[cad-linux] BRL-CAD 7.8.0 is available

After an extended development cycle, I'm glad to announce that BRL-=20
CAD 7.8.0 is now available.  This version is fully binary backwards =20
compatible with the previous release of BRL-CAD.  Please visit the =20
BRL-CAD project website on Sourceforge to download the latest source =20
and binary distributions:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/brlcad/

There have been a vast number of enhancements and bug fixes to the =20
package since the last major announcement.  Included are MGED =20
enhancements in support of reverse modeling techniques using point-=20
acquisition devices such as X-Station Vulcan advanced surveying =20
systems from Arc Second Inc.  There is also improved documentation =20
including a completed authorship document reflecting the =20
contributions to BRL-CAD over the past 20 years, the addition of a =20
MGED Shift Grips guide, and an MGED Quick Reference.  Additional =20
support has been added for in-memory remote geometry processing and =20
ray re-shooting for experimental testing.  In all, there have been =20
more than 60 user-visible changes and bug fixes to BRL-CAD since the =20
7.6.0 release (listed in detail below).

This release also marks the first official release of BRL-CAD on the =20
Windows platform.  After considerable development over several years =20
by several groups, BRL-CAD is now finally available on Windows and is =20=

being adopted as one of our officially supported platforms for on-=20
going development.  There is still plenty of work and progress that =20
needs to be made of course, and a separate announcement that will go =20
out detailing this status, but this release marks BRL-CAD's first =20
steps onto Windows.  Many thanks to everyone that participated in the =20=

on-going development and beta-testing of the Windows release.  Please =20=

report any issues encountered or requests to the BRL-CAD project =20
website on Sourceforge:

Bug Reports: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=3D105292&atid=3D6408=
02
Feature Requests: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?=20
group_id=3D105292&atid=3D640805
Support Requests: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?=20
group_id=3D105292&atid=3D640803

Considerable thanks and recognition goes out to all the developers =20
that have contributed to BRL-CAD since 7.6.0 including Daniel =20
Remenak, Karen Murray, Stefan Fiedler, Jason Owens, Mike Caruso, =20
Razak Arunaugun, Lee Butler, Doug Howard, Daniel Ro=DFberg, Bob Parker, =20=

and Sean Morrison.  Also thanks are deserved to SURVICE Engineering, =20
Inc., TNO Prins Maurits Laboratory, U.S. Army Research Library, and =20
of course the Open Source community at large for their considerable =20
support and contributions.  More details on contributions to the =20
package are listed in BRL-CAD's NEWS and AUTHORS files, provided in =20
both source and binary distributions.

BRL-CAD is a powerful constructive solid geometry solid modeling =20
system that includes an interactive geometry editor, ray-tracing =20
support for rendering and geometric analysis, path-tracing for =20
realistic image synthesis, network distributed framebuffer support, =20
image and signal-processing tools, and much more.

See the BRL-CAD website at http://brlcad.org/ for documentation, =20
support, and more information.

---
User-visible changes to BRL-CAD since 7.6.0:

* fixed mged B command bad geometry resource bug
* new tracker tool for extracting sf.net tracker data
* added manual page for benchmark tool
* fixed g-dxf export compatibility issue
* smoother sketch primitive spline drawing
* fixed read bug in giftorle
* fixed multiply referenced object illumination bug
* improved nmg tesselation support reliability
* new tpkg ttcp-style example application using libpkg
* new roots_example root solving sample application
* prevent several g-nmg segfaults during tessellation
* fixed brlman/awf `./"' unsupported or unknown issue
* new g_transfer in-memory geometry example program
* new reshoot program to reshoot rays & compare results
* added support for -F framebuffer option to fb-bw
* reid mged command, recursively assign region IDs
* remat mged command, recursively assign a material ID
* get_regions mged command, list assembly regions
* extensive Windows build support enhancements
* new Archer modeling and visualization tool
* raytracers use image size for default aspect ratio
* fixed benchmark sqrt of negative numbers error
* raytracer performance enhancements
* improved mged resource searching when not installed
* significant AUTHORS file updates, all names filed
* fixed sketch primitive bezier path computation bug
* cleaned up erroneous rtedge end of line output
* configure --enable/disable-everything option
* updated g_qa manual page documentation
* early termination grid spacing limit bug in g_qa fixed
* fixed Jove sandbox installation issue
* fixed adrt/isst client crash bug
* fixed modified env(PATH) startup issue in mged
* fixed benchmark tool default resource location bug
* added another text alignment handler to dxf-g
* clamped integer value printing of primitives in mged
* removed gratuitous nmg debug printing from mged
* fixed grouping bug, mged point importer
* improved mged point import support
* fixed bug in plate orientation of mged point importer
* auto-locate mged external apps regardless of PATH
* mged utilizes a local display if unspecified/unset
* set default mged Escape key binding to reject
* fixed 'benchmark' tool resource searching
* added -u option to mged "make_bb" to allow air
* fixed IBM AIX compiler support issues
* head/tail -n usage posix compliance
* fixed jove compilation issues
* fixed conversion bug in the dxf-g converter
* point parsing/import interface to mged
* fixed bug in export of NMG primitives
* fixed itcl configuration issue
* fixed g_qa tolerance option parsing inconsistency
* improved mged 'tol' command tolerance value checks
* fixed tgc absolute tesselation tolerance issue
* optional build support checks for X11 and OpenGL
* improved Windows build support
* isst observer 2x screen magnification
* added los and material name support to librtserver
* improved 64bit support for ADRT
* updated manual page documentation
* added support for text handling to dxf-g
* fixed 'embedded mged' tclscript files=

Other related posts: