gnuplot · sanabgr · Jan 10, 2023 · Jan 13, 2023 · Jan 15, 2023 · Jan 16, 2023
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
@@ -46,5 +46,7 @@ make.log
 docs/figures.*
 docs/pdf_figures
 share/Gnuplot
+faq
+tutorial
 FAQ.pdf
 build*
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ SUBDIRS = config m4 term src docs man demo share
 
 EXTRA_DIST = BUGS Copyright FAQ.pdf INSTALL INSTALL.gnu \
 PATCHLEVEL PGPKEYS README RELEASE_NOTES \
-configure.vms win
+win
 
 DISTCLEANFILES = stamp-h
 
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@ dist-hook:
 	@find $(distdir) -type d -name .deps -print | xargs rm -rf
 	@find $(distdir) -type f -name .cvsignore -print | xargs rm -f
 
+ReleaseNotes.html: RELEASE_NOTES
+	txt2html -pm --style_url ReleaseNotes.css RELEASE_NOTES \
+	         --bold_delimiter "" \
+	         --bullets "-=o*\\044" --outfile ReleaseNotes.html
+
 gnuplot:
 	cd src; make binonly
 
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
@@ -1,22 +1,19 @@
-Changes not in 5.4
+Changes between 6.0-rc1 and -rc2
+================================
+* Japanese documentation updated
+	(missing file title-ja.tex, build dependencies for mingw)
+* Support building against Qt6
+	(./configure falls back to Qt5 if the Qt6 libraries are not found)
+* New configure option --enable-stable-sort
+	1) Use mergesort rather than qsort if the system provides it.
+	2) If neither mergesort nor glibc stable qsort is available,
+	   modify internal gnuplot structures to contain a secondary sort key
+* Render color gradient in colorbox as a pixel array (cairo, qt terminals)
+
+Version 6.0
 ==================
-* NEW weighted and unweighted cubic spline smoothing for 3D "splot with lines"
-* NEW smoothing options for "plot with filledcurves {above|below|between}"
-* NEW "set palette save <name>" creates a named colormap from the current palette
-* NEW "splot ... with pm3d fc palette <name>" uses a saved colormap
-* NEW "plot ... with image fc palette <name>" uses a saved colormap
-* NEW support XDG base directory as location for gnuplotrc preferences file
-* NEW up to 256 colors with the sixeltek terminal
-* NEW keyword "smooth kdensity period <val>"
-* NEW if ... else if ... else
-* NEW terminal "blocks" uses pseudo-graphics for terminal mode graphics
-* NEW terminal webp generates single frames or full animation in webp encoding
-* NEW "set palette file" accepts datablocks; also accepts 24-bit RGB colors
-* CHANGE account for font size when estimating string extents
-* CHANGE "stats <non-existant file>" yields a testable non-fatal error
-* CHANGE criterion for fallback to default axes in 'plot with ellipse'
-* CHANGE deprecate special case of 'with boxerrorbars" flagged by boxwidth = -2
-* CHANGE wgnuplot menu files use UTF-8 encoding
+  Too many changes between version 5 and version 6 to list here.
+  See Release Notes.
 
 Changes in 5.4
 ==============

diff --git a/PATCHLEVEL b/PATCHLEVEL
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0alpha
+rc2
diff --git a/README b/README
@@ -6,16 +6,15 @@ The Gnuplot Plotting Utility
 for linux, OSX, MSWin, VMS, and many other platforms.  The software is
 copyrighted but freely distributed (i.e., you don't have to pay for it).
 It was originally written to allow scientists and students to visualize
-mathematical functions and data.  Gnuplot supports many different types
-of terminals, plotters, and printers (including pseudo-devices like
-LaTeX) and is easily extensible to include new devices.  
+mathematical functions and data.  Gnuplot supports output to many types
+of terminals, printers, and file formats.  It is easily extensible to
+include new devices.
 
- The "GNU" in gnuplot is NOT related to the Free Software Foundation,
-the naming is just a coincidence (and a long story; see the gnuplot FAQ
+ The "gnu" in gnuplot is NOT related to the Free Software Foundation.
+The naming is just a coincidence (and a long story; see the gnuplot FAQ
 for details). Thus gnuplot is not covered by the GPL (GNU Public License)
 copyleft, but rather by its own copyright statement, included in all source
-code files. However, some of the associated drivers and support utilities
-are dual-licensed.
+code files. Some code modules are dual-licensed.
 
  Gnuplot handles both curves (2 dimensions) and surfaces (3 dimensions).
 Surfaces can be plotted as a mesh fitting the specified function, floating
@@ -41,8 +40,6 @@ Copyright and Porting
 
  See the Copyright file for copyright conditions.
 
- See the ChangeLog and docs/old/History.old file for changes to gnuplot.
-
  Build instructions are in the INSTALL file.  Some additional
 information needed to port gnuplot to new platforms not covered by
 GNU autoconf can be found in the PORTING file. 
@@ -52,9 +49,8 @@ run on an amazing variety of operating systems and hardware over the years.
 However, the current code has not been tested on all those older platforms
 and some of the conditional code to support quirks of obsolete compilers
 and OS features has been removed.  You can expect that gnuplot will compile
-more or less out of the box on any system which has the GNU C compiler gcc
-or other ANSI-compliant C compiler.  Some specific [optional] drivers are
-written in C++ or lua.
+more or less out of the box on any system which has a C compiler compliant
+with the c99 standard.  Some optional drivers are written in C++ or lua.
 
 Help and Bug Reports
 ====================
@@ -69,23 +65,15 @@ page, also at SourceForge:
 
 	http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot/
 
- Note that since gnuplot has nothing to do with the GNU project, please
-don't ask them for help or information about gnuplot; also, please
-don't ask us about GNU stuff.
+ There are separate tracking systems for Feature Requests and proposed
+patches that implement new features, also hosted at SourceForge.
 
  All bug reports should include the version of gnuplot you are using,
 the operating system and version you are running it on, and the output
 device (gnuplot's "terminal") that you are plotting to.  It helps a lot
 to provide a simple script, possibly with data, that reproducibly 
 demonstrates the problem you are reporting.
 
-Usenet
-======
-
- Additional help can be obtained from the USENET newsgroup
-
-        comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
-
 Mailing Lists
 =============
 
@@ -95,38 +83,10 @@ the web interface at
 
 	http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=2055
 
- The main lists you may be interested in are "gnuplot-info" and 
-"gnuplot-bugs".  "gnuplot-info" is for general discussion and
-questions about how to use the program.  But as noted above,
-using the Usenet newsgroup for this kind of communication is 
-almost certainly better both for you and for us.
-
- "gnuplot-bugs" is NOT an appropriate place to ask questions on how to
-solve a gnuplot problem or even to report a bug that you haven't
-investigated personally.  It is far more likely you'll get the help
-you need for this kind of problem from comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
-or the gnuplot-info mailing list.
-
- Using "gnuplot-bugs" is also slightly disfavoured, because it makes it
-hard for us to keep track what bugs are currently under investigation,
-and hard for you to check if maybe the bug you've found has already
-been reported by somebody else before.  We would thus like to ask to
-you please use the "Bug Tracker" system that is part of gnuplot's
-development web site at SourceForge.net instead of this mailing list.
-
- If you found a fix already, pleast post it in "diff -c" or "diff -u"
-format done against the most current official version of gnuplot or
-a snapshot of the current development source.  Major modifications should
-include documentation and, if new features were added, a demo file.
-Finally, it is much easier to integrate smaller stepwise modifications
-rather than one gigantic diff file which represents months of changes.  
-
- There are separate tracking systems for Feature Requests and proposed
-patches that implement new features, also hosted at SourceForge.  
-
- Discussions about plans for new features or other significant changes
-should be announced and discussed on the developers' mailing list,
-gnuplot-beta, which is also hosted by SourceForge.net.
+ The lists you may be interested in are "gnuplot-info" and "gnuplot-beta".
+"gnuplot-info" is for general discussion and questions about how to use
+the program.  "gnuplot-beta" is for discussion about possible new features,
+plans for future work, release schedules, or other development issues.
 
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