GNUPLOT VERSION 4.6.5 =================================== This is an incremental release of gnuplot version 4.6. A short list of changes since the previous patchlevel (version 4.6.4) is given below and in the NEWS file. Detailed information is in ChangeLog. New features, changes and fixes since gnuplot version 4.6.4 =========================================================== * NEW monotonic cubic splines using "smooth mcsplines" * NEW phase-jump removal filter "smooth unwrap" * NEW allow '+' pseudofile to sample the T axis in 2D parametric plots * NEW allow '++' pseudofile to sample the U/V axes in 3D parametric plots * NEW "sixel" terminal driver * NEW new object attribute clip/noclip * CHANGE maximum number of using spec columns increased from 7 to 11 * CHANGE code in bitmap.c relicensed to remove restriction to noncommercial use * FIX allow 'set pm3d' interpolate and top/bottom options to coexist * FIX revised handling of defined palettes with explicit maxcolors * FIX continue as normal after an interactive session error from "gnuplot -" * FIX empty first field in a tab-separated-values file was incorrectly ignored * FIX several problems with color assignment to contour lines * FIX qt terminal incorrectly changed linetype (dot/dash) to match line color * FIX "pause mouse" worked only for right- or center- click, not left-click * FIX emf terminal font initialization * FIX wxt terminal vertical centering of enhanced text * FIX win terminal filled polygon bugs * FIX iteration over parametric function plots * FIX autoscaling of polar mode plots * FIX increase precision of xticlabel placement from (float) to (double) * FIX allocation error affecting certain cvs files NOTES TO PACKAGERS AND TESTERS =============================== Configuration options for interactive use ----------------------------------------- The 4.6 source code supports three primary cross-platform output modes in addition to several platform-specific modes. 1) Cairo/pango/wxWidgets These terminals were introduced in version 4.4 and are now the most stable and full-featured option. This set of terminals includes - pngcairo, pdfcairo, epscairo, and cairolatex for output to a file - wxt for interactive display This is the default configuration, but requires prior installation of libcairo, libpango, libcairo, libwxgtk, and related support libraries To disable these terminals: ./configure --disable-wxt --without-cairo 2) Qt The new qt terminal supports interactive display with menu-driven output to png, svg or pdf. Requires libqt version >= 4.5 ./configure --enable-qt 3) X11 (the "classic" interactive interface) This used to be the preferred interactive interface, but the newer wxt and qt terminals offer nicer output and a wider range of features. Options for output to files --------------------------- Of course the terminals (output modes) present in previous gnuplot versions are also still available. These include, among many more obscure options: - png/jpeg/gif output via libgd - PostScript - Many flavors of TeX/LaTeX output, including TikZ and ConTeXt (new) - Bitmapped output to support many older devices (e.g. HP deskjet, epson, seiko printers, pbm bitmapped graphics files) is available if needed but is no longer configured in by default. ./configure --with-bitmap-terminals Options for generating interactive plots for web display -------------------------------------------------------- - Mouseable output for display on the web can be created using either the canvas terminal (HTML5 2D canvas element) or the svg terminal. Both allow zooming, toggling plot elements on/off, and user-scriptable hot keys. Online demo plots ----------------- Demo plots illustrating new and old features are online at http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/demo/ OTHER NOTES =============================== Installation ------------ You can download a source tarball for gnuplot version 4.6.5 from the gnuplot development site on SourceForge. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2055 Installation instructions are available in the source itself; the short version for linux/unix-like systems is to unpack the tarball and then build it: cd gnuplot-4.6.5 ; ./configure ; make test it: make check install it: make install Pay careful attention to the output of the ./configure script. It may indicate that some output drivers have been omitted because the necessary support libraries were not found. In general you need to have previously installed the "*-devel-*" versions of these libraries. Known issues ------------ - Mac OSX ships with a terminal input library that appears to be GNU libreadline, but isn't really. The program tries to cope with this, but you may get better results by configuring gnuplot to use either its own built-in readline routines or the real GNU libreadline. - The gnuplot build system is not very good at figuring out where to find or install LaTeX-related files. This can affect use of the new lua/tikz and ConTeXt terminals. - You can configure support for both wxt and qt into the same gnuplot executable, but only one of these two output modes can be used in any given gnuplot session. Support ------- Please report all bugs and installation problems to the bug tracker on SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=2055&atid=102055 There is also an gnuplot discussion forum on usenet group comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot Development ----------- Gnuplot development is quite active. The development branch on SourceForge contains many new features. The current development branch is labeled version 4.7, but will probably be released as version 5. Feedback and contributions of code are very welcome.