[racket-dev] release notes

From: Matthew Flatt (mflatt at cs.utah.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 20 08:26:55 EST 2013

I've pushed some HISTORY.txt and documentation updates.

Here are some draft blurbs for the release announcement:

At Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:41:25 -0600, Robby Findler wrote:
> Jay, Matthew: pkg improvements
> [...]
> Matthew, Robby: gui package manager

Racket has a new package system and a catalog of packages at

 http://pkgs.racket-lang.org/

The package system was included as "beta" in recent releases, but
version 6.0 brings many improvements:

 * A package is treated by default as a single collection, so it's even
   easier to use a Github repository as a package.

 * DrRacket includes a new package manager GUI (which is also available
   as a stand-alone program via the "gui-pkg-manager" package).

 * The main Racket distribution has been broken into about 200
   packages. When you install the main Racket distribution, you're
   installing Minimal Racket plus those bundled packages.

   Alternatively, you can install a Minimal Racket distribution ---
   which is about 1/10 the size of the main distribution --- and then
   install just the packages that you want.

 * Package installation now supports pre-built packages that include
   compiled bytecode and rendered documentation, so that packages can
   be installed quickly when built versions are a available. All
   packages in the main distribution are available in pre-built form.

 * Many improvements and bug fixes in the package system make package
   management smoother, faster, and more reliable than ever.

Further improvements are in the works, including the addition of
package documentation for browsing on the package-catalog web site.

The old PLaneT package system will remain in place for the foreseeable
future, but we expect all package development and maintenance to shift
to the new system.


> Matthew Butterick: New docs formatting

 * The Racket documentation in HTML form has a new and improved look,
   thanks to Matthew Butterick.


> Matthew: ARM JIT

 * Racket's JIT compiler now supports ARM.


> Matthew: Retina display support

 * Retina display mode is now supported for Macs.


> Ryan, Matthew: new .dlls included on Windows (is this visible to users? dll
> hell anyone?)

Racket's DLLs are in a Racket-specific and installation-specific
directory, so adding or changing DLLs is unlikely to affect other
programs or installations.


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