Allegro 4.2.1 has been released! You can download the source packages here.

Most exciting changes:

• Added a new translucent font type.

• New list_config_sections and list_config_entries functions.

• Many fixes for Intel Macs, including support for univeral binaries.

• stretch_blit can now be HW accelerated with the DirectX driver.

A larger list is available at the Allegro homepage

AllegroGL 0.4.0 RC7 has also been released. You can download the source here. This release supports several more OpenGL extensions, and also features more intelligent refresh rate selection in the Windows driver. The complete list of changes is here.

Donate! The Allegro project is now accepting donations through SourceForge, meaning that all who have wanted to give back to Allegro in the past will be able to do so now. I, CGamesPlay, have been appointed treasurer. Presently, we are discussing potential uses for the donated funds, but have not reached any conclusion. Ideas include:

• Bounties/Payment for coding tasks

• Buying hardware or software to support development

• Giving out contest prizes

• Holding an Allegro conference

• Purchasing a domain name for the Allegro web site

You can donate through the SourceForge interface:

There should be some certain targets for donations. E.g, get $100 for domain. Once the target is reached the money is spent and a new target is set.

And why has there been no official announcement?

I guess gnolam refers to the not-yet-existing article on the front page of allegro.cc - I would have expected to see a new version there in thick letters...

I'll do an Allegro version x.y.z released thread again next time.

Anyway, tea time now!

Hooray! But one thing: the OS X framework includes only a tiny subset of the headers (complete list: alosxcfg.h, astdint.h, alosx.h, aintosx.h, allegro.h, osxalleg.h, aintunix.h, alplatf.h - everything from the allegro subdirectory seems to be missing) with the result that it is still impossible to use Allegro without doing a UNIX-style install.

EDIT: oh, I see Allegro still doesn't support proper-OS X Framework use, but still insists on littering /usr/local/lib and other directories that UNIX people love — in particular it seems to still want to do a static link to get a symbol for main, and wants to do that against something in /usr/local/lib. Is there a technical reason for this yuckiness? I note that SDL manages to provide a single main function across platforms including non-console Win32 yet for OS X can come as a simple template+framework for you to drag and drop into place. That simply isn't possible for Allegro under the current system.

EDIT2: As per usual I notice that the Project Builder template doesn't embed the framework, so Allegro apps built using the supplied template won't work on other people's Macs unless they have the Allegro Framework already installed. It also only seems to build PowerPC applications. I guess there's nobody left still using Project Builder to update it?

Attached is a new AllegroApp.xcodeproj that builds a Universal Binary for OS X v10.4+ and does embed the framework. Users of Xcode 2.4+ can use it by going to /Library/Application Support/Apple/Developer Tools/Project Templates/Application/Allegro Application, deleting the current AllegroApp.pbproj and instead dropping in the AllegroApp.xcodeproj included in the .zip file attached to this message. After that all new projects started from "New Project->Application/Allegro Application" will build Universal and embed the framework.

Not really appropriate to discuss in this thread, but:

• uploading attachments doesn't seem to work from Safari (either the "queued" message stays up forever, or the browser reports a successful upload then the attachment doesn't appear)

• logging in doesn't seem to work from Opera

So I had to download Firefox just to make this attachment. Which took a few minutes!

Well, on the ML, Evert (our current benevolent dictator for life) favored the "RL meeting" idea. So just wait until there is enough money donated to pay flight tickets for all the important allegro.cc members..

AFAIK it's because SDL can require the user to pump the event loop, whereas Allegro has to do it from a background thread. And on MacOS X we have to do that from the primordial (main) thread, hence we have to hijack the user's main().

Anyway, if you send a patch for this framework thingamajigy (I don't what that is) and someone else can confirm it, I'll release 4.2.1.1 in short order. For those that don't follow [AD], we're instituting a 4th version number component to get out quick fixes to the more trivial problems.

EDIT: Or do I just dump the TemplateInfo.plist, project.pbxproj and project.pbxuser files into allegro/misc? Surely admin.mode1, admin.pbxuser, thomasharte.mode2 and thomasharte.pbxuser shouldn't be included?

I think it's FN stupid that SourceForge takes a share at all. If people want to dotate to SF, they will.

Moved my posting to another thread:
http://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/588830

I'm searching... it's slow... found it...

I think first things first, we get a good domain, and an email from it to setup a paypal account for allegro, or at least as an alias for the current tresurer's.

Suggestions people, I may be willing to pick up the first year's fee.