OpenCPN Version 2.4 Beta Build 606

[bdbcat]

Ahoy OpenCPN'ers...

OpenCPN Version 2.4 Beta Build 606 will soon be available for download from opencpn.org.

Monitor the opencpn.org Downloads page to find and download the latest Beta version.....

Source is available now on sourceforge git repo.

Changelog:
127. Correct AIS Range/Brg calculations (FS#424)(FS#430)
128. Correct AIS target rollover graphics (FS#496)
129. Correct AIS transponder VDO position report logic (FS#495)
130. Correct AIS target list sorting. (FS#494)
131. Correct AIS ATON size report. (FS#492)
132. Improve "About" dialog color scheme (FS#474)
133. Correct fault on some incorrectly coded ENCs causing crash on exit. (FS#469)
134. Improve LatLon parser and LatLon display formatting. Thanks Pavel
135. Correct fault on transient or nonexistent GPS com port detection. (FS#508)
136. Improve RouteProperties Timestamp display.
137. Allow option RMC message to Autopilot output stream. [Settings]AutoPilot NMEA Sentence Out=RMC;RMB
138. Refine AIS target report for ClassB targets (FS#505)
139. Correct ownship calcualtions when using AIS transponder VDO sentences (FS#458)
140. Correct rendering of Lat/Lon Grid lines for certain zoom levels.
141. Convert Toolbox->PlugIns tab to scrolled window. (FS#504)
142. Correct logic for "Max Detail Here" with PlugIn chart types.
143. Move UserIcons to {PrivateDataDir} (FS#497)
144. Correct Dashboard toolbar icon initial state.
145. Correct Toolbar positioning logic with Dashboard activated.
146. Correct mouse right click logic to always allow tide/current selection (FS#500)
147. Implement memory management scheme (FS#469)
148. Implement improved Layers management patch (FS#507)
149. Implement configurable navobj.xml backup scheme. Thanks Pavel. "KeepNavobjBackups"
150. Implement Dashboard Clock. Thanks again, Pavel.
151. Implement VMG display on route follow console. (FS#171) One more for Pavel
152. Add Hungarian language support.
153. Update Tide/Current database. Thanks Happy Seagull (Pat) and Thomas.
154. Improve Toolbox->Charts visitation logic (FS#510)
155. Correct Chinese (Taiwan) language selection option (FS#512) (FS#473)
156. Correct logfile timestamp format and start date. (FS#511)
157. Correct occasional crash on Track Delete from context menu, (FS#514)
158. Correct NMEA data port selection "None" logic (FS#513)
159. Add command line parameter framework and unit_test option

Notes:

137. In anticipation of rework of NMEA message handling modules, we add a new config string.
If you need RMC output on your autopilot port, add the following config string:

[Settings]
AutoPilot NMEA Sentence Out=RMB;RMC

Default is RMB only, and works for most autopilots.
Most users will not need this config entry.

143. Simply copy your existing UserIcons folder to the same location that contains the OCPN config file.

147. Simple memory management scheme, for use with limited resource systems.
There are two modes, only one of which can be active. Specified in config file.

a. Application memory limit target. Try to limit the total memory used by OCPN to the specified value, approximately. Specify this mode by:

[Settings]
MEMCacheLimit=xxx

where xxx is memory use target in Mbytes. Overrides NCacheLimit below.

--or--
b. Open chart limit. This is the default mode under linux, and the default value is 20 open charts at any one time.
Modify this limit by the following:

[Settings]
NCacheLimit=y

where y is the maximum number of simultaneously open charts.

If you do not enter any memory management specification in the config file, the following defaults apply:
a. Linux... behavior is the same as previous versions, Open chart limit is 20 charts.
b. Windows...Application memory limit target is used. Target limit is 50% of available physical RAM.


149. Specified in config file.
[Settings]
KeepNavobjBackups=n

150. Peter will like this one
152. Welcome aboard Hungary!
159. This is new. The first ( and currently only) OpenCPN command line parameter has been added.
Try (from a command line interface) opencpn -unit_test_1.
This test cycles thru all possible charts in the currently loaded chart database, adjusting the viewport to show the loaded chart automatically. The value of this test is clear: it provide an unattended stress test of OpenCPN, It is most fun to watch in quilt mode.....
The test runs until all charts in the database have been visited once.
I don't plan to document this test in normal user documentation. Lets think of this as a Beta test tool.



A couple of special requests:
1. Especially for Windows users: If you experience <<ANY>> hickup on installation, please save your log file and config file before wiping and re-installing. We need them to anayze install/upgrade issues. Once they are gone, they are gone.

2. Again, windows users: If you have the time, it would be useful to re-install 2.3.1 from the .org site, work with it a bit to create a unique config file, and then try to install this Beta as though you were a casual user, and not a highly experienced and resourceful Beta tester. Note all head scratches and wrinkles, so we can iron them out.

3. Similarly, complete installs from scratch (i.e. remove previous versions entirely by hand if necessary) should be tested carefully.

4. linux source builders: build/compile warning logs are solicited. Most of the compiler warnings are informative, to me at least.

Plan:

This Beta should be considered functionally complete and frozen for Release 2.5.
There will be one more chance to update Language files in the next week or so, and I will then post the 2.5 Release Candidate (RC) for an extended test.

If you have been monitoring the sourceforge download stats, you will note that there are many thousands of copies of OpenCPN 2.3.1 in the field. Who knows how many are being used, but....
We must be very critical of installation bugs and obtuse operational corner cases before we release 2.5

Thanks for all your diligent efforts.

Good Luck
Dave

[Netsurfer]

Windows version available for download:
Download link: http://opencpn.de/sites/default/file....606_setup.exe
Or from the download page: Download OpenCPN | Official OpenCPN Homepage

Remember to delete all installed plugin DLL files if you are going to upgrade from any version prior to 2.4.523!

If you have version 2.4.523 already installed then you can run the installer right away and perform the upgrade.

Thanks Dave!

Gunther

PS: Upgrade worked for me without any problems!

[nohal]

Win builds well and on first look runs the same.
Very funny watching the unit test over Holland


Pavel

[Sail323]

Crashing on exit with no GPS attached problem in 523 (FS#508), has definitely been fixed in 606. Thanks!

John

[HappySeagull]

GOOD Preliminary report.on XPsp1
I installed over a clean 2.3.1 install,ran it as a "default windozer" should(no custom icons or CM93 recalibrations or plugins except the two defaults)for awhile,restart,ran it,reboot XP,screwed about,
...AND threw a curve too-I left the gps attached,running and the grib plugin configured and shut down...and then unplugged gps.
and installed 606 as overwrite.

606 (overwrite)came up with its usual warning,"no gps" and carried right on.AOK!
and,I noticed that the old 2.3.1 desktop icon disappeared too, right after the install-THAT's a good-un!

[jackdale]

The Max detail here for BSB 4 charts works well. Took a couple of attempts.

When in doubt, read the instructions.

Thanks

[sailorF54]

Totally clean install on Vista... Nothing suspicious

Two very minor details
Scale is (just) hidden when toolbar is vertical (screenshot)
Log shows one complaint: Error: Cannot set locale to language Arabic (Uae). cf. Tracker #512..

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by sailorF54

Totally clean install on Vista... Nothing suspicious

Two very minor details
Scale is (just) hidden when toolbar is vertical (screenshot)

I moved the toolbar to the right side of the chart, which seems more natural to me.

[PatrickT]

My platform is Window 7 64bit. I was using 2.4.423 and completly uninstalled that then re-installed 2.3.1. Then I installed 2.4.606 and it dropped right in and is running fine. I'm just using BSB charts... look great!
Pat

[yachtvalhalla]

XPSP3 on ASUS 100H.

Did parallel installation, had 2.3.1, 2.4.523 and 2.4.606 installed. Uninstalled 523. All clean installation and uninstallation.

Running GE and AIS. Good job lads! Terry

[fgd3]

So far so good. It's time to update the version number for bugs reports in tracker from 523 to 606.

I found a few anomalies in the s57 data that might cause problems somewhere. In s57attributes.csv the following entries are out of column as viewed by Excel:

Code/Attribute/Acronym
61/Category of signal station/traffic
62/Category of signal station/warning
82/Conspicuous/Radar
83/Conspicuous/visual
160/Tidal stream/current - time series values
165/Tide/current - time interval of values
182/Vertical clearance/closed
183/Vertical clearance/open
184/Vertical clearance/safe

If the Attribute field contains commas it needs to be encapsulated in quotation marks to be parsed properly. I haven't seen any bad effects from this, but when they happen you could waste a lot of time looking for a coding bug when the error lies in the data.

Fabbian

[Netsurfer]

Originally Posted by fgd3

It's time to update the version number for bugs reports in tracker from 523 to 606.

Done!

[P_Dub]

The new version is quite good, congradulations.
On the other hand, nothing was done to change, in order to be able to connect to internet when ashore and also to adjust the vessel size. It is probably the two most important things missing. I am including again the files that I did send sometimes ago, if this can help you.
Regards.
P_Dub

[TedLindgreen]

Dear bdbcat,

You asked for build/configure warnings on Linux. But, perhaps build/configure warnings on FreeBSD are also interesting?
There is 1 patch necessary to build it: the FreeBSD loader does not like the -ldl switch, but needs -rdynamic instead. I use this script to (re-)build OpenCPN after the "git pull" stage:

=====
#!/bin/sh

rm -rf build
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../

for i in `find . -type f -name \*.txt | xargs grep -l -e -ldl`
do
ed $i << END
g/-ldl/s/-ldl/-rdynamic/
w
q
END
echo 'changed "-ldl" to "-rdynamic" in:' $i
done

make

exit 0
====

Then during compile, there is one warning, which comes back a few times:

/usr/include/sys/termios.h:3:2: warning: #warning "this file includes <sys/termios.h> which is deprecated, use <termios.h> instead"

I'm not sure whether this is typical for FreeBSD, or also for other Unices and Linux, anyway it is only a harmless warning.

Regards,
-- ted

[jpiebrig]

Hi Dave,

Here is my build/compile warning log, with some warnings, in Ubuntu Lucid :

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