Xwrits NEWS

Version 2.8   9.Aug.1999

* Added the `+cheat' option to allow limited cheating during a break.

* Extended `+finger' to `+finger=CULTURE', and included a rude Korean
  gesture (`+finger=korean').

* You can set the mouse motion detector's sensitivity with
  `+mouse[=SENSITIVITY]'. Default sensitivity has been raised to 15 pixels.
  Requested by Radoslaw Stachowiak <radek.stachowiak@alter.pl>.

* Changed the way times are parsed for consistency. Now a fractional number
  like `2.5' means 2.5 minutes, not 2.5 seconds. You can still get 2.5
  seconds with `:2.5'. A clarification of the time situation was originally
  requested by Sam Ockman <ockman@cs.stanford.edu>.

* Fixed bugs in `+multiply': iconifying a multiplied warning window would
  cause a crash, and new warning windows wouldn't have clocks attached.

* Fixed bugs in picture loading code: multiple `flashtime' options had no
  effect since 2.8b1.


Version 2.8b2   4.Aug.1999

* Xwrits can finally monitor your mouse movements with the `+mouse' option.
  I've been meaning to implement this feature for years. It has been
  requested by Radoslaw Stachowiak <radek.stachowiak@alter.pl>, Justin
  Wells <justin@fever.semiotek.com>, Chris Brand
  <chris_brand@raytheon.com>, Mark Lewis <mlewis@cgrg.ohio-state.edu>, Alex
  Westner <westner@media.mit.edu>, Peter Boult <pjb@sagres.com.au>, Sam
  Ockman <ockman@cs.stanford.edu>, and possibly others.

* You can specify your own GIF pictures or animations for the warning,
  resting, and ready windows with the `--warning-picture',
  `--rest-picture', and `--ready-picture' options. I've been meaning to
  implement this feature for a while, too. Tom Murphy
  <murphy@quixote.engr.sgi.com> also requested it.

* Various code cleanups and some bug fixes.


Version 2.8b1   3.Aug.1999

* Fixed bugs related to the count of how many hands were actively visible.
  This surfaced in several ways: too few multiplied windows, deleting
  xwrits windows could cause a segmentation fault, and so forth. Bug
  reported by Darko Marinov <marinov@lcs.mit.edu>.

* Different `+top' behavior: now warning windows look at the window
  stacking order and try to keep themselves on top.

* Simplified clock drawing mechanism.

* Updated GIF library to 0.9999.


Version 2.7.3   28.Dec.1998

* Updated GIF library to 0.99; moved to config.h-based configuration.

* Use the failing-malloc library to avoid problems with some systems' bad
  realloc() definitions.


Version 2.7.2   16.Dec.1998

* Another bug fix in code for adjusting break length (sometimes it wouldn't
  notice that a break should be over, and would incorrectly start
  flashing when you typed).

* Finally, real `--help'!


Version 2.7.1   9.Dec.1998

* Fixed bug where breaks would often be dramatically shortened for no good
  reason. (The problem: there were several static variables named
  last_key_time, instead of one global variable.)


Version 2.7   7.Dec.1998

* Xwrits will adjust the length it wants you to rest depending on how long
  it's been since you last typed. Bug reported by A.T. Hofkamp
  <a.hofkamp@wtb.tue.nl>.

* Xwrits now behaves robustly when the system time is adjusted backwards.

* The xwrits package now uses automake.


Version 2.6.5   6.Oct.1998

* Makefiles: Fixed vpath builds and problems with old `make's (makes which
  didn't support $< in explicit rules).


Version 2.6.4   26.Sep.1998

* Added `--help' (well, `help') to conform to GNU program behavior standards.

* Makefiles: Added `make uninstall' target, enabled `./configure's
  program name transformations, made VPATH builds possible.


Version 2.6.3   7.Sep.1998

* No user-visible changes (fixed configuration bugs and renamed some
  variables).


Version 2.6.2   17.Aug.1998

* Bug fix: If `idle' was off, the warning window would never appear (it was
  waiting for a key press -- stupid, since it wasn't listening for any key
  presses). Bug reported by Malcolm Ross Kinsella Ryan
  <malcolmr@cse.unsw.edu.au>.


Version 2.6.1   8.Jun.1998

* Fixed the clock, which will now disappear properly instead of leaving a
  black square (even in mono).


Version 2.6   29.May.1998

* Made and included pictures for monochromatic screens and added `mono'
  option.

* Bug fixes for `lock', `clock' and `breakclock'.

* Restored the time argument to `idle'.


Version 2.6b8   27.May.1998

* Added support for --long-options and --version.

* Fixed race condition in schedule.c, which could result in losing
  keystrokes. Bug reported by Gregory Galperin <grg@ai.mit.edu>.


Version 2.6b7   23.May.1998

* Clock improvements: fixed problem with black-on-black clock on 24-plane
  displays (it had to do with visual selection: WhitePixel wasn't white
  since the Visual was not the default). Also improved clock appearance and
  made it appear more like when it's supposed to. Bug reported by Erez
  Zadok <ezk@cs.columbia.edu>.


Version 2.6b6   5.May.1998

* Improved the configure script to use <sys/types.h> for u_int32_t, etc.
  when possible.

* Fixed bug in gifx.c: on a 24-plane display, any picture came out all
  black. (The problem: implementation-specific behavior of <<;
  specifically, I expected 1<<32 == 0 for 32-bit ints.) Bug reported by
  Alexander Konstantinou <akonstan@cs.columbia.edu> and Matthew Lewis
  <mlewis@cgrg.ohio-state.edu>.

* Added visual searching: xwrits will now use a TrueColor visual if
  available.


Version 2.6b4   5.May.1998

* Updated GIF library to 0.9, the version used in Gifsicle. This has
  temporarily broken support for monochrome displays, but will hopefully
  fix other bugs some people have experienced.


Version 2.6b3   24.Nov.1997

* Fixed installation and improved the configure script.


Version 2.6b2

* Fixed bug with freeing memory multiple times. Works better on Linux now.
  Thanks to Albert L. Ting <alt@artisan.com> for a patch.


Version 2.5

* The most important change is the +idle option, on by default, which makes
  xwrits slightly smarter than an alarm clock. The code has also been
  completely reorganized around the Alarm concept, which makes it much
  cleaner.


Version 2

* Many, many more options have been added. The code has been cleaned up a
  great deal, and also expanded a great deal. Comments should still be
  added to the code.

* Xwrits no longer uses XPM files. Instead, it uses GIF files, with some
  proprietary extensions. The GIF files are compiled into C files, then
  object files, and read from memory. This makes xwrits a much, much
  smaller executable, faster, and more portable.


Version 1   Summer 1994

* Original distribution.
