Release Announcement v1.3.0

Greetings, developers and users of Linux Audio of the old dispensation.

This message is to announce a new release of the Non suite containing
many changes, mostly fixes for rare bugs and theme improvements. The
release has come a bit sooner than I had planned due to changing
circumstances (I was undeceived regarding the possibility of there
being some patches forthcoming).

Just a friendly reminder, NSM stands for Non Session Manager. I am the
author, inventor, developer, and maintainer of NSM (Hi there NSM
fans!) There has been a lot of misleading information published about
NSM lately, and I don't want anyone to be deceived by it.

Some matters of note: due to frequent and continued abuse and
harassment, the GitHub issue tracker has been disabled. In light of
this, there is a new policy for bug reports/feature requests which has
been posted to the Non mailing list.

The aforementioned harassment has got me thinking about my long
history in Linux Audio, in a community that I once felt very much a
part of. I feel that there has been a sea change and the old guard is
less involved than they used to be (myself included) and the new
dispensation is a rather nasty and unfavorable one. I'm sure there are
many depressing reasons for this which I need not go into as they
extend far beyond the context of Linux Audio. Anyway, after reflecting
on how I was presently being treated, it occurred to me that it's
unlikely that I'm the only one, so I want to take a moment to offer my
thanks and pay my respects to the great men of Linux Audio.

To Fons Adriaensen: your work, particularly your LADSPA plugins and
Ambisonics tools has enabled and inspired my own work. The neatness
and low dependency count of your code is something we should all
aspire to. Your sage advice has always been helpful and
instructive.There is much I couldn't have done without you. Thank you.

To Paul Davis: By inventing JACK, you enabled not only me, but a whole
community/generation of developers to think in terms of cooperation
and interoperability rather than monolithism, competition, and
lock-in. Even though you may have lost interest in JACK yourself, I
will always be grateful for your contribution, no matter how badly
JACK is defaced by its present maintainers or undermined by those who
desire to take from you that seat of honor. Thank you.

To Dave Griffiths: Your unrestrained creativity and originality have
been truly inspiring to me, and your SpiralSynthModular and Pawfaliki
software have been directly useful to me. Nobody may have noticed, but
both the Non website and my personal blog run on heavily modified
versions of Pawfaliki. Your work deserves much more attention than it
gets. Thank you.

To Paul Nasca: ZynAddSubFX has been a near constant companion to me
throughout my time in Linux Audio. It is truly a masterpiece, and
exemplifies the same set of standards that I have tried to adhere to
in my own projects (fast, light, powerful). Thank you.

To J.P Mercury: Freewheeling was a stroke of brilliance and I'm sure I
only scratched the surface of what it could do. You are an
inspiration. Thank you.

To Mark McCurry: You have been an excellent and upstanding maintainer
of ZynAddSubFX and truly improved it over the years. Your dedication
to tooling and automation is exemplary---I don't know how you find the
time to work on the tooling so much and still make progress on the
project itself. I have very much enjoyed our conversations and have
felt privileged to be a contributor to ZynAddSubFX. I am also grateful
to you for your contributions to Non, chiefly the plugin frequency
response visualizer, which is a constant help to me in my work. You
have pushed the technology forward with RtOSC, and I hope to someday
integrate that stack into Non's OSC::Signal framework. What's more
you've been a friend, and friendly people are so very hard to find in
this world. Thank you.

To Harry van Harren: It was a great pleasure to provide to you
whatever mentorship that I could. Your youthful exuberance has always
been an inspiration to me. I was very pleased that you took some of
the ideas from FLTK/Non to heart and decided to take the path less
travelled in your projects rather than, as far more commonly happens,
taking the easy way out. I look forward to seeing more great
accomplishments from you in the future.

Thanks also goes out to Rui Capela, David Robillard, Nedko Arnaudov,
Bill Spitzak, Shawn Betts, all the authors of the precious LADSPA
plugins that are RT-safe and don't just blast and crash. While I may
have had disagreements with some of these men over technical or
philosophical matters, I have always respected them and their work and
appreciated the fact that we could disagree on some things, agree on
others, and still get the work done. I'm afraid that this level of
maturity now exists only in a culture past. I'm sure there are some
who were left out of this list unintentionally, and if so I apologize
for that oversight. Others were left out intentionally and I'm sure
they will know who they are and why they don't deserve to be included
in a list of honorable men.

On that note, despite the slanderous statements made recently by a
certain gang of thugs regarding NSM, I would like to formally clarify,
since they flatly refuse to do so, and state that NSM (nor any of my
software) has never contained ads or spyware, that it is indeed and
has always been Free Software, and that this gang, who purport to
represent this community, never offered to contribute to NSM or
participate in its development. The leader of this gang, Filipe
Coelho, has abused his position as a distro maintainer to attempt to
take over development of NSM and other projects which represent
critical subsystems in Linux Audio. This is quite obviously bad news
for the community (as all power/control is being concentrated in the
hands of obvious bad-actors). Who knows what will come of this, but I
doubt it will be good. For myself, this event together with the
campaign of harassment and abuse has put me in a position of being
very reluctant to publish my continuing development or to begin any
new free-software projects (for which I have many, many ideas),
knowing, as I now know, that the consequences for me will be wholly
negative. I hope this hasn't also been the experience of all of the
other developers that I mentioned. I know at least one of them has
been compensated well for his work, but I'm sure he had to put up with
plenty of abuse too. The others, I fear, have probably, like myself,
been repaid primarily with abuse.

I worry about us as a community and us as a culture when I see that we
act to stamp out creativity, invention, standards of quality, etc. To
the people who stand by and say nothing while this happens: what kind
of future will you have to look forward to? Linux Audio is already a
shrinking niche. We need more creativity and invention, not less. If
you keep punishing and abusing people for dedicating their lives to
giving you free stuff, then wherever are you going to get more free
stuff?

I implore everyone to consider the effects of their inactions as well
as their actions, not only in this context but in life in general.

And a special message to Filipe Coelho, who has a made it something of
a personal mission to defame me and my work (and probably the work of
others I'm unaware of):

I forgive you. I forgive you for slandering me and my project. I
forgive you for making unreasonable demands of me. I forgive you for
not contributing code or documentation. I forgive you for harassing me
and encouraging others to do the same. I forgive you for never having
created anything that was useful to me, as I have clearly done
repeatedly for you. I forgive you for violating my friendship. I
forgive you for deceiving the LA community. I forgive you for creating
disruption, schism, and incompatibility in a sphere where there was
before (finally!) only harmony and unity. I sincerely hope that you
can one day find some source of joy in your life that does not involve
harming others, maybe even an original project of your own---something
that you could really take pride in.

My thanks goes to Olivier Humbert and John Rigg who were the two
people besides myself who contributed code for this release.

And to anyone who was thinking of submitting a patch to my project or
anyone else's, or who was thinking of donating, or just saying
"thanks," what are you waiting for? None of us lives forever, you
know. For every one "thank you" email this developer gets, he gets at
least a hundred insults. I have no idea whether or not that's a
typical figure, but it's probably in the same order of magnitude.

******
A brief interlude for the Parable of the Free Software Developer and
the Imposing Stranger (may the developers who read this know that they
are not alone in their trials, and may the users who read this take a
brief stroll in a developer's shoes).
******

A man builds a lodging house from the ground up with his own two
hands. One evening he is sitting in the house, in front of the
fireplace, enjoying the fruits of his labor, wondering if it was all
worthwhile---worth the broken leg, the battered thumb, the lost
comfort of the wife that left him---, when a stranger bursts through
the front door without knocking, bringing into the room with him a
small flurry of snowflakes.

"Hello?" the man says.

"There should be a window here," says the stranger, pointing at the
space above the fireplace.

The man is too baffled by this statement to ask the stranger why he
has barged into his house.

"But that's where the chimney is. I can't put a window there."

"You refuse to put in a window? A very impudent fellow you are. I've
seen houses that had a window just there. It was a mansion in the
hills, designed by an exceedingly famous and eccentric architect, and
was built by a crew of a hundred men in 20 days. If they could do it
so can you."

"I built this house myself, with my own two hands, and it took me 20
years. The best years of my life, they were---my very youth was spent
on this house. I put everything in its right place, including that
chimney and every brick in it! I like to sit here in front of the fire
and warm my tired old bones which still ache from my labors."

"Nevertheless, it would be better with a window there."

"But I explained to you, the chimney must go there. You can't have a
fireplace without a chimney; there would be nowhere for the smoke to
escape."

"That isn't my concern. Don't be difficult. A house simply isn't
worthwhile without a window over the fireplace. Why, I once saw a
mansion that---"

"---excuse me, but do these mansions have to do with me and my humble
lodging house? I don't need a window there and none of my guests have
ever needed one either. Furthermore, those mendicants over there
stitching up their robes were very grateful for this fire and that
hall to sleep in."

"I say! Won't you just make me a window?"

"By God! It's the dead of winter! Who needs a window now? And why
should I make a window for you in my own house? You, who neither offer
to help nor to pay for the work, and when there are other things in
need of attention like that spongy board in the floor over which
you're standing, or that drip in the corner of the loft whenever there
is a heavy rain?"

"Because, old man, I am the one who wants, and you are the one who
provides. This shabby little house that you built was meant to be a
delight for me---for my pleasure and enjoyment---, but I find it to be
a very shabby house indeed. That hideous chimney will surely have to
go. The window is only the beginning. I have many grand ideas for
improvements. Wheels on the eaves, a skating rink in the kitchen, a
king sized bed on the rooftop! I'm full of brilliant ideas. Why I've
just had another one: we'll turn the bathtub into one of those little
pissing imp fountains! What jolly fun! I've traveled the world and
seen many wondrous mansions built by eccentric and famous architects.
So surely I must know what is good and what isn't."

"And have you ever built a house yourself?"

"Why no."

"And have you ever seen a house being built?"

"Of course not, you old dolt!"

"Then what expertise do you have regarding the way that a house should be made?"

"Expertise is for doers like you. Doing is beneath me. I entertain
myself with the works of lesser beings. I'm an idea man, you see.
Ideas come to men like me, brilliant, inspired ideas, but not to men
such as yourself. An idea man doesn't trouble himself with petty
questions of how or why. He can't slow down, he's got too many grand
ideas for that! Now either you get to work, old man, or I'm going to
tell the whole world what a difficult little personality you have!
I'll tell them you violated the Code of Conduct (signed by yours
truly, natch). The Community owns this building, you are merely our
free labor. We owned it from the moment you opened the door, out of
your pathetic 'kindness' and 'goodwill' and let someone sleep here for
free. I saw the shingle on the door, with the silhouette of the Holy
Beast of the Resplendent Horns. This place is Community property,
mister. So what's it going to be? Will you make for me my pleasure
window?"

"I will not. It doesn't make sense. Everyone would freeze to death
without the fireplace and that chimney. What good is a house with a
pleasure window to a dead man? Nothing you say makes sense. It's as
though you're living in a dream, with no concept of the forethought
and effort that goes into such things as building houses. I know the
community. I feed the community. I shelter the community. I've never
turned away a man in need. And I've never seen your face before today,
Sir."

"Difficult! Hard to work with! Totally unreasonable! I say! I'm
telling on you! You should have known what to expect when you built
this house and when you hung that shingle by the door pledging with a
sacred oath that you would accept all comers. By denying me my exalted
whims you have spurned me, old man, and for that you will be cursed.
The ruling is forthcoming. You shall rue this day!"

(This scene repeats the next night with a different imposing
stranger---sometimes alone and sometimes together in gangs---, and the
night after that, and forever thereafter, until the old man dies.)

______

When you look into your heart, which character in this story are you?
The old man who built the house? A kind young man who offers to help
him fix the leaky roof or to build a gazebo (these being too few and
far between to have appeared on this night)? The person who merely
accepts the kindness of a free meal and a warm bed without complaint?
One of the priests of the Order of the Holy Beast of the Resplendent
Horns? Or are you the imposing stranger whose existence consists of
delighting in the creations (and suffering) of others, whom he
considers beneath him?

Of course, as complex as human existence is, one might play each of
these roles in turn in life, or several simultaneously. The important
thing is to know what you're doing in the moment, and ask yourself,
will this bring peace and happiness, or will this bring grief and
suffering?

******
Shortlog for this release
******

Jonathan Moore Liles (94):
      nonlib/OSC: Don't try to send feedback to non-existent path.
      Upgrade waf to 2.0.9
      Update NTK submodule.
      wscript: Fix install error caused by upgrade to waf 2.0.9.
      Upgrade waf to 2.0.18
      Mixer: Fix crash when closing project containing certain
configurations of modules.
      Session-manager: Work around for clients with stupidly large icons.
      Mixer: Tweak module colors. Show LADSPA plugins in a different color.
      Mixer: Show strip number at top of each strip (eases mentally
mapping onto hardware control surface).
      Sequencer: Save file to tmp file before overwriting original.
      Sequencer: Fix casting/sign related bug which could cause a hang
during SMF writing.
      Timeline: Tweak style of audio regions.
      Timeline: Tweak style of measure lines.
      Sequencer: Fix off-by-one bug preventing notes from being
inserted ahead of other notes.
      Sequencer: Fix configuration bug causing error message "Couldn't
open instrument directory".
      Timeline: Make clocks look more contrasty with light color scheme.
      Sequencer: Add some missing items to GM Drum note map.
      Mixer: Fix off by one bug in strip autoconnect affecting Auxes.
      Mixer: Remove superfluous semicolon.
      Mixer: Improve contrast with light color scheme.
      Mixer: Fix osc/midi by-number mode control for strips with names
containing punctuation and spaces.
      Mixer: Give better visual feedback in control OSC/MIDI learning mode.
      Sequencer: Tweak appearance to look better with different color schemes.
      Sequencer: Just use theme UP_BOX for note shape...
      Midi-Mapper: Don't get confused if user neglects to operate all
controls on the first run.
      Sequencer: Don't crash when user picks the branch instead of the
leaf in scale chooser.
      MIDI-Mapper: Preserve mapping creation order when
loading/saving. This makes it possible to fiddle controls in a defined
order and then edit the file to give them useful names.
      MIDI-Mapper: Require controls to be actuated/moved twice before
mapping signal in order to detect whether value has 14, 7 or 1
significant bits. Also, support non-motirzed faders/endless encoders
by not transmitting control change until value of controller comes
within 5% of value of signal. Also, change file format (backwards
compatible). Also, fix some issues with NRPN decoding.
      nonlib/MIDI: Cleanup some type signatures.
      Timeline: Improve error message for sf_open create.
      Timeline: Fix rare segfault which occurred when region loop
point is just beyond the end of a region and at the beginning of a
buffer.
      Timeline: Redraw right hand child region on split.
      Mixer: Show strip number at top of each strip (eases mentally
mapping onto hardware control surface).
      Timeline: Tweak styling of selected regions.
      Mixer: Allow Mono Pan module to be added a stereo chain. This
converts the signal to mono and then pans the result. Useful for
auditioning a mix in mono.
      Mixer: Dezipper spatializer azimuth and elevation automation.
      Mixer: Make panner points more opaque.
      Sequencer: Fix bug in fitting scale to viewport.
      Mixer/Module_Parameter_Editor: Increase font sizes, tweak boxtypes.
      FL/Fl_Sometimes_Input: Allow user to abort edit with Escape key.
      Timeline,Mixer: Tweak colors for light themes.
      Mixer: Tweak meter appearance to look better with light color schemes.
      Mixer/Module_Parameter_Editor: Tweak slider appearance.
      Mixer/DPM: Quick hack to add smoothing to meter values.
      nonlib/OSC/Endpoint: Work around for liblo/UDP layer dropping
packets on bulk signal listing.
      Timeline: Split OSC send and receive functionality into different threads.
      Mixer: Tweak meter appearance.
      Mixer: Avoid some unnecessary redraws when opening project.
      Timeline: Add "Disabled" fade type to disable both fade and
declicking for cases where regions need to be abutted perfectly.
      Timeline: Don't forget to log changing takes after the fact.
      Mixer: Tweak meter appearance.
      Mixer: Tweak strip highlighting.
      Mixer/Module_Parameter_Editor: Tweak layout so that 4-Band
Parametric Filter plugin is more legible.
      Sequencer: Fix crash in event editor.
      Sequencer: Use a 3 break gradient for velocity colors.
      Mixer: Make meters more efficient.
      Mixer,Timeline: Fix port connection drag and drop between applications.
      Mixer: Tweak appearance.
      Timeline: Acquire sequence lock for region split.
      Mixer: Implement slow fall off for meters.
      Mixer: Fix crash when disabling strip auto output.
      Mixer: Fix crash if user messes with the window while project is loading.
      Timeline: Don't send the same OSC control sequence value twice
and so avoid messing with OSC learning in non-mixer when transport is
stopped.
      Mixer: Try to better cope with parameter feedback feedback cycles.
      Timeline: fix crash when removing a track.
      dsp: code style tweak.
      wscript: Use -mtune=native by default for performance boost
benefiting those who build from source, packagers can disable.
      Mixer: Fix glitch in redrawing of meter scales when scrolling.
      Partially revert "Mixer: Avoid some unnecessary redraws when
opening project."
      Mixer: Fix settings menu layout issue.
      Mixer: Fix JACK port disconnection when Auto Input/Output mode is changed.
      Mixer: Automatically run in "noui" mode if DISPLAY environment
variable unset (i.e. X11 not available).
      Mixer: Make port autoconnection during startup and shutdown more
efficient.
      Timeline: Don't assert if peakfile contains no blocks---it's
probably just because it was just opened and hasn't been written into
yet.
      Mixer: Because disconnecting/connecting JACK ports is slow, when
handling a change of strip auto input setting, avoid disconnecting a
port and then reconnecting it later.
      Mixer/DPM: Fix bug where peaks are sometimes not drawn.
      Mixer: Fix meter falloff in chain view.
      Mixer: fix size of SM blinker.
      Mixer: Fix crash on save after group removal.
      Mixer: Enforce stability of module OSC path over close/open cycles.
      Timeline: Fix rare issue where moving the mouse over a region
while recording at just the right moment could cause a spurious SET
action to be written to the history.
      Timeline: Fix region DND onto last track that was a connection DND source.
      Mixer: Re-transmit the minimum amount of OSC/MIDI feedback
messages when strips are rearranged.
      Update NTK.
      Mixer: Fix export strip function.
      Update NTK.
      Revert "Add 128x128 hicolor as possible icon path"
      Mixer: Cope with some plugins having insane numbers of parameters.
      Timeline: Tweak style of loop point indicator.
      Mixer: Avoid some unnecessary reallocations when changing channel count.
      Update NTK
      Bump versions.

Olivier Humbert (4):
      Update non-mixer.desktop.in
      Update non-sequencer.desktop.in
      Update non-session-manager.desktop.in
      Update non-timeline.desktop.in

(NTK)

Jonathan Moore Liles (10):
      Upgrade to waf 2.0.9.
      Upgrade waf to 2.0.18.
      Tweak themes for more color consistency.
      Workaround for zynaddsubfx.
      More theme tweaks.
      ntk-chtheme: Add new color scheme.  Save/restore selection color.
      Clean up some inconsistencies in themes.
      fl_contrast: Return FL_FOREGROUND or FL_BACKGROUND rather than
FL_BLACK and FL_WHITE...
      Adjust color schemes.
      Tweak themes.

John Rigg (1):
      themes: Workaround for bug where a background color of RGB 0,0,0
in Black color scheme is sometimes drawn as green.

******
And just for kicks, here's the all time shortlog leaderboard. Keep
those PRs coming!
******

Jonathan Moore Liles (2068):
Nedko Arnaudov (4):
Olivier Humbert (4):
Roy Vegard Ovesen (4):
Robert Wruck (2):
Mathias Buhr (2):
Daniel Appelt (1):
Hanspeter Portner (1):
James Morris (1):
Juuso Alasuutari (1):
Peter Nelson (1):
Mark McCurry (1):
martin (1):
non25 (1):
John Rigg (1):