[MS4W-Users] version 4.0.0 pre-release 'alpha' available

[Jeff McKenna]

Hello everyone,

As some of you have noticed, there is an 'experimental' folder on the 
download server (http://www.ms4w.com/release/experimental/), that 
contains pre-releases of MS4W.  These builds are not ready for 
production, but are a great way to provide early feedback, or see where 
MS4W is headed.

You will find 'alpha' builds for MS4W 4.0.0 there, which is the future 
release built on the lastest Windows compiler.  That compiler is 
required for PHP 7, so the whole MapServer, Apache, PHP stack must be 
rebuilt.

I've made it through all of Apache and its modules (including the latest 
MapCache-dev), MapServer, and GDAL.  Next PHP 7 and its extensions must 
be compiled, and of course PHP MapScript.  Please check the 
'HISTORY.txt' file in the alpha, for a list of changes in that build. 
Obviously some parts are missing etc.

To use those alpha builds, be sure to install the 'Microsoft Visual C++ 
2015 Redistributable Update 2
' package first (vc_redist.x86.exe): 
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=51682  An 
important note: because of this new compiler, old systems running 
Windows XP (and possible Windows Server 2003) can no longer be 
supported.  But of course if need be, I can provide custom builds with 
the old compiler for those organizations requiring that.

I realize that so many organizations (many on this mailing list) rely 
heavily on MS4W, so please contact me directly to help support its 
development with funding.  It is very important.

Below is a list of recent changes.  If you want the latest stable MS4W 
release, please download last month's MS4W 3.1.4 release (from 
http://ms4w.com/).

Thank you for using MS4W.

2016-06-20 Gateway Geomatics
   * ms4w version 4.0.0-alpha2 created. Notable changes are:

          - rebuilt MapServer 7.1-dev with Visual Studio 2015 compiler 

          - rebuilt Apache with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded MapCache to 1.5-dev with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt mod_fcgid with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded OpenSSL support to 1.0.2h with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded cURL support to 7.49.1 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - rebuilt Apache H264 Streaming Module with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded BerkeleyDB support to 6.2.23 with Visual Studio 
2015 compiler

          *still need to rebuild PHP 7 (& its extensions), therefore PHP 
& MapScript
           will not work in this version

2016-05-06 Gateway Geomatics
   * ms4w version 3.1.4 created. Notable changes are:

          - upgraded GDAL to 2.1.0 (trac ticket 50)
          - upgraded Apache to 2.4.20 (trac ticket 55)
          - upgraded OpenSSL support to 1.0.2h (trac ticket 57)
          - upgraded CURL support to 7.48.0

2016-04-21 Gateway Geomatics
   * ms4w version 4.0.0-alpha1 created. Notable changes are:

          - rebuilt JPEG support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt zlib support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt libPNG support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt libTIFF support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt PROJ.4 support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded GeoTIFF support to SVN-trunk-03282016 with Visual 
Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded Expat support to 2.1.1 with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded Xerces support to 3.1.3 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - rebuilt SZIP support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded MrSID support to SDK 9.5.1 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded PostgreSQL support to 9.5.2 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded MySQL support to 5.7.11 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded GEOS support to SVN-trunk-0404016 with Visual 
Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded SQLite support to 3.12.0 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded ICONV support to 1.14 with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded FreeXL support to 1.0.2 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - rebuilt libxml2 support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded Python support to 3.5.1 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded MySQL support to 5.7.12 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded SpatiaLite support to 4.4.0-RC0 with Visual Studio 
2015 compiler
          - rebuilt ReadOSM support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded SpatiaLite support to 4.4.0-RC0 with Visual Studio 
2015 compiler
          - upgraded spatialite-tools support to 4.4.0-RC0 with Visual 
Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded FITS support to 3.380 with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt OpenSSL support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded cURL support to 7.48.0 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - rebuilt NetCDF support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded LibKML support to git-04182016 with Visual Studio 
2015 compiler
          - upgraded Freetype support to 2.6.3 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded Pixman support to 0.34.0 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - rebuilt Cairo support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt Poppler support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded SWIG support to 3.0.8 with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt Python, Oracle GDAL plugins with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - added Java, CSharp, ECW (3.3 SDK) GDAL plugins with Visual 
Studio 2015 compiler
          - moved all GDAL plugins into /gdalplugins/
          - added HDF5 1.8.16 support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - added HDF4 4.2.11 support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded GDAL support to 2.1.0-dev with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded PCRE support to 8.38 with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - rebuilt FriBidi support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler
          - upgraded HarfBuzz support to 1.2.6 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - upgraded GIFLIB support to 5.1.2 with Visual Studio 2015 
compiler
          - rebuilt FastCGI support with Visual Studio 2015 compiler

          *still need to rebuild MapServer (& its libraries), Apache (& 
its modules), PHP (& its extensions), ...
          *therefore MapServer, Apache, PHP will not work in this version

-jeff


-- 
Jeff McKenna
MapServer Consulting and Training Services
http://www.gatewaygeomatics.com/