ANNOUNCE: SCons 0.11 (build tool in Python) is now available

[Steven Knight]

SCons is a software construction tool (build tool, or make tool) written
in Python.  It is based on the design which won the Software Carpentry
build tool competition in August 2000.

Version 0.11 of SCons has been released and is available for download
from the SCons web site:

	http://www.scons.org/

Or through the download link at the SCons project page at SourceForge:

	http://sourceforge.net/projects/scons/

RPM and Debian packages and a Win32 installer are all available, in
addition to the traditional .tar.gz and .zip files.


WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE?

IMPORTANT:  Release 0.11 contains the following interface changes:
  - The default suffix for static object files when using gcc has
    been changed to ".os" to allow shared and static object files
    to exist side-by-side in the same directory.
  - When no command-line targets are specified, the default behavior
    is now to build all derived files in or below the current directory
    (like Make).  This can be disabled by explicitly specifying
    "Default(None)" in an SConscript file.
  - Setting the BUILDERS construction variable now clears previous
    Builder attributes from the construction Environment.
  - An "env" argument has been added to the strfunction() method of
    Python function Actions.

  See the release notes for more information about these changes.

This release adds the following features:
  - A new CacheDir() function and related command-line options
    --cache-disable, --cache-force and --cache-show support the ability
    to share derived files between builds.
  - Support for the IRIX platform and SGI MIPSPro tool chain.
  - Support for the PharLap ETS tool chain.
  - Support for compiling with Microsoft VC++ when running Cygwin Python.
  - New AddPreAction() and AddPostAction() functions.
  - Python function Actions can now include the contents of construction
    variables in their signatures.
  - A new strfunction() method has been added for external command Actions.
  - The SConscript() function now takes optional "build_dir" and "duplicate"
    keyword arguments that make it easier to set up a build directory.
  - The same Win32 object files can now be linked into either shared or
    static libraries.

The following fixes have been added:
  - Fixed many (not all) situations when interrupts (CTRL-C) wouldn't
    actually stop a build.
  - Libraries in the LIBS construction variable can now explicitly
    include a library prefix and suffix.
  - The Win32 scons.bat script now has DOS-standard CR-LF line endings.
  - Fixed how the Environment.Append() method works BUILDERS (and other
    dictionaries).
  - Fixed how a file prefix is added when the target isn't specified.
  - Better error messages whene a BuildDir is read-only.
  - A platform or tool module can now be directly imported even
    after it's been included in a construction Environment.
  - The output of -c -n is now correct when a target is a directory.

Performance has been improved as follows:
  - Added support for caching values when use --implicit-cache.

The following changes have been made to the SCons packaging:
  - Added new --standard-lib, --standalone-lib and --version-lib options
    to the "setup.py install" command to make it easier to install
    the SCons build engine (library) into different locations.  If no
    explicit library installation location is specified, the SCons
    "setup.py" script now looks for an existing SCons build engine
    in these three locations and prefers where the build engine was
    installed previously.

The documentation has been improved:
  - Eliminated description of some deprecated keywords.
  - Updated description of BuildDir() to try to explain more clearly
    how to set up a build directory.


ABOUT SCONS

Distinctive features of SCons include:

  - a global view of all dependencies; no multiple passes to get
    everything built properly
  - configuration files are Python scripts, allowing the full use of a
    real scripting language to solve difficult build problems
  - a modular architecture allows the SCons Build Engine to be
    embedded in other Python software
  - the ability to scan files for implicit dependencies (#include files);
  - improved parallel build (-j) support that provides consistent
    build speedup regardless of source tree layout
  - use of MD5 signatures to decide if a file has really changed; no
    need to "touch" files to fool make that something is up-to-date
  - easily extensible through user-defined Builder and Scanner objects
  - build actions can be Python code, as well as external commands

An scons-users mailing list is available for those interested in getting
started using SCons.  You can subscribe at:

	http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scons-users

Alternatively, we invite you to subscribe to the low-volume
scons-announce mailing list to receive notification when new versions of
SCons become available:

	http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scons-announce


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to Chad Austin, Michael Cook, Charles Crain, Steve
Leblanc and Anthony Roach for their contributions to this release.

On behalf of the SCons team,

	--SK