[cad-linux-dev] BRL-CAD 7.2.4 and current development status
- From: brlcad <brlcad@xxxxxxx>
- To: brlcad-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, cad-linux-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 14:32:33 -0400
Since BRL-CAD 7.2.4 marks our 5th release since going open source, I
felt it potentially prudent to share a little more detail on our
development status and directions separate from the recently posted
user-based release notes. For what it's worth, the following is mostly
intended for developers or users interested in where we're going in the
short term.
The recent release included several build fixes significant to
developers including build improvements for many platforms. Solaris
returns to the regular build mix after a short hiatus as do regular
builds of all of the common binary distributions including Linux
(ia32/i386, ia64, amd64), Mac OS X (10.2-10.4), FreeBSD, and IRIX (32
and 64). As for application development, this past iteration included
an improvement to the VRML exporter and the numerical root solver, both
requests from users. You can view the release notes and CVS ChangeLog
at:
http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?
group_id=105292&release_id=326688
On the Linux platform in particular, we're still working on build fixes
to make integration into Gentoo and Debian's build system easier. We
have some folks passively helping out, but we could probably use some
more. We do already successfully compile on those two platforms, but
there are several potential namespace conflicts with other libraries
that will require resolving. BRL-CAD traditionally compiles in an
isolated root (e.g. /usr/brlcad) so installing into system paths will
require some changes.
Currently tested Linux platforms span the gamut and are too many to
mention here, but do include both 32bit and 64bit platforms, intel,
amd, ppc processors and then some. Any build errors should be reported
to the BRL-CAD bug tracker at
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=105292&atid=640802
Progress continues on the Windows platform build on several fronts
including through Studio, Cygwin, Mingw, and Msys. I'm happy to say
that we now have a full Cygwin build, next in line is Mingw and Msys
build testing. We've added a termlib to the build; which was the last
component necessary for a full Windows build. Adding termlib also
makes for an easier build on several Linux distributions that don't
include a termlb/termcap/curses library/headers by default.
Support for writing out uniform array binary objects to geometry files
was added to BRL-CAD's libwdb "Write Database" library. This allows
application developers to store pretty much any file into the BRL-CAD
.g files through the libwdb API call. This is useful for storing just
about anything (specifications, extra data files, whatever) and it
particularly useful when generating terrain geometry. The terrain
geometry primitive (dsp - displacement map aka height field) can use a
binary object for it's data instead of relying on an external file;
extruded bitmaps and several shaders can also directly use a binary
object.
Work on the STEP converter is still in progress and set to continue
over the next several iterations/months. We have also received
interest in providing support for several other formats including .pov,
.bzw, .3ds, .nff, and .obj among others that are being considered on a
case by case basis for future development support. Anyone interested
in working on any of these is encouraged to join #brlcad on
irc.freenode.net for developer discussions.
As the 7.2.4 release notes mentioned, this next iteration will continue
with a series of enhancements being made to the BRL-CAD benchmark
suite. This release adds modifications that let the benchmark results
scale much more effectively to very large machines without requiring
manipulation of default settings. The benchmark computes CPU
performance and cache characteristics through our exact application
usage -- i.e. via ray-tracing -- giving a wonderful metric that can be
compared to machines over the past couple decades as well as
quantitative comparable measurements of current hardware, operating
systems, and compilers. The next iteration will include the addition
of variance and deviation calculations for testing numerical stability
of the results.
Anyone interested in becoming a part of the developer core is
encouraged to read our developer's guide at
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/brlcad/brlcad/HACKING?rev=HEAD
and to join our IRC channel, #brlcad on irc.freenode.net
Cheers!
Sean
---
BRL-CAD is a powerful constructive solid geometry solid modeling system
that includes an interactive geometry editor, ray tracing support for
rendering and geometric analysis, network distributed framebuffer
support, image and signal-processing tools. See the BRL-CAD website at
http://brlcad.org/ for documentation, support, and more information.
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