I downloaded POV-Ray version 3.1d about 2 weeks or so ago (before it was
"officially released").  I've noticed that 3.1d is now the official
release and am wondering if there is any need for me to download the new
one?  Are there any changes at all I mean?

		Kyle

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Kyle wrote:
> 
> I downloaded POV-Ray version 3.1d about 2 weeks or so ago (before it was
> "officially released").  I've noticed that 3.1d is now the official
> release and am wondering if there is any need for me to download the new
> one?  Are there any changes at all I mean?
> 
>                 Kyle

Have a look at povray.annouce.frequently-asked-questions . It said there
that the bump-map bug has been removed! If you want to use bump-map you
should download 3.1e!!

Marc
--
Marc Schimmler

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In article <36E428FF.D49246D9@geocities.com> , Kyle <joe### [at] geocitiescom>
wrote:

> I downloaded POV-Ray version 3.1d about 2 weeks or so ago (before it was
> "officially released").

I am wondering, what do you mean with ""officially released""?


    Thorsten

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Marc Schimmler wrote in message <36E44A6F.71F42104@ica.uni-stuttgart.de>...
>Kyle wrote:
>>
>> I downloaded POV-Ray version 3.1d about 2 weeks or so ago (before it was
>> "officially released").  I've noticed that 3.1d is now the official
>> release and am wondering if there is any need for me to download the new
>> one?  Are there any changes at all I mean?
>>
>>                 Kyle
>
>Have a look at povray.annouce.frequently-asked-questions . It said there
>that the bump-map bug has been removed! If you want to use bump-map you
>should download 3.1e!!


Where from?!
I've been searching all over the place to get my hands on 3.1e, but it
doesn't seem to have been released yet - even though update message has been
posted to "povray.announce.frequently-asked-questions" :(

Where's the official (like there's another one anyway;) 3.1e already? :P


Matt

--
"He's not the Messiah, he's just a naughty little boy"
- Life of Brian

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In article <36e45e1d.0@news.povray.org> , "Matthew Bennett" 
<ben### [at] btinternetcom> wrote:

> Where from?!
> I've been searching all over the place to get my hands on 3.1e, but it
> doesn't seem to have been released yet - even though update message has been
> posted to "povray.announce.frequently-asked-questions" :(
>
> Where's the official (like there's another one anyway;) 3.1e already? :P

A version of POV-Ray is considered >official< when it is posted in the
POVRAY forum library section 2 on CompuServe. Currently the DOS 3.1e is
available there. All other supported platform versions will surely follow
when they are ready.


     Thorsten

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Thorsten Froehlich schrieb in Nachricht <36e45c13.0@news.povray.org>...
>In article <36E428FF.D49246D9@geocities.com> , Kyle <joe### [at] geocitiescom>
>wrote:
>
>> I downloaded POV-Ray version 3.1d about 2 weeks or so ago (before it was
>> "officially released").
>
>I am wondering, what do you mean with ""officially released""?


As most users do NOT have access to Compuserve, I think he (and I also)
consider a POV-Ray version released officially, if it can be downloaded from
the web page on www.povray.org and announced in these newsgroups.

If the bump_map bug can easily be fixed (it appears to be), why not
re-compile and put a fixed 3.1d (or whatever you call it) on the web page?

--
Rudy Velthuis

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In article <36e5113f.0@news.povray.org> , "Rudy Velthuis" 
<rve### [at] gmxnet> wrote:

> As most users do NOT have access to Compuserve, I think he (and I also)
> consider a POV-Ray version released officially, if it can be downloaded from
> the web page on www.povray.org and announced in these newsgroups.

Well, the team is based on CompuServe, its our official _home_ and you can
get access to it (of course, CompuServe takes money for it...).
And these newsgroups are no official team support area (see
http://www.povray.org/groups.html), the CompuServe POVRAY forum is.

> If the bump_map bug can easily be fixed (it appears to be), why not
> re-compile and put a fixed 3.1d (or whatever you call it) on the web page?

Please note that _only_ the DOS 3.1e version is there yet. No other platform
version.

A lot of (often repeated) reasons:
- This is (usually) out hobby.
- CompuServe is the home of the team.
- CompuServe provides the forum, the team gives something in return: Users
visiting and downloading from it. If no users come to the forum, there won't
be a forum much longer...
- Making a _lot_ of different versions available (some are still 3.02, some
3.1a, some 3.1d and others 3.1e) increases the time needed for support.
- Updating the web for each version is some work, and doing so for each
version update that is ready is even more work.
- It is not just recompiling! The docs need to be updated, some basic
testing needs to be done, the archives need to be prepared and tested, etc,
etc...


     Thorsten

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Thorsten Froehlich schrieb in Nachricht <36e58fcc.0@news.povray.org>...
>In article <36e5113f.0@news.povray.org> , "Rudy Velthuis"
><rve### [at] gmxnet> wrote:

>Well, the team is based on CompuServe, its our official _home_ and you can
>get access to it (of course, CompuServe takes money for it...).
>And these newsgroups are no official team support area (see
>http://www.povray.org/groups.html), the CompuServe POVRAY forum is.

This is the *internal* Team support area. But can you consider it the
offical *public* POV-Ray site? I see that a bit different.

>A lot of (often repeated) reasons:
>- This is (usually) out hobby.
>- CompuServe is the home of the team.
>- CompuServe provides the forum, the team gives something in return: Users
>visiting and downloading from it. If no users come to the forum, there
won't
>be a forum much longer...
>- Making a _lot_ of different versions available (some are still 3.02, some
>3.1a, some 3.1d and others 3.1e) increases the time needed for support.
>- Updating the web for each version is some work, and doing so for each
>version update that is ready is even more work.
>- It is not just recompiling! The docs need to be updated, some basic
>testing needs to be done, the archives need to be prepared and tested, etc,
>etc...


At least now I know why it takes so long sometimes <g>. Thanks for the
explanation. I understand your reasons (the best one being it's a hobby and
it's free), but I just wanted to point out the feelings of most users, as I
see them. To most people, www.povray.org is the official site, as that's the
only one they (can) see. So to them, an official release is the one that
appears at that site. That was what I wanted to explain in my post, mainly.

I understand you must do some testing, but I don't see why a bug fix in the
bump map code must be tested on all platforms. This is the core engine, not
the front-end. I also understand that maintaining and constantly updating a
web page is a problem.

Thanks for your reply! And keep up the good work!
--
Rudy Velthuis

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Rudy Velthuis wrote:

> I understand you must do some testing, but I don't see why a bug fix in the
> bump map code must be tested on all platforms. This is the core engine, not
> the front-end.

Granted.  Still, as the announcement in
povray.announce.frequently-asked-questions points out, 3.1e will include
some other code cleanup as well, enough to justify testing on all
platforms.  It's no longer just the single three-character fix that was
originally mentioned on this group by Chris Young.  The other changes
shouldn't affect anything, but it's best to make sure before too many
people download something that hasn't been thoroughly tested.

As I see it, we test primarily as a service to users who might otherwise
waste their time downloading buggy code.  If anything, the bug in 3.1d
will probably make the team more cautious in testing.  Inevitably more
bugs will be found (as in any program of sufficient complexity), but
hopefully users will be spared the more eggregious ones.

In the meantime, if you're sufficiently fortunate to own a good C
compiler (thank you, RMS), there's a three-character fix for the bump
map bug while you wait for 3.1e to be released.

-- 
Mark Gordon
mtg### [at] mailbagcom
http://www.mailbag.com/users/mtgordon/index.html

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
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K++ w---$ O- M V--$ PS++ PE- Y+ PGP->+ t+ 5++ X R+ tv-- b++ DI++ D+ G
e++>++++ 
h- r*%--- y--
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

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Mark Gordon schrieb in Nachricht <36E7206D.6BC513FC@mailbag.com>...
>Rudy Velthuis wrote:
>
>> I understand you must do some testing, but I don't see why a bug fix in
the
>> bump map code must be tested on all platforms. This is the core engine,
not
>> the front-end.
>
>Granted.  Still, as the announcement in
>povray.announce.frequently-asked-questions points out, 3.1e will include
>some other code cleanup as well, enough to justify testing on all
>platforms.

Ok, granted. I'm not really complaining you know. I was just wondering.

>In the meantime, if you're sufficiently fortunate to own a good C
>compiler (thank you, RMS), there's a three-character fix for the bump
>map bug while you wait for 3.1e to be released.

Nah, I don't have one for Win32. I have DJGPP (I downloaded it to create the
softtext utility - shameless plug), but as a Delphi user, on Win32 I can
only do Pascal. I have heard about Cygwin, but am not sure this would work
(has anyone tried this, BTW?). Then again, I can wait.

And I'm glad you test everything thoroughly. I know that badly debugged
software can cause a lot of frustration to the user (e.g. Delphi 4 used to
be very buggy when it was released).

And of course it would hurt your reputation as an excellent team if you
would give out crappy software, wouldn't it? <g>
--
Rudy Velthuis

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