports and sample code. A special thanks to Rubyforge for providing unfailingly helpful hosting for the project. = FURTHER INFORMATION * Project wiki: http://wxruby.org/ * Rubyforge homepage: http://rubyforge.org/projects/wxruby * Ruby documentation http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/doc/ * Friendly general mailing list: http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/wxruby-users * Development mailing list, svn commits: http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/wxruby-development * Subversion repository browsing: http://rubyforge.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/trunk/wxruby2/?root=wxruby
Alex, did you get a chance to do the announcement yet? Roy
Alex Fenton wrote:> Happy to post a rubyforge announce, but I don''t currently have > permissions to do that. >Well, that short-cuts what I had just sent. I like it!> Will follow it up with a wxSugar announce - I plan to tag and release a > new version with some minor updates. > >Good deal. I wish I had time to play with wxSugar. I have never used it yet.
Roy Sutton wrote:> Alex, did you get a chance to do the announcement yet? >Looks like our messages crossed - see the draft in my other email. alex
Hey Alex, Looks awesome! The notes below include a couple things I feel strongly about, and a few "would be nice" tweaks. Feel free to make the changes, and post it whenever you are ready. I will copy the FAQ out of the 0.0.36 readme into the FAQ page of the wiki. Thanks again for all your wxruby work! Kevin Alex Fenton wrote:> --- > wxRuby2 preview 0.0.36 has been released! > > wxRuby brings wxWidgets, a mature cross-platform GUI toolkit to Ruby. It > uses native widgets on Windows, OS X and Linux/GTK; you can write GUI > code once and still give users the look, feel and behaviour they expect > from applications.Just this once, I think at this point we need to say something like: This is the first alpha/preview release of wxRuby2, a complete rewrite of wxRuby.> > = INSTALLING WXRUBY > > Binary gems for major platforms and a source tarball are available at: > http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=35&release_id=7185 > > or via gems: > gem install wxruby2-preview > > NB: this is an alpha-quality release, and is probably not yet stable > enough for production use - but it''s evolving quickly! Feedback, > feature requests and bug reports are very welcome.Would slightly prefer "NOTE:" over "NB:", but no biggie.> > All the packages come with a wide array of sample code to demonstrate > how to use the library. Documentation is available online and can be > downloaded for off-line reference. > > = WHAT''S NEW? > > wxRuby2 is the result of a complete - and lengthy - re-engineering of an > original port. Here''s a few reasons why the wait''s been worth it: > > * based on wxWidgets 2.6, giving vastly improved appearance on OS X and > Linux > * support for many new windows, controls and widgets > * more complete API coverage within classes > * unicode (UTF-8) support for creating multilingual apps > * uses exceptions rather than segfaults to warn you about incorrect > usage ;) > * downloadable Ruby documentationRuby-specific> * easier to extend and add C++ classes, by using SWIGand add support for more wx classes, by> * simpler and more permissive licence > * binary gems for all major platforms > > = WHY WXRUBY? > > There are several great GUI toolkits available for Ruby - but no other > has all the features we like about wxRuby2: > > * cross-platform, with a wide selection of widgets > * native widgets mean that applications look and work how users expect > * native widgets work well with accessibility tools and assistive software > * simple licence that''s compatible with free and proprietary software > * mature foundation: wxWidgets has been around for over 10 years, and is > actively developed > * binaries are easy to bundle and redistribute in end-user apps, no > external dependencies > > = TODO > > This version still has some memory management problems, which can cause > crashes - but we''re ironing these out! Before we move to beta, we want > to support all the GUI classes that were available in the last (0.6.0) > release of the old series of wxruby. And there are improvements to be > made to the Ruby documentation. > > wxRuby is a big project, and volunteers are very welcome. There''sShould be "There are" instead of "There''s"> opportunities to use all sorts of skills, from Ruby and C++ hacking to > documentation and publicity. > > = CREDITS > > wxRuby is a genuine team effort. Kevin Smith, Roy Sutton, Sean Long, > Nick and Alex Fenton are major contributors to getting wxRuby2 this far.I would move Nick to the end of the list so it''s clear his last name isn''t also Fenton :-) Eventually I would love to assemble a full list of contributors back to day one, but this looks fine for now.> Thanks also to many others who submitted patches, bug reports and sample > code. A special thanks to Rubyforge for providing unfailingly helpful > hosting for the project.Maybe we could say "and sample code, and to those who contributed to the original wxruby codebase."> > = FURTHER INFORMATION > > * Project wiki: > http://wxruby.org/ > * Rubyforge homepage: > http://rubyforge.org/projects/wxruby > * Ruby documentation > http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/doc/ > * Friendly general mailing list: > http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/wxruby-users > * Development mailing list, svn commits: > http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/wxruby-development > * Subversion repository browsing: > http://rubyforge.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/trunk/wxruby2/?root=wxruby > >Not sure we need all these links. Probably the first 3 are enough, since they have links to the rest. Might want to add a link directly to the FAQ page of the wiki, though.
Kevin Smith wrote:> The notes below include a couple things I feel strongly > about, and a few "would be nice" tweaks.Thanks - those all looked good so I added them and just posted it to c.l.r. The windows binary gem especially has been going like hot cakes already so I expect we will see even more interest now. Just on my way out now, but plan to post a short announce to the wxwindows newsgroup too later - with the rapidly rising profile of Ruby there may well be some seasoned C++ programmers there with an interest in this port. I see 2.7.1 has just been released and 2.8.0 is expected in a few weeks. cheers alex