News
2007-12-31 - Bear version 0.9.7 released
This release includes bug fixes, code improvements, and a new module for computing McShane-type sums over the tree of Markov triples. Source and binary packages are available from the
SourceForge project site.
2006-02-26 - Updated DEBs for 0.9.6
New Debian binary packages of Bear 0.9.6 for systems with GCC4 as the default compiler (e.g. the lastest Debian unstable) are now available on the
SourceForge project
site.
2005-08-13 - RPM and DEB package offerings expanded
Bear has always been available as a source code archive and as a binary package for Debian GNU/Linux. Starting with version 0.9.6, binary packages in RPM format for several popular RPM-based GNU/Linux distributions will be offered. Currently, RPMs for Fedora Core 2, 3, and 4 on the i386 platform are available. (Note: for Fedora Core 2, the required library HDF5 is not a standard package, but it can be obtained from
MonkeyRPMs.) A source RPM that can be used to build RPMs for other distributions is also provided.
The Debian GNU/Linux package options have also been expanded. Packages of the 0.9.6 releae for Ubuntu GNU/Linux 4.1 ("Warty") on i386 and Debian GNU/Linux unstable ("sid") on AMD64 have been added; as before, a Debian GNU/Linux unstable ("sid") i386 package is available. The debian package control files have also been incorporated into the source tar archive, making it easy to produce DEB packages for other dpkg-based GNU/Linux distributions.
Bear source code and binary packages are available from the
SourceForge project
site.
2005-08-13 - Bear version 0.9.6 released
This is a
bugfix release that includes further performance improvments resulting
from the same trace normalization issue that was fixed in the 0.9.5
release.
The interpolation features of the 'bers2' module are now much more
effective since convergence of the interpolation to the actual
holonomy is now much faster. (It is often possible to reduce the
computation time for a large Bers slice calulation by a factor of 5 or
more.) In addition, memory requirements for the 'bers2' module have
been significantly reduced, and performance has been improved.
The source distribution now includes the control files necessary to
make both RPM and DEB binary packages of bear. The included RPM spec
file is designed for use on the Fedora Core series of GNU/Linux
distributions, but should work on other RPM-based distributions with
little modification. The dpkg control files have been tested with
Debian GNU/Linux unstable ("sid") and Ubuntu GNU/Linux 4.1 ("Warty").
As always, files are available from the
SourceForge project
site.
2005-07-11 - Bear version 0.9.5 released
This release is a
minor patch against 0.9.4 to fix a numerically unstable part of the
Bers slice holonomy calculation. This results in a drastic
improvement in the stability and accuracy of Bers slice calculations.
2005-06-08 - Bear version 0.9.4 released
This is a bugfix release that includes minor feature enhancements.
The build system has been improved, specifically addressing problems
building on Darwin / Mac OS X, and compatibility with older versions
of the HDF5 and GSL libraries. Overall the portability of the build
system and source code has improved significantly, and this release
builds successfully without any changes on these platforms (and
probably many more):
- Darwin / Mac OS X 10.2
- FreeBSD 4.8
- Fedora Core 3
- Debian GNU/Linux unstable (sid)
- Ubuntu GNU/Linux hoary
- Solaris 9 (gcc)
New features in this release include:
- LSODE differential equation solver -- requires a FORTRAN compiler
and '--enable-lsode' option to configure script
- Dataset name conflict resolution -- when attempting to write to a
dataset that already exists, a new dataset with a similar name
(e.g. 'mydataset01' instead of 'mydataset') is created instead.
- Blocking mode -- eases the subdivision of large computations into
smaller parts by adjusting the range so that output arrays tile nicely
As always, files are available from the
SourceForge project site.
2005-03-24 - Bear version 0.9.3 released
This is
the second SourceForge.net release. New features in version 0.9.3
include support for several types of Schwarzian equation integration
contours (splines, ellipses, piecewise linear paths), and a new module
bers2 for computing holonomy on a sparse grid and then
interpolating over a finer grid. An experimental module
anosov for computing unstable manifolds of pseudo-anosov
mapping classes was also added; while functional, it is still under
active development and may change significantly in future releases.
Several minor usability improvements were also made. All files are
available from the
SourceForge project site.
2004-06-12 - Bear version 0.9.0 released
This is
the first release as a SourceForge.net project. Version 0.9.0
includes support for the HDF5 output format, scripting using the Lua
extension language, and minor improvements to the discreteness testing
algorithm. Source, RPM, and DEB packages are available from the
SourceForge project
site.