AbiWord Weekly News #111, (2002, week 39, released 2002.09.30)
Welcome to issue 111 of the AbiWord Weekly News.
This has certainly been a mixed week! With the new release of 1.0.3, a new meta-bug has been put in place. One example of things most recently caught, 4046, where something went horribly wrong, and now spelling is all just fizzley if you're using the dialogue (right clicking individual words still works). The good news, however, is that Mark has already promised that 1.0.4 will come out much sooner compared to 1.0.3; preferably within a month.
As I'm writing this, MPrit is telling uwog that, despite being Nederlandse, uwog is not 1337. I, however, feel quite differently, as uwog has proven time and time again that he is, at a minimum, able to code, which places him far above a script kiddie, which is apparently the opening level for 1337-ness. This somehow relates to today being the first day of RedHat's BlueCurve release, which continues to muffled KDE feathers. I've noticed that since Corel announced they would be developing a Linux product, KDE has been the default "alter to fix" desktop for many anti-windows Linux OS's. However, BlueCurve is the first time KDE developers got together to whine about someone changing the interface. It seems to me that they've failed to realize that GNOME also underwent alterations, and that both desktops were altered to fit with Human Interface Guidelines, but why pick on that?
You may have noticed the AWN is twelve hours late; that'll happen. Why don't you adopt a hacker; it's a great way to get what you want when you want it. Next week, more changes to the AWN.
In this issue:
Editor(s) of this issue: E. A. Zen
Discussions
Traffic on the developer mailing list has settled at about 200-400 postings per week.
This week, interesting topics on the developer list included:
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internationalization: I can't get it to work : Raphael Finkel, the cutest little abi-user you could ever meet, has issues getting Yiddish to work in AbiWord. Andrew and Frank, after much time of considering the issue, learn the problem stems from Yiddish lacking a nation of origin; though Frank recommends IL (Israeli), Raphael prefers the commonly accepted YIVO convention, which, obviously, is not a country code (YI).
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Will the new beta version be installable along with 1.0.3? : Petr Tomasek, another abi-user, brings a question to the list I'm sure many of you are dying to know: Can 1.1.1 and 1.0.3 co-exist?
The answer is a resound, "Err...um, sure, I've got nothin' better to do, who likes 'Abiword-2.0' for a binary name?" Sure, it's a quick fix, but life is easier for the rest of us. Meantime, after Frank adjusts the upcoming Beta, Alan requests the name become changed to AbiWord2. Said request went unanswered, and no-one got a free pitcher of beer. -
Re: logos? : Alan forwards his reply for Adam Scheinberg to the developer list. Adam asks for one of those cute logo things, you know, like "This site running on Apache" or "Best viewed with non-monopolistic nor insecure web-browser, like Mozilla 1.0" except along the lines of "This document written in AbiWord." Realizing the hackers were temporarily clue-impared, Martin Willemoes Hansen steps up and shows off his logo. Thereafter, a small argument ensues involving compression, base-64 and xml inline MIME content.
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Barbarism implementation proposal : Continuing a discussion from last week, Implementing support for barbarisms correction, Jordi proposes a basic technique for handling barbarisms with XML as his weapon of choice. Said XML, however, is corrected by Dom and later by Karl, but the suggestion develops in an intriguing way. As I said last week, this thread should interest people who work with or on anything requiring internationalization.
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Forward: Abiword on OSDir.com (new O'Reilly site) : Our bad friends at O'Reilly have created a new site, The Open Source Directory (no, really, a different one!). Steve Mallett, conqueror of small planets, has added AbiWord to the list, and Dom forwards that information to the rest of us. Naturally, you're encouraged to go there and rate Abiword really, really high!
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Notes on first-time building : Andrew has a few questions about the eventual beta for 2.0. Dom points out that he is already working on a new BUILD document, and he mentions that comments, i.e. whines, may result in AbiWord II: The Wrath of Dom, mostly the wrath part.
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Trying to start hacking AbiWord : Omer's new to the CVS of AbiWord and has a few questions for the group. If you want to keep your own cvs, but don't know how to get started, this thread will answer many questions you may possess.
Development
CVS StatsTrack who put in how much and why. And, while you're at it, consider whether you'd like to keep your own cvs build as well. Tables...ooh....
*jordimas: system-related work is Windows unless stated otherwise
POWs
The concept of a "Project Of the Week" is to single out tasks of major interest that outside developers might be interested in providing assistance to. Until a "best way" of listing POWs come to mind, they shall be listed in a short description. Any user interested is welcome to assist in tackling these POWs. If you know someone who's interested, you can link directly to a POW, in order, they're pow3 (at the top) through pow1 (at the bottom). Reminder to developers, I can't post them if you don't submit them. Additionally, feel free to announce if one of these is finished (in case you don't mention it on the list or in the cvs)
Name: Style and/or Diction Plugins (bug 3281) (do either/or or both!)
Description: build a plugin to allow Abiword to check style and diction
Advertisement: me got no grammar fixer, help mes can't you?
Recommended Outline: Create a plugin for AbiWord that allows the checking of style and diction. The source code for the gnu style and diction tools is available here: http://www.gnu.org/software/diction/diction.html
As a prototype you might be able to hack something using the AbiCmd plugin to wrap the style and diction tools. The AikSaurus (Thesaurus) plugin should also be a helpful guide.
When you get the basics working you could try to get Abiword to display green squiggle underlines to mark errors, or otherwise work on a good user interface.
Comments: A great way to start playing with the AbiSource
System: Any OS will be fine.
Challenge level: ***.. 3 stars out of 5
Current Hero: The mastery of Kung Fu has yet to appear.
Name: Fix Windows printing boogs (bug 3239)
Description: Tackle some or more of the various bugs that cause issues in attempting to print under Windows
Advertisement: ????????????????????????????? (no, that's really the ad!)
Recommended Outline: You must become magical to know how to fix this.
Comments: "The problem is that printing on Windows is broken with several brand of printer drivers (see dependent bugs). It appears that with standard PostScript driver it does not happen. It appears also that version 0.9.6 had less problems than 1.0.1 so we might find out where the regression is bu diffing.
"Please, be sure to read all the bug reports. Even partial fix are accepted.
"Fixes must be done against STABLE tree and possibly ported to HEAD (the later can be done as a second step)."
This comes from Hub
Notice: This may already have been fixed with the libiconv upgrade, stay tuned!
System: Windows
Challenge level: ****. 4 stars out of 5
Current Hero: Not one MoFo yet has had the Huevos for this POW
Name: More Windows Maintainers
Description: Jordi could always use help
Advertisement: Help free people from the oppression of MSWord today!
Recommended Outline: You must become magical to know how to fix this.
Comments: Wouldn't be a bad idea to start with the printing bug...
System: Windows
Challenge level: ****. 4 stars out of 5
Current Hero: Jordi Mas
Bug Update
Bug Statistics
I'm leaving the link, guys, you put it up!
Last week, I brought you the most looked-forward to interview of all time, The FreeBSD Daemon. This week, The PR Weasel speaks.
About six months before XP was to be released to the public, information leaked about its registration and licensing scheme. On top of the worries that came with EULA 6.6.6, there was also information leaking that MS would be capable of "hijacking" an individual computer. People who didn't use Windows complained the loudest, followed quickly by corporations who believe all computers require Windows. I could point out how free GNU/Linux is, or how far more mature GNU/Linux is; however, that's best left to the pseudo-professional.
Could you tell us what you were doing when all of this was being discussed?
Sure, I was in the third circle of Legal, Marketing and PR,
you know, where people walk around with AS/400's on their backs and beg for coffee.
I had been asked to put a positive spin on the requirements Microsoft had for the eXPrivacy product.
What exactly did all of that involve?
Well, first, I had to conjure a small miracle about why Windows should decide what can and can't be installed.
This seemed easy, as we keep a small book around with standard kvetches, answers and that like,
so, I just went with the Piracy issue.
Then, there was the issue of Microsoft getting direct access to the harddrive.
I started to wonder, "Why would MonopolySoft need access to the harddrive?"
I called Ballmer and asked what he knew about it.
After twenty minutes of maniacal laughter, I came to realize Steve is more of a mascot than anything else.
So, I picked up...the red phone.
After listening to the EULA and pressing #44873838293848472838494 to continue, Bill Gates picked up after six or seven rings.
He explained that the reasoning came from the fifth level of Legal, Marketing and PR.
Shortly after which, the phone turned blue and I was disconnected.
I then called Rick James, he's in charge of the burning off of flesh in the fifth level.
He told me that Microsoft owns Windows, and therefore co-owns the totality of the computer,
and as a result, if any member of Microsoft wishes to upload porn for safe keeping on that computer, they have a right to do so.
I'm down with that, and write it up as technical support.
At what point did you decide that Microsoft was playing a dangerous game?
It was the EULA 6.6.6.
Microsoft has priced itself out of the market!
When people buy a pre-packaged computer for USD$500, USD$100 is for the operating system.
There's a rumour out there about FREE operating systems!
It's bad enough there are more secure and more stable operating systems, but imagine if it were free!
I couldn't justify USD$100, and I sure can't justify USD$2000 for server software!
It's not that this is normally a problem, as the buck can get passed to the janitor, but that's not what was going to happen!
I received a copy of an internal memo from Eric Raymond explaining that I was to be left with all the blame of this fiasco.
Apparently they needed a sufficiently high-up droid to setup as the pyrrha, and the EULA was named after me: LMPR666.
Nuts to that!
I sent myself a pink slip and got out of that nut-farm.
Truely, a sad and loathsome tale. What do you do now?
I've moved to the Netherlands and pie people for a living.
Ah, that reminds me....
This interview ended with banana cream on my face and tazer burns on his stomach.
Bug Votes
These are the week's Top 20 Bugs in the categories problems and requests for enhancements. Influence next week's results by casting your own votes. Ah, another release, another change of what bugs are on the "Most Wanted" list.
| Top 20 Problems | |||
| ID | Votes | Milestone | Summary |
| 3269 | 120 | --- | Crashing on printing |
| 3171 | 115 | 1.0.x | rtf sets top and bottom margins to 0 |
| 3525 | 90 | --- | font incorrectly printed and spaced |
| 376 | 80 | 1.2 | File assosciate problems for all file types with Win32Slu...... |
| 1406 | 61 | 1.0.x | xhtml documents fail to open: "Bogus html document" msg |
| 1747 | 42 | 1.2 | background colour of text selection is always grey |
| 1194 | 39 | 1.2 | alt+xxxx does not insert special symbols |
| 2362 | 30 | --- | AbiWord only prints across half of page |
| 4046 | 30 | 1.0.4 | The spellchecker has gone gonzo since upgrading from 1.0....... |
| 4049 | 30 | --- | Crash on open file from floppy or network drive. |
| 4057 | 30 | --- | Thesaurus Shift+F7 keybindings shortcuts consistancey |
| 3778 | 29 | --- | Hanging indent setting ignores units |
| 2868 | 25 | 1.2 | character widths are not calculated correctly for some fonts... |
| 2421 | 20 | 1.2 | TM, Bullet, Euro, Smart Quotes and other symbols originat...... |
| 3808 | 20 | Future | Microsoft Word .doc files may crash Abiword |
| 1394 | 17 | 1.2 | on-screen landscape actually prints portrait in Win95 |
| 3216 | 16 | 1.0.x | tabstops can't be set in second (or third) column |
| 2299 | 15 | 1.0.x | Prints incorrect margins with split page. |
| 2924 | 15 | --- | printing abw documents defaults to black pages |
| Top 20 Requests For Enhancement | |||
| ID | Votes | Milestone | Summary |
| 1261 | 528 | 1.2 | Need to support footnotes and endnotes |
| 2321 | 275 | Future | [RFE] Maths/Equation Editing, as a plugin maybe? |
| 2183 | 229 | Future | Fully Support OpenOffice's XML file format |
| 1374 | 96 | Future | [RFE] print odd and/or even pages only (for front & back ... |
| 2365 | 90 | Future | AbiWord needs 'view codes' |
| 1950 | 87 | Future | Wish for automatic Table of Contents |
| 1144 | 67 | Future | Improve KWord import/export filters |
| 2463 | 51 | Future | support embedded objects |
| 1929 | 41 | Future | Hyphenation is missing in Abiword |
| 2565 | 41 | Future | Add true MS Word .doc export capability |
| 808 | 32 | 1.2 | Tables not imported from RTF |
| 2186 | 30 | Future | The insert page break setting is lost for custom styles |
| 3657 | 30 | Future | Rapid Document Production, Insert File |
| 2219 | 27 | Future | AUTONUM wanted in [ Insert/Field/Number ] menu |
| 515 | 25 | Future | columns change should only affect selected text |
| 2296 | 25 | Future | doc import: footnotes |
| 2169 | 24 | Future | Line numbering |
| 2360 | 23 | Future | Resizing bitmap images |
| 3419 | 20 | Future | [RFE] Add microspacing feature (tracking) for characters |
Verified Bugs
In the past week, the following Bugs have been verified as fixed. The listed Bugs have all been put in RESOLVED mode as either FIXED or WORKSFORME and have then been verified by the people listed below. Other causes of resolving a Bug (e.g. as INVALID) are not tracked since they usually do not represent a fixed problem. INVALID and DUPLICATE bugs will be tracked separately starting next week.
| Bug Verified This Week | |
| Bug ID | Description |
| 3552 | wpd document crashes abiword |
| This Week's Most Active QA Helper: abi@matthewcraig.com | |||
| Verified | Name | ||
| 1 | abi@matthewcraig.com | ||
| OS | CPU | URL | Comment |
| AbiWord Snapshots | |||
| Linux (GNOME+GTK) | i386 | http://pino.frontisterion.nl/uwog/abiword/ | Provided by Marc Maurer, aka WonderBoy! These are updated daily. Plugins, clip art, fonts and help files are available too. |
| Linux (GTK) | i386 | http://24.98.8.129:3000/abiword-current.tar.gz | Mark Gilbert's GCC3 tinderbox builds. Do not require libstdc++-libc6.2 |
| Win32 | i386 | http://abiword.pchasm.org/ | Provided by Jeremy Davis. These are updated twice a day. Plugins are available too. |
| Win32 | i386 | http://www.niksbiks.dk/Software/Abi/ | Provided by Nikolaj Brandt Jensen. These are updated about once a week. BiDi builds are available too. |
Special Interest --
From time to time, this section will contain essay-style text about various special interests of the AbiWord development.
SPECIAL NOTICE: If you're working on a project that is related to, affects the development of or is affected by AbiWord, feel free to contact me
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