Seed 0.5 Released

[Robert Carr <carrr rpi edu>]

Today I am happy to announce the release of Seed 0.5. In keeping
with the naming of Seed releases after albums, Seed 0.5 is
designated "Transformer".

Tarballs are available at http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/seed/0.5/
it is also worth noting that Seed has moved to git.gnome.org since
the last release.

For those not familiar, Seed (http://live.gnome.org/Seed), is a
library that bridges WebKit's JavaScriptCore interpreter, with
the GNOME platform. Using GObject-introspection, Seed provides
automatic bindings around most GObject style libraries. In addition
Seed has an API, which in combination with GObject-introspection can
be used to easily enable your GObject application to be made
extensible with JavaScript (This is currently realized in the Seed
extensions for epiphany). In addition to GNOME libraries, Seed
can also access OpenGL, a significant portion of the POSIX API
(based on Python's OS module), readline, and sqlite. More
modules can easily be written through a C interface.

The highlights of this release include. A redesigned imports system,
significantly better base memory usage (several MB) for most apps, enum
validation, the new OS module, a more or less rewrite of the Canvas
module (which
makes it mostly compatible with WebKit/Mozilla canvas), significant
API additions + gtk-doc, lots of new examples, and a lot of leak
fixes + stability improvements. In addition when enabled at build time
Seed now has a fairly rich logging system (modelled after Clutter's), which
can be a big aid in debugging.

The new imports system, combined with changes to enum casing, makes it
significantly easier to port GJS code to Seed, and I now believe a port
of GNOME shell could be accomplished in an afternoon (by someone familiar).

Seed now also has a bug tracker, at
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/browse.cgi?product=seed.

Thanks to everyone involved in the release

A "full" changelog (it's pretty possible some things have been
forgotten) is below.

== Seed 0.5, Transformer (2009.04.16) ==

* Many, many crash fixes.

* Significantly better base memory usage (on the order of MB) for some apps.

* Enums use Gtk.WindowType.NORMAL instead of Gtk.WindowType.Normal.
  This may break existing code in subtle ways (as Gtk.WindowType.Normal
  will now be JavaScript null).

* instance_init is now just init when creating new GTypes. This will require
  changes in any code using subclassing.

* Enum types are validated when passed in to functions now.

* Complete rewrite of import system, spanning GObject Introspection namespaces,
  native modules, and JavaScript files, which is compatible with Gjs.

* Along with above, deprecate Seed.import_namespace.

* New 'os' module, similar to that of Python. Provides access to a significant
  quantity of low-level system features unavailable from GLib.

* Significant updates to Canvas module - most features are compatible with the
  Mozilla/WebKit implementations at this point.

* Clutter 0.9 animation API wrappers.

* Add seed_repl_expose; gives the ability to drop to a JavaScript REPL from
  within C, and magically expose JSValueRefs to JS in a simple way.

* Seed.readline history persists between sessions (stored in ~/.seed_history)

* Support for several more array types.

* Added Seed.breakpoint(), which inserts a breakpoint instruction.

* API additions: Lots of API additions. Including a significant amount
of API documentation.

* New examples:
    * opengl-glib examples (teapot, gears, triangle)
    * Gtk Twitter client (from the Ars Technica article)
    * Same Seed (Clutter 0.9 rewrite of Same Gnome)
    * Clutter-COGL example
    * Reddit client (Gio and JSON)
    * Some more GIO examples, including async IO
    * Library of Clutter "slide transitions"
    * Rewrote clutter example for 0.9
    * Rewrite of browser example.
    * Several GLib examples

* The Lights Off example now lives in Gnome Games.


Thanks,
Robert