[IPython-dev] [ANN] IPython 0.6.0 is officially out.

[Fernando Perez]

Hi all,

I've just uploaded the packages for IPython 0.6.0 to the usual download 
location: http://ipython.scipy.org/dist.  Third party packages (debian, fink, 
BSD...) should follow shortly at their respective locations.

Please note that I _think_ that IPython now requires Python 2.2.  I don't have 
2.1 anymore on any of my systems, and I don't have the time to maintain too 
many versions for testing.  It has been used extensively with Python 2.2 and 2.3.

This is the first official release in a fairly long time (0.5.0 came out in 
August 2003), and it includes a number of substantial improvements.  The NEWS 
file (http://ipython.scipy.org/NEWS) contains all ChangeLog entries since 
0.5.0.  I will briefly highlight the most important changes here:

* Much improved Windows XP/2k support.  Thanks to Gary Bishop's readline for 
Windows module, IPython now has tab completion, arrow key history and color 
support similar to that of Unix platforms.

You can find Gary's tools at http://sourceforge.net/projects/uncpythontools; 
note that his readline module requires in turn the ctypes library, available 
at http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes.

* Fix filename completion and other issues with python 2.3.

* Improved @run command, which now properly handles all arguments so that 
python scripts run via it receive sys.argv as they would have at a command shell.

* Improved system shell access, with new magic functions @sc and @sx (@sx has 
an equivalent syntax, !!).  These allow quick capturing of shell commands 
directly into python variables.

* Improved Gnuplot.py (http://gnuplot-py.sourceforge.net/) support, up to 
version 1.7.

* Internal safety improvements of many of ipython's automatic features by 
removing unnecessary eval() calls.

* General robustness improvements against problematic user code.

* Many bug fixes, both small and critical (full IPython crashes).  There are 
currently no known unsolved IPython crash conditions.


Many thanks to all who contributed ideas, patches, bug reports, etc.  I'd also 
like to thank here the Enthought crew (the kind folks behind scipy.org) for 
their generous hosting support for IPython.

Enjoy, and please report any problems.

Best,

Fernando Perez.