Fix assert when adding items with bitmaps wxBitmapComboBox.

[wxWidgets.git] / docs / readme.txt

diff --git a/docs/readme.txt b/docs/readme.txt
index 35b57e4e97f7de911f5320824884f21adce094f0..f6acd034c2307d7700f3a845ec9ad7db290a0aae 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/readme.txt
+++ b/docs/readme.txt
@@ -1,149 +1,127 @@
-wxWindows 2.1.11
-----------------
+               wxWidgets 2.9.5 Release Notes
+               =============================

 
 

-Welcome to wxWindows 2, a sophisticated cross-platform C++
-framework for writing advanced GUI applications using (where
-possible) the native controls.
+Welcome to the latest release of wxWidgets, a free cross-platform C++
+framework for writing advanced GUI applications using native controls.

 
 

-In addition to common and advanced GUI facilities such as frames, scrolling
-windows, toolbars, tree controls, icons, device contexts, printing,
-splitter windows and so on, there are wrappers for common file operations,
-and facilities for writing TCP/IP applications, thread handling, and more.
-Where certain features are not available on a platform, such as MDI and
-tree controls on Unix, they are emulated.

 
 

-A detailed 1100-page reference manual is supplied in HTML, PDF and
-Windows Help form: see the docs hierarchy.
+In addition to common and advanced GUI facilities such as frames,
+scrolling windows, toolbars, tree controls, icons, device contexts,
+printing, splitter windows and so on, there are wrappers for common
+file operations, facilities for writing network applications,
+thread handling, and so on. You can learn more about wxWidgets at
+
+        http://www.wxwidgets.org/
+
+
+wxWidgets sources are available for download from
+
+        https://sourceforge.net/projects/wxwindows/files/2.9.5/
+
+or
+
+        ftp://ftp.wxwidgets.org/pub/2.9.5/
+
+Please see the "Files" section below for the description of various
+files available at these locations.
+
+
+A detailed reference manual including in-depth overviews for various
+topics is supplied in various formats and can be accessed online at
+
+        http://docs.wxwidgets.org/2.9.5/
+
+
+Note about naming: while 2.9.5 is called a "development" release,
+this only means that API is not guaranteed to remain unchanged in the
+subsequent 2.9.x releases (although it is still likely that it will),
+unlike in the stable 2.8.x branch. We believe the current version is
+stable and suitable for use in production environment.
+

 
 

-For a quick start, point your Web browser at docs/html/index.htm for a list of
-important documents and samples.

 
 Changes in this release
 -----------------------
 
 
 Changes in this release
 -----------------------
 

-These are some of the major improvements:
-
-wxWindows 2.1.11
-================
-
-- Numerous bug fixes and consistency improvements.
-- Further samples.
-- Factoring out of some code into base classes, for easier
-  maintenance.
-- Ability to compile library in console (non-GUI) mode.
-- Integration of wxHTML widget and help controller into
-  wxWindows. wxHTML allows HTML viewing and printing.
-- New classes wxChrono, wxDialUpManager, wxFontEnumerator,
-  wxWizard, wxStaticLine, etc.
-- wxShowTip for showing 'startup tips' to the user.
-- wxSocket and wxThread classes rewritten.
-- New, consistent drag and drop API (not wxMotif).
-- Better-looking dialogs in wxGTK.
-- wxSizers reimplemented and used to specify window layout
-  for some generic dialogs.
-- New, more sophisticated wxGrid class (in beta). The old grid
-  class can still be used.
-- Text alignment options in wxStaticText.
-- wxImage class extended to read PCX and GIF files.
-- Documentation improvements.
-- Revised configure system for wxGTK and wxMotif; tmake-based
-  system for generating wxMSW makefiles.
-- Installer for Windows as alternative to zip archives.
+This release contains several years worth of improvements compared
+to 2.8 version. Notably, Unicode support has been completely
+overhauled and made much easier to use. Debugging support, including
+when using a release build of the library, was much improved making
+it less likely that you use the library incorrectly. Many new GUI
+and base classes have been added or improved.
+
+Compared to the previous 2.9.3 release the most important change is
+the addition of new, still experimental, GTK+ 3 support in wxGTK.
+But the main focus of this release is on incremental improvements
+and fixing defects in preparation for 3.0 release. In particular,
+wxOSX/Cocoa port has been significantly improved.
+
+Please see the file docs/changes.txt for more details and make sure
+to read the section "Incompatible changes since 2.8" if you upgrade
+from a previous wxWidgets release.
+
+This release introduces many important changes and we are looking
+forward to your feedback about them. In particular please let us
+know about any regressions compared to the previous versions (see
+the section "Bug reporting" below) so that we could fix them before
+3.0 release.
+

 
 Platforms supported
 -------------------
 
 
 Platforms supported
 -------------------
 

-wxWindows 2 currently supports the following platforms:
+wxWidgets currently supports the following primary platforms:

 
 

-- Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT
+- Windows 95/98/ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7
+- Most Unix variants using the GTK+ toolkit (version 2.6 or newer)
+- Mac OS X (10.4 or newer) using either Carbon or Cocoa
+
+There is some support for the following platforms:
+
+- Most Unix variants with X11

 - Most Unix variants with Motif/Lesstif
 - Most Unix variants with Motif/Lesstif

-- Most Unix variants with GTK+
-- Mac (not covered here: please see the wxWindows web site
-  for details)
+- Most Unix variants with GTK+ 1.2
+- Most Unix variants with GTK+ 3 (still in development)
+- OS/2
+- Windows CE (Pocket PC)
+
+Most popular C++ compilers are supported; see the install.txt
+file for each platform (available via docs/html/index.htm) and
+http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Supported_Platforms for the most up to
+date status.

 
 

-Most popular C++ compilers are supported; see the release notes
-(available via docs/html/index.htm) for details.

 
 Files
 -----
 
 
 Files
 -----
 

-The distribution is available in a number of formats.
-The most convenient is the platform-specific distribution,
-but the zip set forms a more complete distribution, for example if
-you wish to take part in wxWindows development. Also, add-ons
-such as OGL may only be available in zip form.
-
-Zip set
--------
-
-Depending on what you downloaded, you may have one or more of
-these ports. You may unarchive any or all of the ports into
-the same directory hierarchy. The zip archive set comprises the
-following, where x is the minor version and y the release number:
-
-wx2_x_y_gen.zip            Generic source code and samples (required)
-wx2_x_y_msw.zip            Windows-specific source code
-wx2_x_y_mot.zip            Motif-specific source code
-wx2_x_y_gtk.zip            GTK-specific source code
-wx2_x_y_stubs.zip          Stubs ('empty port') source. Needs
-                           wx2_x_y_gen.zip/tgz.
-wx2_x_y_doc.zip            Documentation source code (not required)
-wx2_x_y_hlp.zip            WinHelp documentation
-wx2_x_y_pdf.zip            Acrobat PDF documentation
-wx2_x_y_htm.zip            HTML documentation
-wx2_x_y_vc.zip             MS VC++ 5/6 project files
-wx2_x_y_bc.zip             Borland C++ 5 project files
-wx2_x_y_cw.zip             Metrowerks CodeWarrior 4.1 project files
-jpeg.zip                   Optional JPEG library
-ogl3.zip                   Optional Object Graphics Library
-glcanvas.zip               Optional wxGLCanvas class (Motif, GTK, MSW)
-tex2rtf2.zip               Tex2RTF documentation tool
-
-wxWindows for GTK distribution
-------------------------------
-
-wxGTK-2.x.y.tgz            wxGTK source distribution. You will
-                           need the HTML and/or PDF documentation
-                           from the zip set (above).
-
-wxWindows for Motif distribution
---------------------------------
-
-wxMotif-2.x.y.tgz          wxMotif source distribution. You will
-                           need the HTML and/or PDF documentation
-   -- OR --                from the zip set (above).
-
-wx2_x_y_gen.zip
-wx2_x_y_msw.zip
-wx2_x_y_mot.zip
-jpeg.zip
-
-wxWindows for Windows distribution
-----------------------------------
-
-As well as the core source, the Windows setup contains:
-
-- Windows Help versions of the documentation (docs/winhelp);
-- wxGLCanvas (OpenGL integration, in utils/glcanvas);
-- OGL 3 (Object Graphics Library, in utils/ogl);
-- wxTreeLayout (for tree drawing, in utils/wxtree);
-- a Dialog Editor binary;
-- the JPEG library.
-
-setup.exe               Setup file (Windows 95/98, NT)
-setup.*                 Other setup files
+wxWidgets is distributed in source form in several archive formats.
+ZIP and 7z archives are for Microsoft Windows users and contain the
+files with DOS/Windows line endings while the compressed tar archives
+for Unix systems users (including OS X) and contain the files with
+Unix line endings. Please notice that some Windows tools still don't
+accept files with Unix line endings and that compiling sources with
+DOS line endings under Unix will fail, so please choose the correct
+file for your system.
+
+In addition to the sources, documentation in HTML, CHM and HTB
+(wxWidgets help viewer) formats is provided as well as an installer
+for Microsoft Windows. Notice that you will still need to compile
+wxWidgets even when using the installer.
+
+Experimentally, we also supply binaries of wxMSW libraries built
+with several versions of Microsoft Visual C++ compiler for this
+release. They are available in the "binaries" subdirectory, see
+the description of the files in the README file there.
+

 
 Installation
 ------------
 
 
 Installation
 ------------
 

-wxWindows 2 needs to be compiled before you can test out
-the samples or write your own applications.
-For installation information, please see the install.txt file
-in the individual directories:
+wxWidgets needs to be compiled before you can test out the samples
+or write your own applications. For installation information, please
+see the install.txt file in the docs subdirectory appropriate for
+the platform you use.

 
 

-  docs/msw
-  docs/gtk
-  docs/motif

 
 Licence information
 -------------------
 
 Licence information
 -------------------


@@ -157,44 +135,81 @@ For licensing information, please see the files:
   docs/lgpl.txt
 
 Although this may seem complex, it is there to allow authors of
   docs/lgpl.txt
 
 Although this may seem complex, it is there to allow authors of

-proprietary/commercial applications to use wxWindows in
-addition to those writing GPL'ed applications. In summary,
-the licence is L-GPL plus a clause allowing unrestricted
-distribution of application binaries. To answer a FAQ, you
-don't have to distribute any source if you wish to write
-commercial applications using wxWindows.
+proprietary/commercial applications to use wxWidgets in addition
+to those writing GPL'ed applications. In summary, the licence is
+LGPL plus a clause allowing unrestricted distribution of
+application binaries. To answer a FAQ, you don't have to
+distribute any source if you wish to write commercial
+applications using wxWidgets.
+
+However, if you distribute wxGTK or wxMotif (with Lesstif)
+version of your application, don't forget that it is linked
+against GTK+ (or Lesstif) which is covered by LGPL *without*
+exception notice. Under Linux systems your app is probably linked
+against LGPL glibc as well. Please read carefully LGPL, section
+6. which describes conditions for distribution of closed source
+applications linked against LGPL library. Basically you should
+link dynamically and include source code of LGPL libraries with
+your product (unless it is already present in user's system -
+like glibc usually is).
+
+If you use TIFF image handler, please see src/tiff/COPYRIGHT
+for libtiff licence details.
+
+If you use JPEG image handler, documentation for your program
+should contain following sentence: "This software is based in
+part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group". See
+src/jpeg/README for details.
+
+If you use wxRegEx class on a system without native regular
+expressions support (i.e. MS Windows), see src/regex/COPYRIGHT
+file for Henry Spencer's regular expression library copyright.
+
+If you use wxXML classes or XRC, see src/expat/COPYING for licence details.
+

 
 Documentation
 -------------
 
 
 Documentation
 -------------
 

-See docs/changes.txt for a detailed history of changes to wxWindows 2.
-See docs/html/index.htm for an HTML index of the major documents.
+wxWidgets documentation is available online at
+http://docs.wxwidgets.org/2.9.5/ and can also be downloaded in HTML
+format. To generate documentation in other formats (PDF, CHM, ...)
+please use the scripts in docs/doxygen directory.

 
 

-The Windows help files are located in docs/winhelp.
-The PDF help files are located in docs/pdf.

 
 

-Further information
--------------------
+Bug reporting
+-------------
+
+The wxWidgets bug tracker can be browsed at:
+
+    http://trac.wxwidgets.org/report

 
 

-The wxWindows Web site is located at:
+Please use the search function of our Trac installation to find
+any possibly relevant bugs before reporting new ones. Also please
+notice that often trying to correct the bug yourself is the
+quickest way to fix it. Even if you fail to do it, you may
+discover valuable information allowing us to fix it while doing
+it. We also give much higher priority to bug reports with patches
+fixing the problems so this ensures that your report will be
+addressed sooner.

 
 

-  http://www.wxwindows.org

 
 

-The wxGTK Web site (with further wxGTK-specific files and
-information) is located at:
+Further information
+-------------------

 
 

-  http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~wxxt
+The wxWidgets Web site is located at:

 
 

-The main wxWindows ftp site is at:
+  http://www.wxwidgets.org/

 
 

-  ftp://www.remstar.com/pub/wxwin
+The main wxWidgets ftp site is at:

 
 

-A wxWindows CD-ROM with the latest distribution plus an HTML
-front-end and hundreds of MB of compilers, utilities and other
-material may be ordered from the CD-ROM page (see the wxWindows
-web site) or contact Julian Smart <julian.smart@ukonline.co.uk>.
+  ftp://ftp.wxwidgets.org/pub/

 
 

-Good luck!
+A wxWidgets CD-ROM with the latest distribution plus an HTML
+front-end and hundreds of MB of compilers, utilities and other
+material may be ordered from the CD-ROM page: see the wxWidgets
+web site.

 
 

-The wxWindows Team, November 1999
+Have fun!

 
 

+The wxWidgets Team, July 2012