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authorChris Liddell <chris.liddell@artifex.com>2019-08-15 11:39:51 +0100
committerChris Liddell <chris.liddell@artifex.com>2019-10-15 11:54:39 +0100
commit8a3309451ded2335b7f7ab5ebf1c19eebad8b32c (patch)
treed1fdf4bdd6927f0abea4411b70b60dce6e3a31de /doc/News.htm
parentac5c8747c9f9e2710a315ff25d41a7b9a592b583 (diff)
downloadghostpdl-8a3309451ded2335b7f7ab5ebf1c19eebad8b32c.tar.gz
Bring master up to date with 9.50 branch
docs, dates etc Dates and versions for 9.28 RC 1 Date for 9.28 rc2 Doc updates, changelog, news etc Update to note explicitly case sensitivity on Windsows In News.htm and History9.htm Dates, docs, etc for 9.28 rc3 Dates and docs for 9.28 rc4 Small changelog tweak Change version to 9.50 Update changelog Fix a mistake in the news section Dates etc for 9.50 release Plus a comment on going to 9.50, rather than 9.28.
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@@ -96,34 +96,28 @@ overview</a>.
<!-- [2.0 begin contents] ================================================== -->
-<h2><a name="Version9.27"></a>Version 9.27 (2019-04-04)</h2>
-<p><strong>IMPORTANT:</strong> It is our intention, within the next 12 months (ideally sooner,
-in time for the next release) to make SAFER the default mode of operation. For many users
-this will have no effect, since they use SAFER explicitly, but some niche uses which rely
-on SAFER being disabled may need to start explicitly adding the &quot;-dNOSAFER&quot; option.
+<h2><a name="Version9.50"></a>Version 9.50 (2019-09-30)</h2>
<p> Highlights in this release include:
<ul>
<li>
-<p>We have extensively cleaned up the Postscript name space: removing access to internal
-and/or undocumented Postscript operators, procedures and data. This has benefits for security
-and maintainability.
+<p>The change to version 9.50 (rather than the intended 9.28) follows recognition
+of the extent and importance of the file access control redesign/reimplementation
+outlined below.
</li>
<li>
-<p>We have added a new &quot;product&quot;: &quot;gpdl&quot;. This is a rethink/redesign of the old
-&quot;language_switch&quot; product (pspcl6), and includes all the interpreters we
-develop based on the Ghostscript graphics library: Postscript, PDF, PCL6, PXL and XPS.
-This is experimental, and should be considered of beta testing quality, and thus is not
-built by default: it can be built by using the &quot;experimental&quot; target.
-<p><code>gpdl</code> uses a heuristic to judge the file type being passed to it. In general,
-it supports most of the widely used command line options for each interpreter, but
-compatibility is not complete (the practicalities of swapping interpreters means it is
-unlikely that full parity of command line options will be possible).
-</li>
-<li>
-<p>Fontmap can now reference invidual fonts in a TrueType Collection for font subsitution.
-Previously, a Fontmap entry could only reference a TrueType collection and use the default
-(first) font. Now, the Fontmap syntax allows for specifying a specific index in a TTC.
-See the comments at the top of (the default) Fontmap.GS for details.
+<p>The file access control capability (enable with <code>-dSAFER</code>) has been
+completely rewritten, with a ground-up rethink of the design. For more details,
+see: <a href="Use.htm#Safer">SAFER</a>.
+<p>It is important to note that <code>-dSAFER</code> now <strong>only</strong> enables
+the file access controls, and no longer applies restrictions to standard Postscript
+functionality (specifically, restrictions on <code>setpagedevice</code>. If your
+application relies on these Postscript restrictions, see <a href="Use.htm#OldSafer">OLDSAFER</a>,
+and please get in touch, as we do plan to remove those Postscript restrictions
+unless we have reason not to.
+<p><strong>IMPORTANT:</strong> File access controls are now enabled by default. In
+order to run Ghostscript without these controls, see <a href="Use.htm#NoSafer">NOSAFER</a>
+<p><strong>Important Note for Windows Users</strong>: See below under
+<a href="#28_Incompatible_changes">Incompatible Changes</a>
</li>
<li>
<p>IMPORTANT: We are in the process of forking LittleCMS. LCMS2 is not thread safe, and
@@ -135,26 +129,46 @@ Our fork will be available as its own package separately from Ghostscript (and M
<li>
<p>The usual round of bug fixes, compatibility changes, and incremental improvements.
</li>
+<li>
+<p>Special thanks to Akira Kakuto, Paul Wessel, William Bader, Nelson H. F. Beebe and
+everyone else who put time and effort into testing this new release.
+</li>
</ul>
<p>For a list of open issues, or to report problems,
please visit <a href="http://bugs.ghostscript.com/">bugs.ghostscript.com</a>.
-<h3><a name="9.27_Incompatible_changes"></a>Incompatible changes</h3>
+<h3><a name="9.50_Incompatible_changes"></a>Incompatible changes</h3>
<ul>
<li>
+<p>There are a couple of subtle incompatibilities between the old and new SAFER
+implementations. Firstly, as mentioned above, SAFER now leaves standard Postcript
+functionality unchanged (except for the file access limitations). Secondly,
+the interaction with <code>save</code>&sol;<code>restore</code> operations, see
+<a href="Use.htm#Safer">SAFER</a>.
+<p><strong>Important Note for Windows Users</strong>:
+<br>
+The file/path pattern matching is case sensitive, even on Windows. This is a
+change in behaviour compared to the old code which, on Windows, was case
+<i>in</i>sensitive. This is in recognition of changes in Windows behaviour,
+in that it now supports (although does not enforce) case sensitivity.
+</li>
+<li>
+<p>The following is not strictly speaking new to 9.50, as not much has changed since
+9.27 in this area, but for those who don't upgrade with every release:
<p>The process of &quot;tidying&quot; the Postscript name space should have removed
only non-standard and undocumented operators. Nevertheless, it is possible that
any integrations or utilities that rely on those non-standard and undocumented
operators may stop working, or may change behaviour.
<p>If you encounter such a case, please contact us (either the #ghostscript IRC channel,
or the gs-devel mailing list would be best), and we'll work with you to either find an
-alternative solution.
+alternative solution or return the previous functionality, if there is genuinely no other
+option.
<p>One case we know this has occurred is GSView 5 (and earlier). GSView 5 support for PDF
files relied upon internal use only features which are no longer available. GSView 5 will
still work as previously for Postscript files. For PDF files, users are encouraged to look
at <a href="https://www.mupdf.com">MuPDF</a>.
</li>
</ul>
-<h3><a name="9.27_changelog"></a>Changelog</h3>
+<h3><a name="9.50_changelog"></a>Changelog</h3>
<p>See the <a href="History9.htm">history file</a> for complete log
of changes.
@@ -179,7 +193,7 @@ or contact Artifex Software, Inc., 1305 Grant Avenue - Suite 200,
Novato, CA 94945, U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861, for further information.
<p>
-<small>Ghostscript version 9.27, 4 April 2019
+<small>Ghostscript version 9.50, 15 October 2019
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