6 The information presented below describes the user visible changes
7 introduced with each release of mingw-get. The online version of this
8 historical record is restricted to recent releases; the full history is
9 recorded in the NEWS file, which is included in the source code package.
12 mingw-get-0.4-mingw32-alpha-1
13 -----------------------------
15 Release date: 2011-11-06
17 This release fixes a critical bug in the upgrade code, whereby an
18 existing DLL could be replaced by an alternative with an incompatible
19 ABI version, where the correct action is to install both concurrently.
20 As a critical bug-fix release, this is a strongly recommended upgrade
23 In addition to this critical bug-fix, the following new features have
26 - Modified action: "upgrade"
28 The "upgrade" request now supports anonymous upgrade of all currently
29 installed packages; in other words, the command:
33 issued without any additional package-name arguments, will cause
34 mingw-get to invoke the upgrade action in respect of each and every
35 package which is currently recorded as "installed", and for which an
38 - New action: "source"
40 Invoked by a command of the form:
42 $ mingw-get source package-name ...
44 requests mingw-get to download the source code archive for each named
45 package, and unpack it in the current working directory.
47 - New action: "licence"
49 Similar to "source", and invoked by a command of the form:
51 $ mingw-get licence package-name ...
53 requests mingw-get to download the licence packs for each named
54 package, once again unpacking them in the current working directory.
56 - New option: "--print-uris"
58 Used in conjunction with an "install", "source", or "licence" request,
59 causes mingw-get to print, on stdout, the URIs from whence the
60 packages needed to satisfy the request may be downloaded, without
61 otherwise completing the request; (nothing is actually downloaded,
62 unpacked, or installed). This option causes the URIs to be printed
63 irrespective of the installation status of the named packages.
65 - New option: "--download-only"
67 Used with an "install", "upgrade", or "licence" request, causes
68 mingw-get to download any package archives which are necessary to
69 complete the specified action, provided they are not already present
70 within the package cache, but without unpacking or installing the
71 package content. After completing the request, the requisite package
72 archives may be found in the mingw-get package cache
74 var/cache/mingw-get/packages
76 relative to mingw-get's own sysroot path.
78 Similarly, when used with the "source" request, the "--download-only"
79 option causes mingw-get to download any source package archives needed
80 to complete the request, (once again, provided they are not already
81 present in the download cache), but without unpacking them. In this
82 case, after completing the request, the requisite source archives may
83 be found in the directory
85 var/cache/mingw-get/source
87 relative to the sysroot path.
89 - New option: "--all-related"
91 Used with the "source" or "licence" requests, this option extends the
92 scope of the request, causing mingw-get to also process the source or
93 licence packages associated with all runtime dependencies identified
94 for the packages named in the command.
97 mingw-get-0.3-mingw32-alpha-2.1
98 -------------------------------
100 Release date: 2011-07-29
102 This interim release corrects a critical defect in the version matching
103 code within mingw-get's dependency resolver, which resulted in failure
104 of wild card tokens in a requirements specification to match an actual
105 package version, where that version was qualified by a release status
106 descriptor, (such as "alpha", "beta", "pre", etc.)
108 Users may also note that the default package archive format has been
109 changed from tar.gz to tar.xz; (the alternative zip format archive for
110 the binary package is retained, for the convenience of first time users
111 who lack any tar archive extraction capability).
113 This release is a mandatory prerequisite upgrade for all users who may
114 wish to install and deploy the upcoming MinGW GCC-4.6 pre-release
115 packages using mingw-get.
118 mingw-get-0.3-mingw32-alpha-2
119 -----------------------------
121 Release date: 2011-06-17
123 This is primarily a bug fix release; it also provides some limited
124 additional functional capability. All users are recommended to upgrade
127 - Fixes MinGW-Bug #3309438; this release now supports dynamic selection
128 of all internally defined debugging trace options at run time, without
129 prejudice to normal operation.
131 - Fixes MinGW-Bug #3313806; CMS_KEYWORDS are no longer matched within
132 the package name field of a canonical package tarname. Thus, packages
133 such as "msys-cvs" are now correctly identified again, while resolving
136 - The "mingw-get update" operation now emits "Update catalogue ..."
137 messages for each catalogue processed, irrespective of the verbosity
138 option setting. This removes the requirement to specify the "-vv"
139 option to avoid protracted silent operation, which may have given
140 a false impression that the previous release had hung while
141 performing this operation.
143 - The "--reinstall" option is now formally supported; this release will
144 no longer behave as if this option is unconditionally specified; thus,
147 $ mingw-get upgrade --reinstall <package-name>
149 is now required to force reinstallation of any package which has been
150 recorded as already installed.
153 mingw-get-0.3-mingw32-alpha-1
154 -----------------------------
156 Release date: 2011-05-30
158 - Augmented support for package development status identification;
159 packages may now be classified as alpha < beta < pre < rc < stable,
160 with implied development progression in this ranking order within any
161 release group identified by a common version number.
163 - Added support for identification of snapshot releases, using common
164 Content Management System (CMS) labels, (e.g. cvs, svn, hg, git), in
165 place of an alpha..stable classification. Releases identified by any
166 CMS label are deemed to pre-date any alpha..stable release with the
169 - Implemented protocol for processing command line options, (beyond the
170 limited scope of the "--help" and "--version" options, each of which
171 causes immediate program termination after interpretation).
173 - Reduced verbosity of progress reports; implemented "--verbose" ("-v")
174 option, (with levels from 0..3), to restore it.
176 - Added debug level support for conditional feature tracing. Features
177 to be traced may now be selected by the user, at run time, by means of
178 a new "--trace" option; (however, the availability of this option, and
179 the range features which may be traced is selected at compile time).
181 It is anticipated that this "--trace" facility will be supported for
182 all future "alpha" and "beta" releases, but not for any officially
183 distributed "pre", "rc" or "stable" release.
185 ;--------8<-------------------- cut-line -------------------->8--------
187 ; Any text added below the cut-line will be included in the README
188 ; file, which is to be included in the source distribution, but it
189 ; will be excluded from the readme.txt file, which is to be used to
190 ; add descriptive content on the SourceForge download page.
192 ; Any lines, such as these, which begin with a semicolon in their
193 ; first column (not indented), will be excluded from both files.
195 mingw-get-0.2-mingw32-alpha-4
196 -----------------------------
198 Release date: 2011-05-14
200 - This is yet another bug-fix release; it addresses the issue
201 identified in MinGW-Bug 3295526, so ensuring that mingw-get
202 always removes files it has installed, regardless of any read-only
203 attribute setting, (provided the user is sufficiently privileged).
205 - It also addresses the issue identified in MinGW-Bug 3297660, so
206 ensuring that packages are not erroneously reported as "installed"
207 following a failed download, and that packages previously installed
208 are not removed during upgrade, when the replacement version has not
209 been successfully downloaded.
211 - This release also incorporates additional code to aggressively retry
212 failed internet requests, when attempting to download packages. The
213 release has been compiled with internet request tracing diagnostics
214 enabled; it is hoped that this will permit users to provide more
215 useful information when reporting download problems.
218 mingw-get-0.2-mingw32-alpha-3
219 -----------------------------
221 Release date: 2011-03-31
223 - Another bug fix release; this corrects a defect whereby attempts to
224 remove files or directories during any "mingw-get remove ..."
225 or "mingw-get upgrade ..." operation would fail (silently),
226 when any macro is used in the sysroot specification, (such as the
227 use of "%R" in the default specification).
229 - Also included in this release is a preliminary attempt to accommodate
230 users who wish to run mingw-get when behind an authenticating proxy;
231 (ref: MinGW-Bug 3147803). Based on MinGW-Patch 31584530,
232 this invokes Microsoft's standard pop-up dialogue to solicit entry
233 of the user's credentials, when requested by a proxy server.
236 mingw-get-0.2-mingw32-alpha-2
237 -----------------------------
239 Release date: 2011-03-15
241 - Fixes MinGW-Bug 3212246; this was a serious bug which, under
242 certain specific conditions, could result in a package name alias
243 being matched to the wrong package, (e.g. autoconf2.5 resolved to
244 match the mingw32-autoconf2.1 package, instead of
245 mingw32-autoconf2.5).
248 mingw-get-0.2-mingw32-alpha-1
249 -----------------------------
251 Release date: 2011-03-12
253 - Added provisional support for removal of packages which have been
254 previously installed. This is fully functional, but naive with respect
255 to dependencies; it will aggressively remove any package scheduled for
256 removal, even if this may break another (dependant) package.
258 A future release will address this naivety, performing more rigorous
259 dependency checking prior to progressing removals. Meanwhile, should it
260 be discovered that removal of a package has broken any dependency, then
261 reinstallation of the dependant package should correct the situation.
263 - The upgrade operation now performs a removal of the currently installed
264 version of each package, prior to installing a replacement; this ensures
265 that obsolete artifacts from earlier versions do no accumulate within
268 As with the remove operation, this implementation does not check that an
269 upgrade is compatible with dependant packages; this will be addressed in
272 - Added preliminary support for the "list" operation. This provides a
273 rudimentary mechanism for interrogating the package catalogue, and
274 displaying a list of available packages.
276 - Added preliminary support for the "show" operation. As currently
277 implemented, this behaves as a synonym for "list"; as functionality
278 develops, the behaviours of these two operators may become distinct in
282 mingw-get-0.1-mingw32-alpha-5.2
283 -------------------------------
285 Release date: 2011-02-26
287 - This is a further bug-fix release. It provides a work-around for a
288 defect in the console I/O handling of MSYS mintty and MSYS rxvt, which
289 causes the stderr stream to appear to be inappropriately buffered within
290 either of these terminal emulators. As such, it is a recommended upgrade
291 for users of either of these emulators; it offers no tangible benefit
295 mingw-get-0.1-mingw32-alpha-5.1
296 -------------------------------
298 Release date: 2011-02-10
300 - This is a bug-fix release to correct a critical defect in the resolution
301 of dependencies, when performing an upgrade operation. It also provides
302 more meaningful diagnostics when mingw-get is invoked without arguments,
303 and corrects some omissions from the source tarball.
306 mingw-get-0.1-mingw32-alpha-5
307 -----------------------------
309 Release date: 2010-10-29
311 - Improved self-upgrade support; it incorporates a work around to avoid
312 a potential race condition in mingw-get-inst; (c.f. MinGW bug 3075616);
313 mingw-get.exe and mingw-get-0.dll are renamed, (to move them out of the
314 way), only when performing an explicit upgrade of the mingw-get-bin
318 mingw-get-0.1-mingw32-alpha-4
319 -----------------------------
321 Release date: 2010-09-10
323 - Fixes a bug in the earlier self-upgrade
324 functionality, where any runtime error "deleted" mingw-get. (mingw-get
325 and its support file(s) were actually only renamed, but recovery was
326 difficult). Now, "ordinary" errors such as bad command line arguments,
327 failed downloads, missing manifests, etc, will not cause this behavior.
328 However, a catastrophic operating system error may prevent the new
329 auto-recovery code from executing, leaving mingw-get in its "deleted"
330 (e.g. renamed) state. If this occurs, simply do the following:
332 ; The initial exclamation marks, here, introduce a preformatted block
333 ; with absolute indentation; each is replaced by a space, on output.
334 ; (These comment lines -- with initial semicolon -- are not copied to
335 ; the formatted output stream).
338 ! $ mv bin/mingw-get.exe~ bin/mingw-get.exe
339 ! $ mv libexec/mingw-get/mingw-get-0.dll~ \
340 ! libexec/mingw-get/mingw-get-0.dll
342 - Add --help|-h option
345 mingw-get-0.1-mingw32-alpha-3
346 -----------------------------
348 Release date: 2010-08-30
350 - There is no profile.xml file shipped with this release; users who
351 are installing for the first time are advised to copy the supplied
352 var/lib/mingw-get/data/defaults.xml configuration file prototype to
353 var/lib/mingw-get/data/profile.xml, which may then be customised as
354 required; (if no customisation is required, mingw-get can use the
355 defaults.xml file directly, but will warn that profile.xml does
358 - Within defaults.xml, the %R macro has been formally adopted as the
359 mechanism for specifying the installation paths for both MinGW and
360 for MSYS; this binds the default installation paths for both MinGW
361 and MSYS to the installation directory of mingw-get itself, since
362 the absolute path to mingw-get.exe is identified as:
366 with default base directory paths being defined for each of MinGW
367 and MSYS respectively as:
369 ; The initial exclamation marks, here, introduce a preformatted block
370 ; with absolute indentation; each is replaced by a space, on output.
371 ; (These comment lines -- with initial semicolon -- are not copied to
372 ; the formatted output stream).
377 This arrangement makes it possible for users to choose installation
378 locations for both MinGW and MSYS, simply by making the choice of
379 where to install mingw-get, without any further need to create, or
380 to modify profile.xml, (although, to avoid warnings about a missing
381 profile.xml, users may prefer to copy or rename defaults.xml). As
382 for previous releases, the recommended directory for installation is
383 C:\MinGW\, and this should not be changed without pressing reason; in
384 any event, users who insist on changing it should be aware that, if
385 they choose any installation directory which includes white space in
386 its absolute path name, their installation may not work correctly,
387 and such installations will not be supported by the MinGW Project.
389 - This release of mingw-get incorporates necessary infrastructure to
390 support future upgrades to itself, using its own internal upgrade
391 facility. This is the first release to support this capability;
392 however, the effect will not become apparent until upgrading to
396 mingw-get-0.1-mingw32-alpha-2
397 -----------------------------
399 Release date: 2010-05-17
401 - The var/lib/mingw-get/data/profile.xml file is no longer included in
402 the distribution tarball, (or zipfile); instead, a prototype for this
403 file is provided as var/lib/mingw-get/data/defaults.xml
405 - The repository section of profile.xml may now omit any specific
406 reference to a named package-list catalogue, allowing mingw-get to
407 interrogate a default catalogue on the repository host. Users who
408 have previously installed a modified profile.xml are advised to
409 incorporate changes to the repository definition from defaults.xml
410 into their profile.xml
412 - Users who do not wish to provide a customised profile.xml are advised
413 to copy or rename the provided defaults.xml file to profile.xml; this
414 remains the preferred name for the configuration file, and mingw-get
415 will look for it first. If it cannot be found, mingw-get will issue
416 a warning, before looking for defaults.xml as an alternative.
418 - The structure of the repository catalogue has changed, to more readily
419 accommodate dynamic incremental distribution updates, without requiring
420 a corresponding update to mingw-get itself. While this affects package
421 maintainers more than end users, such users are advised to perform a
422 regular `mingw-get update', at intervals of a few weeks, to capture
425 - As a consequence of the preceding change, the list of packages known
426 to mingw-get is no longer restricted, as it was previously; additional
427 or more up-to-date packages may become available from time to time, as
428 individual package maintainers add the appropriate manifests to the
429 online repository catalogue; use `mingw-get update' to capture such
430 new and updated packages.
432 At the time of this release, the packages recorded in the distribution
433 manifest remain as for the alpha-1 release. With the improved handling
434 of manifests, additional (and more up-to-date) packages will be added
435 soon after this release, and will become immediately available to users,
436 on running `mingw-get update'.
439 mingw-get-0.1-mingw32-alpha-1
440 -----------------------------
442 Release date: 2010-02-16
444 This is the first alpha release of the next generation MinGW installer,
445 mingw-get; it provides a more readily extensible, and more configurable
446 alternative to the existing MinGW-5.1.x series of NSIS installers, for
447 installing MinGW packages.
449 $RCSfile$: end of file