[Coin-discuss] Check Out the New and Improved COIN-OR!

[Ted Ralphs]

The following announcement contains exciting news about recent
improvements to COIN-OR. An HTML version containing hyperlinks to lots
of other relevant pages is here

http://www.coin-or.org/news.html

We have also attached the text version below for those who are still
like to "kick it old school." Enjoy the new COIN-OR!

The Technical Leadership Council
COIN-OR Foundation

===================================================================

The COIN-OR Foundation is pleased to announce the release of a
collection of enhancements for both users and developers. The new
features include:

* A new wiki-based, open-source project management site for each project
based on Trac, including
    - A project wiki for the community-based development of
documentation and project information.
    - A full-featured source code browser providing a Web interface to
the project's repository.
    - A new Wiki-based issue tracking system for users to submit and
track trouble tickets for all COIN-OR projects.

* A new, simplified cross-platform build system based on the GNU autotools.

* A new, more flexible source code control system, based on Subversion.

* A new binary distribution system, supporting Linux, Windows and Mac.

These new features represent a vast leap forward in our ability to serve
the quickly growing community of COIN-OR users, but they will take some
getting used to in some cases. The two changes most users will notice
first are

* the switch from the CVS source code control system to the newer and
more capable subversion, and
* the adoption of a new automated, cross-platform build system.

These two upgrades will require some changes to the way users employ the
COIN-OR tools (see below), but we hope you will ultimately agree they
are a big leap forward for COIN-OR.

More details on the new features and how they may affect you are
provided below. Also, take a look at the newly revised FAQs for a brief
overview of the new features and answers to some of the most common
questions about how to use them. As you take a look around, feel free to
let us know if you are having trouble, either through a post to the
appropriate mailing list or by submitting a trouble ticket to one of the
COIN-OR projects. In the meantime, we take this opportunity to thank you
for your feedback and remind you about the COIN-OR logo context and the
upcoming DIMACS Workshop on COIN-OR. Again, welcome to the new COIN-OR!

Source Code Control System
==========================

COIN-OR's new source code control system is based on subversion. The old
system, based on CVS, will continue to work for the time being, but the
CVS repository is now frozen, so no new updates will be available.
Future development and bug fixes will be done with the code base in
subversion. This means that all CVS users will need to check out a new
copy of the source code from the subversion repository in order to
continue getting updates. For most users, subversion will function
almost identically to CVS, but has many enhancements that are useful for
developers. The biggest change users will notice is that each project
now has its own, separate repository, so each project will be checked
out into its own directory, along with copies of any other COIN-OR
projects on which it depends. For a brief overview of the use of
subversion and the new build system, please go here. For instructions on
getting and building all (or most) COIN-OR projects simultaneously,
please go here. For more detailed help with Subversion, see the
Subversion Book.

Wiki-based Project Management System
====================================

Each project now has its own wiki-based project management Web site
based on the open source Trac project management software. A list of all
the project Web sites is available here. Using the wiki, any user can
add documentation or other information to their favorite project's Web
site, browse the source code, submit a trouble ticket and more. For
instructions on using Trac, please go here. If you are unfamiliar with
the concept of a Wiki, Wikipedia is perhaps the most famous example.

Build System
============

Many projects now use a new build system based on the GNU autotools,
which can make cross-platform compilation much simpler. For users, the
most noticeable change will be that projects can now be built in
Unix-like environments, including Linux, Windows (with CYGWIN or Msys),
and MacOS, using the simple sequence of commands:

    * configure
    * make
    * make install

This is the same build system used by many major open source packages
you may have come in contact with. The build system automatically
determines what compilers are available on your system, what external
libraries are available, and what default options are appropriate. These
options can, of course, be overridden by the user on the command line.
See the Build Tools Web site for further details.

On Windows there are now project files for Microsoft Visual Studio
Version 7 and 8, in addition to Version 6. See the MSVisualStudio Trac
page for further details.

Binary Distributions
====================

The new binary distribution system enables users satisfied with the
major releases of the main COIN-OR packages to download pre-compiled
packages for their platforms, including all required libraries. This
feature is currently available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS X. Download
instructions can be found on the Coin Binary Distribution Project page.

-- 
Dr. Ted Ralphs
Associate Professor
Industrial and Systems Engineering
Lehigh University
(610)758-4784
tkralphs at lehigh.edu
www.lehigh.edu/~tkr2