[metapost] Metapost 0.970 beta released (call for testers)

[Taco Hoekwater]

Hi all,

I am pleased to announce that a beta version of the upcoming
MetaPost release can be downloaded from the repository:

   https://foundry.supelec.fr/frs/?group_id=13&release_id=177

There is a source distribution available, and also binary
packages for linux and win32 (cross-compiled using mingw32).

The included manual is still a bit out of date, but a description
of the new features can be found in the 'MetaPost Developments -
autumn 2006' paper, and that can be downloaded here:

   http://tug.org/metapost/articles/

A really quick summary:

   The new functionality includes: the possibility to use a
   template for the naming of output files; support for CMYK
   and greyscale color models; per-object PostScript specials;
   the option to generate Encapsulated PostScript files
   adhering to Adobe’s Document Structuring Conventions;
   the ability to embed re-encoded and/or subsetted fonts;
   and support for the GNU implementation of troff (groff).

There is only 'version 1.0' item from the paper that is yet
missing from this beta: the fix for turningnumber (section 2.2).

On the other hand, there are two extra features:

* setting the new internal mpprocset to 1 will make MetaPost
   create a somewhat extended preamble that defines shortcuts
   for the postscript commands (e..g "l" instead of "lineto").
   For big images, this can help shrink the output a bit.

* The pool file is now integrated in the executable, so there
   is not separate 'mp.pool' anymore.

We really want the new version to make it onto the next TeXLive,
so the beta stage is pretty short this time: The TeXLive 2006
deadline is only a few short weeks away, but we hope there are
enough people willing to test-drive the new features so that
we can have a (nearly?) bugfree version to release soon.

Have Fun,

Taco Hoekwater