gimp/NEWS.pre-2-6

                   ------------------------------
                   GNU Image Manipulation Program
                         Development Branch
                   ------------------------------

This is the unstable development branch of GIMP.  Here we are working
towards the next stable release, which will be GIMP 2.6.


Changes in GIMP 2.6.0
=====================

 - further improved error reporting and parameter checks for some procedures
 - fixed printing of indexed images (bug #552609)
 - further code cleanup in Script-Fu extension
 - improved Brightness->Contrast -> Levels -> Curves parameter conversion
 - made the font size in the docks configurable in the gtkrc file
 - renamed File->New submenu to File->Create
 - moved the "Use GEGL" check-box to the Colors menu
 - added new scale procedures allowing to specify the interpolation
   explicitly (bug #486977)
 - lots of bug fixes


Contributors:

  Sven Neumann, Michael Natterer, Martin Nordholts, Simon Budig,
  Tor Lillqvist, Barak Itkin



Changes in GIMP 2.5.4
=====================

 - improved look and feel of the Navigation dialog and navigation popups
 - improved positioning of the image in the image window
 - by default turned off use of GEGL for color operations
 - moved the "Use GEGL" checkbox to the Debug menu
 - optimized the new scaling code
 - various fixes to the Python bindings
 - added Python bindings for most GIMP widgets to the gimpui module
 - merged GimpHRuler and GimpVRuler classes into GimpRuler
 - added Search entry to the Keyboard Shortcuts and Input Controller
   configuration dialogs
 - allow to drop images (in addition to URIs) on the empty image window
 - improved error handling in Script-Fu
 - merged upstream TinyScheme changes into Script-Fu interpreter
 - bug fixes and code cleanup
 

Contributors:

  Sven Neumann, Michael Natterer, Martin Nordholts, Tor Lillqvist,
  Lars-Peter Clausen, Michael Schumacher, Kevin Cozens, Barak Itkin,
  David Gowers, Dennis Ranke


 
Changes in GIMP 2.5.3
=====================

 - some fixes for the 64-bit Windows platform
 - optionally emulate brush dynamics when stroking a path or selection
 - further work on the scroll-beyond-image-borders feature, improving the
   behavior of the image display when zooming or when the image size changes
 - added links to the user manual to the Tips dialog
 - largely rewritten scaling code improves scaling quality, in particular
   when scaling down
 - allow to copy-on-write from the image projection
 - added "Paste as new layer" to Edit menu
 - added "New from visible" to the Layer menu allowing to create a new
   layer from the image projection
 - added new procedure	'gimp-layer-new-from-visible'.
 - renamed all file plug-in executables to a have a file prefix
 - changed the HSV color selector to use the GtkHSV widget
 - changed the default for the 'trust-dirty-flag' gimprc property
 - dropped the "Starburst" logo script
 - improved the behavior of the zoom button in the upper right corner of
   the image window
 - allow PDB procedures to pass an error message with their return values
 - changed all file plug-ins to pass their error messages with the
   return values instead of raising an error dialog
 - adapt the display of the pointer position in the statusbar to the
   pointer precision of the active tool
 - bug fixes and code cleanup


Contributors:

  Sven Neumann, Michael Natterer, Martin Nordholts, Alexia Death,
  Tor Lillqvist, Geert Jordaens, Daniel Eddeland, Aurimas Juška,
  Róman Joost, Luidnel Maignan, Barak Itkin, Aurore Derriennic



Changes in GIMP 2.5.2
=====================

 - final touches on the combined Freehand/Polygon Select tool
 - added a dialog for managing Color tool settings
 - prepared the code for changes in the upcoming GTK+ release
 - improved popup scale button
 - mark the center of rectangles/bounding rectangles during moves
 - added dialog to query for using the online user manual
 - allow to map dynamics to hardness for the Eraser tool
 - provide gimp-remote functionality on Windows
 - disable the build and install of the gimp-remote tool by default
 - allow to scroll beyond the image borders
 - added new PDB data type for transferring color arrays
 - added new PDB function gimp-palette-get-colors
 - added text search to the Help Browser plug-in
 - bug fixes and code cleanup


Contributors:

  Sven Neumann, Michael Natterer, Martin Nordholts, Manish Singh,
  Lars-Peter Clausen, Alexia Death, Tor Lillqvist, Róman Joost,
  Jakub Steiner


Changes in GIMP 2.5.1
=====================

 - further improvements to the status bar
 - made the center point of rectangles snap to the grid and rulers
 - improved Alpha to Logo filters
 - better cursor feedback in the Intelligent Scissors tool
 - rotate JPEG thumbnails according to the EXIF orientation
 - improved event smoothing for paint tools
 - prepared PSP plug-in to deal with newer versions of the file format
 - allow plug-ins to work in parallel on different layers of the same image
 - pass through GEGL command-line options
 - added 22 new variations to the Flame plugin
 - only show operations from relevant categories in the GEGL tool
 - allow to enter the zoom ratio in the status bar
 - don't keep the file-chooser dialogs around
 - ported scan-convert code to Cairo, removing libart dependency
 - allow the paint velocity to affect brush size, opacity and the like
 - allow for random variations of the brush size, opacity and the like
 - renamed Dialogs menu to Windows
 - keep a list of recently closed docks in the Windows menu
 - allow to go from Brightness-Contrast to Levels to Curves
 - improved the handling of color tool settings
 - merged the new Polygon Selection tool with the Freehand Select tool
 - allow to lock dockables
 - made Desaturate into a tool with preview in the image window
 - ported translation contexts to msgctxt
 - added GimpRuler widgets, an improved version of GtkRuler
 - moving the selection mask now commits a pending rectangle selection
 - added keyboard shortcut for resetting the brush scale (Backslash)
 - ported the Help Browser plug-in to WebKit
 - allow to use the online user manual
 - added new translation (Icelandic)
 - bug fixes and code cleanup


Contributors:

  Sven Neumann, Michael Natterer, Martin Nordholts, Øyvind Kolås,
  Alexia Death, Ulf-D. Ehlert, Daniel Hornung, Michael Deal, Aurimas Juška,
  Luis Barrancos



Changes in GIMP 2.5.0
=====================

Core:

 - improved rectangle tool drawing for narrow mode
 - ported lots (but not all) drawing code to Cairo
 - optimized image rendering by using pre-multiplied alpha
 - use new GLib features such as GRegex
 - use new GTK+ features such as the new GtkTooltip API
 - much improved GimpCurve object
 - cleaner and smaller tool options
 - enable brush scaling for the Smudge tool
 - added debugging framework that can be enabled at run-time
 - depend on GEGL and use it optionally in some color operations
 - optional GEGL processing for all color tools
 - add proper settings objects for all color tools
 - add list of recently used settings to all color tools
 - added experimental GEGL tool to use arbitrary GEGL operations
 - event filtering and smoothing for better paint tool performance
 - added motion constraints in the Move Tool
 - some operations do not any longer automatically add an alpha channel
 - some preparation for tagging resource files
 - cutting a selection doesn't clear the selection any longer
 - added new polygon select tool
 - load brushes and other data files recursively (search through subdirs)
 - started work on language selector for the text tool (unfinished)
 - allow to set opacity of the transform tool preview
 - merged toolbox menu into the image menu
 - always keep an image window around
 - improved image statusbar
 - dropped 'documents' in favor of ~/.recently-used.xbel
 - started to work on text box functionality in the text tool
 - numerous bug fixes and cleanups


Plug-ins:

 - dicom: improved handling of 16 bit image data
 - help: use GIO to access the help index
 - print: moved Page Setup out of the Print dialog
 - psd-load: rewritten, cleaner and more features
 - randomize: added previews
 - ripple:  added a Phase Shift control
 - screenshot: optionally add the mouse cursor image on an extra layer
 - uri: use GIO/GVfs where available
 - whirlpinch: allow a larger range for the whirl angle


Python binding:

 - allow to specify colors using CSS color names
 - added new method Image.new_layer()


Script-Fu:

 - enforce R5RS syntax for 'let'
 - improved Frosty Logo script


PDB:

 - added new text layer API
 - added gimp-vectors-export-to-file and gimp-vectors-export-to-string
 - added procedure to test for existence of a procedure in the PDB
 - improved error handling for procedures


Libraries:

 - added some Cairo utilities
 - allow to use markup in tooltips
 - libgimpthumb doesn't any longer depend on other GIMP libraries


Miscellaneous:

 - use the gimptool program on Unix, too, instead of the gimptool script
 - create the list of supported MIME types at compile-time
 - gimp shows library versions when called with '--version --verbose'


Contributors:

  Sven Neumann, Michael Natterer, Martin Nordholts, Bill Skaggs,
  Øyvind Kolås, Manish Singh, Kevin Cozens, Alexia Death, Tor Lillqvist,
  Marcus Heese, John Marshall, Joao S. O. Bueno, Jakub Steiner,
  Simon Budig, Tom Lechner, Hans Breuer, ...