GNU Scientific Library (GSL) 0.9.1 is released - 2nd Beta Test Release

GNU Scientific Library (GSL) 0.9.1 is released - 2nd Beta Test Release

[Brian Gough]

Dear GSL enthusiasts,

I have just placed a new release snapshot of GSL (0.9.1) up for
anonymous ftp access.  It is available from the following locations,

       USA: ftp://mirrors.rcn.net/pub/sourceware/gsl/
 Australia: ftp://planetmirror.com/pub/sourceware/gsl/
   Germany: ftp://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/sources.redhat.com/gsl/
        UK: ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/gsl/

This is the second beta-test release, and should fix all previously
reported bugs.  Please continue testing and report any problems to
gsl-discuss@sources.redhat.com.

Installation: GSL uses the standard GNU installation procedure.  The
release tarball (gsl-0.9.1.tar.gz) comes with an INSTALL file.

There is a zip file (gsl-0_9.zip) which includes project files for
compiling GSL with Microsoft Visual C++ (see the file msvc/README.txt
for details).

Packaging: There is an RPM file for gsl-0.9.1 on the ftp site.  Debian
also provides GSL packages.

Documentation: GSL has an extensive 400 page texinfo manual.  The info
files are installed in the usual way.  The ftp site has the reference
manual in postscript format, and the web site has the reference manual
in HTML format.

The project home page is at http://sources.redhat.com/gsl/

Here are the recent entries in the NEWS file. 

* What is new in gsl-0.9.1:

** The single precision ffts now uses float throughout, rather than
mixing float and double.

** The random number distributions now include the Landau distribution.

** The fft function interface has been reorganized, with workspaces
separate from wavetables to eliminate unnecessary recomputation of
trigonometric factors.

** The gsl_interval type has been eliminated and replaced by two double
arguments for simplicity.

** The order of the arguments to the minimization routines is now more
logical, with function values assocatied with x-values.

** Modified initialization of vector and matrix views to work with the
SunPro compiler.

** Renamed gsl_Efunc_t to gsl_siman_Efunc_t, in accordance with
namespace conventions.

** Improved accuracy and fixed bugs in gsl_sf_hyperg_1F1,
gsl_sf_bessel_I0_scaled, gsl_sf_erfc, gsl_sf_log_erfc,
gsl_sf_legendre_Q0 and gsl_sf_legendre_Q1, and gsl_sf_zeta.

** Improved IEEE compliance of special functions, overflows now return
Inf and domain errors return NaN.

** Improved checking for underflows in special functions when using
extended precision registers

Still a mini bug in 0.9.1

[Martin Quinson]

Hello, I just checked, and the gsl.m4 macro won't work when you use paranoid
compillation option like "-Wmissing-prototypes -Werror".

I put them in CFLAGS with the autotools mechanism, and if I do it before I
call your macro, the test program won't compile.

Here is the patch to fix it:
--------------------
--- gsl.m4.orig	Sat Aug 18 23:49:54 2001
+++ gsl.m4	Sat Aug 18 23:50:15 2001
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
+char* my_strdup (const char *str);
+
 char*
 my_strdup (const char *str)
 {
--------------------

That's a pretty stupid patch, but it really helps here(TM).

Bye, Mt.

Re: Still a mini bug in 0.9.1

[Brian Gough]

Martin Quinson writes:
 > Hello, I just checked, and the gsl.m4 macro won't work when you use paranoid
 > compillation option like "-Wmissing-prototypes -Werror".
 > 
 > I put them in CFLAGS with the autotools mechanism, and if I do it before I
 > call your macro, the test program won't compile.
 > 
 > Here is the patch to fix it:

Thanks, now added.

Re: GNU Scientific Library (GSL) 0.9.1 is released - 2nd Beta Test Release

[Brian Gough]

Stefan A. Deutscher writes:
 >  thanks for keeping GSL cooking! Just a quick question -- would it be
 > much work to also offer a tar.bz2 file? Often, these are another 30 % or
 > so smaller than tar.gz. This is a lot if you're downloading over a slow
 > connection (I have still a 14.4 modem at home) and may mean that it just
 > fits on a floppy for download at the office and taking home via sneaker
 > net.

Maybe somebody with some free bandwidth (you?) could offer bzipped
versions if they think that is important.  


 > -- 
 > ============================================================================
 > Stefan A. Deutscher                     |  (+1-423-)   voice      fax
 > The University of Tennessee, Knoxville  |  UTK  :     974-7838  974-7843
 > Department of Physics and Astronomy     |  ORNL :     574-5897  574-1118
 > 401, A. H. Nielsen Building             |  home :     522-7845  522-7845
 > Knoxville, T.N. 37996-1200, USA         |  email:     sad@utk.edu
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