===========
PyObjC NEWS
===========

An overview of the relevant changes in new, and older, releases.

Version 1.3.5 (2005-05-18)
--------------------------

- Importing objc now ensures that Foundation is multi-threaded, previously
  it only ensured that Python was.

- New ``objc.RegisterCFSignature`` used to register ``CFTypeRef``-like
  signatures with the runtime.

- ``PyObjCTools.Conversion`` functions now support all property list
  types with the following conversions:

  - NSData <-> buffer
  - NSDecimalNumber <-> decimal.Decimal (if present)
  - NSDate <-> datetime.datetime

  New ``toPythonDecimal``, ``fromPythonDecimal`` functions which convert
  between NSDecimalNumber and decimal.Decimal using an intermediate string.

  New ``serializePropertyList`` and ``deserializePropertyList`` functions
  which serialize (Objective-C) property lists to and from NSData.

- ``OC_PythonObject``, the proxy for Python objects that do not have
  an Objective-C superclass and are not otherwise special-cased, now
  act slightly more like typical Objective-C objects (supporting
  ``-isEqual:``, ``-hash``, and ``-compare:``).  This allows them
  to work with Key-Value Coding if they are contained by an Objective-C
  object, among other things.
  
- New objc.signature decorator that allows easier specification of
  objc.selector wrappers for functions when using Python 2.4::

    @objc.signature('i@:if')
    def methodWithX_andY_(self, x, y):
        return 0

- ``PyObjCTools.KeyValueCoding.getKeyPath`` now supports all of the
  Array Operators supported by Mac OS X 10.4.

- Key-Value Coding of Python objects (whether or not using an Objective-C
  base class) should act like Objective-C now.  In previous versions
  there were inconsistencies with the use of capitalization, the
  underscore postfix in setters, and Key-Value Observation.

- The formal protocol list is now complete.  A new internal function, 
  ``objc.protocolsForProcess()`` enumerates over all mach
  headers and returns all of the protocols defined in the expected
  place.  This fixes the scenario where an application uses a
  protocol but does not define any classes that
  conform to that protocol (i.e. to check plugin conformity).
  Previously it was not possible to reach these protocols simply by
  walking over all of the classes.

- A special value, ``objc.NULL``, may now be passed in the place
  of 'in' and 'inout' arguments.  This tells the bridge to pass
  a NULL pointer to the Objective-C method, instead of a pointer
  to the value.  The return value will still be a tuple of the
  expected size.

- Some of the new Tiger frameworks now have wrappers:

  - ``AppleScriptKit``
  - ``Automator``
  - ``CoreData``
  - ``DiscRecording``
  - ``DiscRecordingUI``
  - ``OSAKit``
  - ``Quartz``
  - ``QTKit``
  - ``SyncServices``
  - ``XgridFoundation``

  Documentation and tests not yet written.

- New ``OutlineEditor`` example in ``Examples/CoreData``,
  it is a Python version of the identically named Apple example.

- The last argument of selectors that end with ':error:' is now
  assumed to be 'out' if its type is an object pointer.

- More conveniences for ``list``-like and ``dict``-like
  objects: ``__reversed__``, ``reverse``, ``pop``,
  ``remove``, ``fromkeys``.

- ``OC_PythonDictionary`` and ``OC_PythonArray`` now return
  ``NSNull`` to Objective-C callers as appropriate.

- New ``WebKitInterpreter`` example in ``Examples/Plugins``.
  Uses the new WebKit Cocoa plugin API available in Safari 1.3
  and later to embed a PyInterpreter in the browser.

- Fixed a ``CFBundleRef`` reference counting bug in
  ``Foundation._Foundation``.  The symptom of this is usually
  a crashing application after having loaded a PyObjC-based
  plugin into an otherwise Objective-C app.

- New ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper`` functions: ``callAfter`` and
  ``callLater``, conveniences for calling Python functions on
  the main thread as soon as possible, or after a delay.

- Twisted examples changed to use ``threadedselectreactor``
  instead of ``cfreactor``.  ``cfreactor`` is deprecated.
  Needs Twisted newer than 2.0 (svn r13575 or later).

- ``objc.inject`` now injects on main thread by default,
  and takes an optional third ``useMainThread`` argument
  to change this behavior.  This is a complete rewrite
  which should be correct, stable, Tiger compatible,
  and synchronized with mach_* 1.1.

- Removed an ``NSAutoreleasePool`` category hack that has
  been deprecated for quite some time.

- New ``objc.removeAutoreleasePool`` function that will remove
  PyObjC's global ``NSAutoreleasePool``, which may be useful
  for plugins.

- Fixed bug in the ``NSBundle`` hack that caused a ``NULL``
  pointer dereference if looking up a non-existent class using
  ``NSBundle`` API.

- Added ``OC_PythonUnicode`` and ``OC_PythonString`` classes that
  preserve the identity of ``str`` and ``unicode`` objects across
  the bridge.  The bridge for ``str`` now uses the default
  encoding of ``NSString``, rather than ``sys.getdefaultencoding()``
  from Python.  For Mac OS X, this is typically MacRoman.  The reason
  for this is that not all Python ``str`` instances could cross the
  bridge at all previously.  ``objc.setStrBridgeEnabled(False)`` will
  still trigger warnings, if you are attempting to track down an
  encoding bug.  However, the symptoms of the bug will be incorrectly
  encoded text, not an exception.

- New Xcode project template "PyObjC Mixed Application" that is
  a py2app based Python application that loads an Objective-C
  plug-in built as a separate target.

- New py2app based Xcode templates "PyObjC Application" and
  "PyObjC Document-based Application", these replace the
  older "Cocoa-Python Application" and 
  "Cocoa-Python Document-based Application" respectively.

- New ``InjectBrowser`` example in ``Examples/Inject`` that demonstrates
  injection of the ``ClassBrowser`` example into another application using
  ``objc.inject``.

- ``NSData`` and ``NSMutableData`` instances now support the Python buffer
  protocol.

- ``NSData`` instances now support a convenience API that allow them to
  act like a ``buffer`` instance for ``str()`` and slicing.

- Objects that support the Python buffer protocol, such as ``buffer`` and
  ``array.array`` (but not ``str`` or ``unicode``) are now bridged as
  ``NSData`` subclasses.

Version 1.3 (2005-03-31)
------------------------

- New ``objc.pyobjc_id`` function that returns a the id of the underlying
  NSObject as an integer.  (Python wrapper objects are often made on the
  fly, meaning ``id(obj)`` is not constant during the lifetime of the
  object.)

- The bridge now maintains object identity across the bridge
  in both directions. Previous versions of the bridge only did this when
  bridging from Objective-C to Python.

  Exceptions: ``NSString`` and ``NSNumber`` do not have unique proxies.  These
  types are converted to subclasses of Python types as appropriate, so they
  can not have unique proxies.  The identity of the original Objective-C
  object is maintained by these subclasses, but there may be many Python
  "value proxies" for a single Objective-C object.

  Any Python object that is proxied using the ``__pyobjc_object__``
  interface will only get a unique proxy if the ``__pyobjc_object__``
  method implements that feature.

- New ``objc.protocolsForClass`` function that returns a list of protocols
  that the class directly claims to conform to.

- PyObjC classes can now declare that they implement formal protocols,
  for example::

    class MyLockingClass(NSObject, objc.protocolNamed('NSLocking')):
        # implementation
        pass

  It is also possible to define new protocols::

     MyProtocol = objc.formal_protocol("MyProtocol", None, [
     	selector(None, selector='mymethod', signature='v@:'),
     ])

  All formal protocols are instances of ``objc.formal_protocol``.
        
- PyObjCTools.KeyValueCoding has a new ``kvc`` class that allows
  Pythonic Key-Value Coding.

  - ``__getitem__`` is mapped to ``valueForKeyPath:``
  - ``__setitem__`` is mapped to ``setValue:forKeyPath:``
  - ``__getattr__`` is mapped to ``valueForKey:``
  - ``__setattr__`` is mapped to ``setValue:forKey:``

  The ``kvc`` class uses ``__pyobjc_object__``, so it may cross the bridge
  as the wrapped object.

- ``NSNumber`` instances are bridged to a ``float``, ``long``, or ``int``
  subclass that uses ``__pyobjc_object__``.  
  ``NSDecimal`` is converted to ``NSDecimalNumber`` when used as an object,
  ``NSDecimalNumber`` is not bridged to ``NSDecimal`` because the latter is
  a mutable type.

- The Python to Objective-C bridge now looks for a ``__pyobjc_object__`` 
  attribute to get a PyObjC object from a Python object.

- New IDNSnitch example in Inject that demonstrates how to write an
  monitor for the launch of another application,
  use ``objc.inject`` to load code into a target process,
  and override the implementation of an existing method but still
  call back into the original implementation (method swizzling).

- ``objc.IMP`` should do the right thing now.  This type is returned
  by ``+[NSObject methodForSelector:]`` and
  ``+[NSObject instanceMethodForSelector:]``

- New ToDos example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how to use
  two array controllers for the same data, and how to use value
  transformers to alter the color of text.  Originally from
  "Cocoa Bindings Examples and Hints", converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler.

- New Bookmarks example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how to
  subclass ``NSArrayController`` to implement the ``NSTableView``
  delegate drag and drop protocol, including copying of objects between
  documents and accepting URL drops from other applications.  Also
  demonstrates re-ordering of the content array.  Originally from
  "Cocoa Bindings Examples and Hints", converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler.

- New FilteringController example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates
  how to subclass ``NSArrayController`` to implement filtering
  of a ``NSTableView``.  Also demonstrates the use of indexed accessors.
  Originally from "Cocoa Bindings Examples and Hints", converted to PyObjC
  by u.fiedler.

- New ControlledPreferences example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates
  how to use Cocoa Bindings to simplify storing and retrieving user
  preferences.  Originally from "Cocoa Bindings Examples and Hints",
  converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler.

- New TemperatureTransformer example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates
  how to use NSValueTransfomers with PyObjC.  Based on Apple's
  "Cocoa: Value Transformers" documentation, converted to PyObjC
  by u.fiedler.

- New CurrencyConvBindings example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates
  a Cocoa Bindings enabled version of the CurrencyConverter example.
  Converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler from the example in Apple's
  "Introduction to Developing Cocoa Applications Using Bindings".

- New ManualBindings example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how
  to develop programmatic bindings from a PyObjC application.
  Converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler from the "Cocoa Bindings and Hints"
  example of the same name.

- New HotKeyPython example in AppKit that demonstrates how to use
  Carbon global hot keys from a PyObjC application.  Also demonstrates
  how to use a NSApplication subclass.

- Key-Value Observing support is now automatic in Python classes that
  descend from ``NSObject``, unless they implement a custom
  ``willChangeValueForKey:``, ``didChangeValueForKey:``, or
  ``__useKVO__`` is not True.  This allows ``self.foo = 1`` to
  automatically trigger notifications.  This works in all cases,
  whether ``foo`` is a ``property``, ``ivar``, or just in the
  ``__dict__``.

- New Inject folder in Examples, with an InjectInterpreter
  example that will inject a GUI Python interpreter into any process.

- New ``objc.inject()`` function for Mac OS X 10.3 and later,
  allows an arbitrary bundle to be loaded into another process
  using mach_inject.

- ``objc.classAddMethods`` now recognizes and supports
  classmethods.

- GC is now correctly implemented for struct wrappers.

- The ``NSNumber`` bridge has been removed, now you will get
  ``NSNumber`` instances across the bridge instead of a
  Python representation.

- ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper.runEventLoop()`` will now bring your
  application to the front at startup when using pdb
  mode for convenience.

- ``objc.loadBundle()`` no longer filters the class list.  This
  solves a few potential issues and shaves off about 1/3rd of
  the overhead of ``python -c "import AppKit"``.

- ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper.runEventLoop()`` no longer breaks on
  pure Objective-C exceptions.  Most exceptions of this variety
  are more like warnings, and there is nothing that can be done
  them anyway.

- ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper.runEventLoop()`` now installs the
  interrupt handler and verbose exception logging when using pdb,
  either explicitly or by the USE_PDB environment variable.

- There is now a fast path for the ``NSString``/``unicode``
  bridge when ``Py_UNICODE_SIZE`` is 2.  This is the default
  setting for Python.

- The default selector signature will have a void return value
  unless a "return" statement with an argument is used in the
  bytecode.  In that case, it will default to an object return
  value.

- ``__bundle_hack__`` is no longer necessary, py2app now sets
  a different environment variable to the current plugin during
  execution, and a hack is installed to ``NSBundle`` so that classes
  may respond to requests for their bundle with the ``+bundleForClass``
  method.  The class builder adds a default implementation of this to
  Python classes if this environment variable is set.

- Added ``objc.currentBundle()``, which is equivalent to
  ``NSBundle.mainBundle()`` except after loading a plug-in.
  Makes it easier to load nib files.

- ``PyObjCTools.NibClassBuilder.extractClasses()`` now uses
  ``objc.currentBundle()`` instead of ``NSBundle.mainBundle()``.  This
  makes plugins less of a hassle to develop and allows identical code
  to be used for application or plugin development.

- ``objc.registerPlugin()`` and ``objc.pluginBundle()`` are now deprecated
  as they are no longer useful.

- It is now possible to subclass a class that implements ``copyWithZone:``
  without setting ``__slots__`` to ``()``. 

- It is now possible to override ``dealloc``. It is still possible to
  define ``__del__``.

- As an experimental feature it is also possible to override ``retain`` and
  ``release``. Note it almost never a good idea to do this (even when you're
  programming in Objective-C and much more so in Python).

- ``poseAsClass:`` can be used, although it is not very useful in python, use
  categories instead.

  A major issue with ``poseAsClass:`` is that existing references to the old
  version of the class won't be changed to point to the new class. 

- It is now possible to access all instance variables of a class using
  the functions ``objc.listInstanceVariables(aClassOrInstance)``,
  ``objc.getInstanceVariable(obj, name)`` and 
  ``objc.setInstanceVariable(obj, name, value [, updateRefCount])``.

  The last argument of ``setInstanceVariable`` is required when the instance
  variable is an object. If it is true the bridge will update reference counts,
  otherwise it won't. 

- All wrappers for opaque pointers (such as ``NSZone*``) now have the same
  interface and share a single implementation. This decreases code-size and
  makes it easier to add new wrappers.  A new feature is a ``__typestr__``
  attribute on the type object, this contains the encoded Objective-C type
  of the pointer.
  
  A function for creating new wrappers is exposed to python, as 
  ``objc.createOpaquePointerType(name, typestr, doc)``.  The same function is 
  also exposed in the C-API.

- Wrappers for C-structs how have a ``__typestr__`` attribute on their type.
  This attribute contains the encoded Objective-C type of the struct.

  The default ``__init__`` for struct-wrappers now initializes fields with an 
  appropriate default value, instead of ``None``. 

  New wrappers can now be created from Python using the function
  ``objc.createStructType(name, typestr, fieldnames, doc)``. The same
  function is also exposed in the C API (and has been for a while).

Version 1.2 (2004-12-29)
------------------------

- ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper.stopEventLoop`` will attempt to stop the current
  ``NSRunLoop`` (if started by ``runConsoleEventLoop``) or terminate the
  current ``NSApplication`` (which may or may not have been started by
  ``runEventLoop``).

- This version no longer support Python 2.2. Python 2.3 or later is
  required.

- It is now possible to use ``reload`` on modules containing Objective-C
  classes.

- ``objc.loadBundle`` now returns bundle we just loaded.

- Added ``objc.loadBundleVariables`` and ``objc.loadBundleFunctions``,
  two functions for reading global variables and functions from a bundle.

- objc.runtime will now raise AttributeError instead of objc.nosuchclass_error
  when a class is not found.

- objc.Category can be used to define categories on existing classes::

    class NSObject (objc.Category(NSObject)):
        def myMethod(self):
            pass

  This adds method ``myMethod`` to class NSObject.

- ``py2app`` is now used for all Example scripts and is the recommended method
  for creating PyObjC applications.

- Proxies of dict, list, and tuple now respect the invariant that you should
  get an identical instance if you ask for the same thing twice and the
  collection has not been mutated.  This fixes some problems with binary
  plist serialization, and potentially some edge cases elsewhere.

- There is now a ``__bundle_hack__`` class attribute that will cause the PyObjC
  class builder to use a statically allocated class wrapper if one is
  available via certain environment variables.  This functionality is used
  to enable +[NSBundle bundleForClass:] to work for exactly one class from
  a py2app-created plugin bundle.
  
- We now have a working Interface Builder palette example due to
  ``__bundle__hack__``.

- ``bool(NSNull.null())`` is now false.

- ``setup.py`` supports several new commands:

    build_libffi:
    
      builds libffi (used by build_ext)

    build_html:
      builds html documentation from ReST source

    bdist_dmg:
      creates a disk image with the binary installer

    bdist_mpkg:
      creates a binary installer

    test:
      runs unit test suite (replaces Scripts/runPyObjCTests
      and Scripts/runalltests)

- ``PyObjCStrBridgeWarning`` can now be generated when Python ``str`` objects
  cross the bridge by calling ``objc.setStrBridgeEnabled(False)``.  It is
  HIGHLY recommended that your application never send ``str`` objects over
  the bridge, as it is likely to cause problems due to the required
  coercion to unicode.

- The coercion bridge from Python to Objective-C instances can now be
  augmented from Python as it is exposed by ``OC_PythonObject``.  See
  ``objc._bridges``.  This is how the ``str`` -> ``unicode`` -> ``NSString``
  bridge with optional warnings is implemented.

- The coercion bridge between Python objects and Objective-C structures
  can now be augmented from Python as it is exposed by ``OC_PythonObject``.
  See ``objc._bridges``.  This is how the ``Carbon.File.FSRef`` 
  <-> ``'{FSRef=[80c]}'`` structure bridge is implemented.

- Extension modules such as ``_objc``, ``_AppKit``, etc. are now inside
  packages as ``objc._objc``, ``AppKit._AppKit``, etc.  They should never be
  used directly, so this should not break user code.

Version 1.1 (2004-05-30)
------------------------

- KVO now actually works from Python without using nasty hacks.

- Added Xcode template for document-based applications

Version 1.1b2 (2004-04-11)
--------------------------

- More fine-grained multi-threading support

- Xcode templates use a smarter embedded main program

- Add support for WebObjects 4.5 (a one-line patch!)

- Add a PackageManager clone to the Examples directory

- Add better support for NSProxy

  This makes it possible to use at Distributed Objects, although this
  feature has not received much testing

- Function 'objc.protocolNamed' is the Python equivalent of the @protocol
  expression in Objective-C.

- Add several new examples


Version 1.1b1 (2004-02-20)
---------------------------

- Fixes some regressions in 1.1 w.r.t. 1.0

- Add Xcode templates for python files

  You can now select a new python file in the 'add file...' dialog in Xcode

- Fix installer for Panther: the 1.1a0 version didn't behave correctly

- There is now an easier way to define methods that conform to the expectations
  of Cocoa bindings::

    class MyClass (NSObject):

        def setSomething_(self, value):
            pass

        setSomething_ = objc.accessor(setSomething_)

        def something(self):
            return "something!"

        something = objc.accessor(something)

  It is not necessary to use ``objc.accessor`` when overriding an existing 
  accessor method.

Version 1.1a0 (2004-02-02)
--------------------------

- Objective-C structs can now be wrapped using struct-like types. This has
  been used to implement wrapper types for NSPoint, NSSize, NSRange and NSRect
  in Foundation and NSAffineTransformStruct in AppKit.

  This means you can now access the x-coordinate of a point as ``aPoint.x``,
  accessing ``aPoint[0]`` is still supported for compatibility with older 
  versions of PyObjC.

  It is still allowed to use tuples, or other sequences, to represent 
  Objective-C structs.
  
  NOTE: This has two side-effects that may require changes in your programs:
  the values of the types mentioned above are no longer immutable and cannot
  be used as keys in dicts or elements in sets. Another side-effect is that
  a pickle containing these values created using this version of PyObjC cannot
  be unpickled on older versions of PyObjC.

- This version adds support for NSDecimal. This is a fixed-point type defined
  in Cocoa. 

- NSDecimalNumbers are no longer converted to floats, that would loose 
  information.

- If an Objective-C method name is a Python keyword you can now access it
  by appending two underscores to its name, e.g. someObject.class__().

  The same is true for defining methods, if you define a method ``raise__`` in
  a subclass of NSObject it will registered with the runtime as ``raise``.

  NOTE: Currently only ``class`` and ``raise`` are treated like this, because
  those are the only Python keywords that are actually used as Objective-C
  method names.

- Experimental support for ``instanceMethodForSelector:`` and 
  ``methodForSelector:``. 
  This support is not 100% stable, and might change in the future.

- Backward incompatible change: class methods are no longer callable through
  the instances.

- Integrates full support for MacOS X 10.3 (aka Panther)

- Adds a convenience/wrapper module for SecurityInterface

- It is now safe to call from Objective-C to Python in arbitrary threads, but
  only when using Python 2.3 or later.

- Fixes some issues with passing structs between Python and Objective-C. 

- Uses the Panther version of ``NSKeyValueCoding``, the Jaguar version is still
  supported.

- method ``updateNSString`` of ``objc.pyobjc_unicode`` is deprecated, use 
  create a new unicode object using ``unicode(mutableStringInstance)`` instead.

- NSAppleEventDescriptor bridged to Carbon.AE

- LibFFI is used more aggressivly, this should have no user-visible effects
  other than fixing a bug related to key-value observing.


- Adds a number of new Examples:
  
  * OpenGLDemo
   
    Shows how to use OpenGL with PyObjC

  * SillyBallsSaver

    Shows how to write a screensaver in Python. Requires a framework install
    of Python (that is, MacOS X 10.3 or MacPython 2.3 on MacOS X 10.2).
  
  * Twisted/WebServicesTool

    Shows how to integrate Twisted (1.1 or later) with Cocoa, it is a
    refactor of the WebServicesTool example that is made much simpler
    by using Twisted.

  * Twisted/WebServicesTool-ControllerLayer

    Shows how to integrate Twisted (1.1 or later) with Cocoa, it is a
    refactor of the WebServicesTool example that is made much simpler
    by using Twisted as it does not need threads. This one also uses
    NSController and therefore requires MacOS X 10.3.

Version 1.0 (2003-09-21)
------------------------

- This version includes a new version of libffi that properly deals with
  complex types on MacOS X.

Version 1.0rc3 (2003-09-14)
---------------------------

- 1.0rc2 didn't include the nibclassbuilder script

- Fix bug in NSRectFillList

Version 1.0rc2 (2003-09-10)
---------------------------

- Fix a number of bugs found in 1.0rc1.

Version 1.0rc1 (2003-08-10)
---------------------------

- Better support for the NSKeyValueCoding protocol.  The module 
  ``PyObjCTools.KeyValueCoding`` provides a python interface that makes it
  possible to use key-value coding with python objects as well as 
  Objective-C objects. Key-Value Coding also works as one would expect with
  Python objects when accessing them from Objective-C (both for plain Python
  objects and Python/Objective-C hybrid objects).

- objc.pyobjc_unicode objects are now pickled as unicode objects, previously
  the couldn't be pickled or were pickled as incomplete objects (protocol 
  version 2). 

- Pickling of ObjC objects never worked, we now explicitly throw an exception
  if you try to pickle one: pickle protocol version 2 silently wrote the 
  incomplete state of objects to the pickle.

- The default repr() of ObjC objects is now the result of a call to the
  ``description`` method. This method is not called for unitialized objects,
  because that might crash the interpreter; we use a default implementation
  in that case.

- A minor change to the conversion rule for methods with output arguments
  (pointers to values in ObjC, where the method will write through the pointer).
  If the method has 'void' as its return type, we used to return a tuple where
  the first value is always None. This first element is no longer included,
  furthermore if the method has only 1 output argument we no longer return
  a tuple but return the output value directly (again only if the method has
  'void' as its return type).
  
  This is a backward incompatible change, but there are not many of such
  methods.

- Another backward incompatible change is a minor cleanup of the names in
  the ``objc`` module. The most significant of these is the change from
  ``recycle_autorelease_pool`` to ``recycleAutoreleasePool``. The other 
  changed names are internal to the bridge and should not be used in other
  code.

- The interface of Foundation.NSFillRects changed, it now has an interface
  that is consistent with the rest of the bridge.

Version 1.0b1 (2003-07-05)
--------------------------

- More tutorials

  Two new tutorials were added: 'Adding Python code to an existing ObjC 
  application' and 'Understanding existing PyObjC examples'. The former
  explains how you can use Python to add new functionality to an already
  existing Objective-C application, the latter explains how to understand
  PyObjC programs written by other people.

- More examples

  Three examples were added: DotView, ClassBrowser and PythonBrowser,
  respectively showing the use of a custom NSView, NSBrowser and
  NSOutlineView.  PythonBrowser is reusable, making it trivial to add an
  object browser to your application.

- Support for MacOS X 10.1

  It is now possible to build PyObjC on MacOS X 10.1, with full access to 
  the Cocoa API's on that platform.

  Note: The port to MacOS X 10.1 is not as well supported as the 10.2 port.
  The developers do not have full-time access to a MacOS X 10.1 system.

- Support for the WebKit framework, included with Safari 1.0.

  If you build PyObjC from source you will have to build on a system that has
  the WebKit SDK installed to make use of this. Note that the additional 
  functionality will only be usuable on systems that have Safari 1.0 installed,
  however as long as you don't use the additional functionality it is safe
  to run a 'WebKit-enabled' PyObjC on systems without Safari 1.0.

- It is no longer necessary to specify which protocols are implemented by

  a class, this information is automaticly deduced from the list of implemented
  methods. You'll still a runtime error if you implement some methods of a 
  protocol and one of the unimplemented methods is required.

- Support for "toll-free bridging" of Carbon.CF types to Objective-C objects.

  It is now possible to use instances of Carbon.CF types in places where 
  Objective-C objects are expected. And to explicitly convert between the two.

  Note: this requires Python 2.3.

- Better integration with MacPython 2.3:

  * ``NSMovie.initWithMovie_`` and ``NSMovie.QTMovie`` now use ``QT.Movie`` 
    objects instead of generic pointer wrappers.

  * ``NSWindow.initWithWindowRef_`` and ``Window.windowRef`` now use 
    ``Carbon.Window`` objects instead of generic pointer wrappers.

  * Methods returning CoreFoundation objects will return MacPython objects,
    and likewise, methods with CoreFoundation arguments will accept MacPython
    objects.

- It is now possible to write plugin bundles, such as preference panes for 
  use in System Preferences, in Python. See Examples/PrefPanes for an example
  of this feature.
 
- The methods ``pyobjcPopPool`` and ``pyobjcPushPool`` of ``NSAutoreleasePool``
  are deprecated. These were introduced when PyObjC did not yet support the
  usual method for creating autorelease pools and are no longer necessary.

- Improved unittests, greatly increasing the confidence in the correctness
  of the bridge.

- All suppport for non-FFI builds has been removed.

- Object state is completely stored in the Objective-C object.  This has no
  user-visible effects, but makes the implementation a lot easier to 
  comprehend and maintain.

- As part of the previous item we also fixed a bug that allowed addition of 
  attributes to Objective-C objects. This was never the intention and had 
  very odd semantics. Pure Objective-C objects not longer have a __dict__.

- Weakrefs are no longer used in the implementation of the bridge. Because
  the weakrefs to proxy objects isn't very useful the entire feature has 
  been removed: It is no longer possible to create weakrefs to Objective-C
  objects. 

  NOTE: You could create weakrefs in previous versions, but those would
  expire as soon as the last reference from Python died, *not* when the 
  Objective-C object died, therefore code that uses weakrefs to Objective-C
  objects is almost certainly incorrect.

- Added support for custom conversion for pointer types. The end result is that
  we support more Cocoa APIs without special mappings.

- The generator scripts are automaticly called when building PyObjC. This
  should make it easier to support multiple versions of MacOS X.


Version 0.9 (May-02-2003)
-------------------------

- This version includes numerous bugfixes and improvements.

- The module AppKit.NibClassBuilder has been moved to the package
  PyObjCTools.

- Usage of libFFI (http://sources.redhat.com/libffi) is now mandatory. The
  setup.py gives the impression that it isn't, but we do *not* support 
  non-FFI builds.

- We actually have some documentation, more will be added in future releases.

- There are more Project Builder templates (see 'Project Templates').

- The InterfaceBuilder, PreferencePanes and ScreenSaver frameworks have been
  wrapped.

- Management of reference counts is now completely automatic, it is no longer
  necessary to manually compensate for the higher reference count of objects 
  returned by the alloc, copy and copyWithZone: class methods.

- Various function and keyword arguments have been renamed for a better 
  integration with Cocoa. A partial list is of the changed names is::

    objc.lookup_class -> objc.lookUpClass
    objc.selector arguments/attributes:
        is_initializer -> isInitializer
        is_allocator -> isAlloc
        donates_ref -> doesDonateReference
        is_required -> isRequired
        class_method -> isClassMethod
        defining_class -> definingClass
        returns_self -> returnsSelf
        argument_types -> argumentTypes
        return_type -> returnType
    objc.get_class_list -> objc.getClassList

- On Python 2.2, objc.YES and objc.NO are instances of a private boolean type,
  on Python 2.3 these are instances of the builtin type bool.

- Because we now use libFFI a large amount of code could be disabled. The
  binaries are therefore much smaller, while we can now forward messages with
  arbitrary signatures (not limited to those we thought of while generating
  the static proxies that were used in 0.8)

- Better support for APIs that use byte arrays are arguments or return values. 
  Specifically, the developer can now manipulate bitmaps directly via the 
  NSBitmapImageRep class, work with binary data through the NSData class, and 
  very quickly draw points and rects via NSRectFillList()

- We added a subclass of unicode that is used to proxy NSString values. This
  makes it easily possible to use NSString values with Python APIs, while at 
  the same time allowing access to the full power of NSString.

Version 0.8 (Dec-10-2002)
-------------------------

- GNUStep support has been removed for lack of support.  Volunteers
  needed.

- Subclassing Objective-C classes from Python, including the addition
  of instance variables (like 'IBOutlet's)

- Generic support for pass-by-reference arguments

- More complete Cocoa package, including wrappers for a number of 
  C functions, enumerated types, and globals.

- More example code

- Objective-C mappings and sequences can be accessed using the normal
  python methods for accessing mappings and sequences (e.g. subscripting
  works as expected)

- Documentation: See the directory 'docs'

- Can build standalone Cocoa applications based entirely on Python
  without requiring that user installs anything extra (requires 10.2).

- Better packaging and wrapper construction tools (borrowed from
  MacPython).

- An installer package.

- Support for Project Builder based Cocoa-Python projects.

- Unit tests.

Version 2002-01-30 (January 30, 2002)
-------------------------------------

- Version bumped to 0.6.1 ( __version__ is now a PyString )

- Will now build for Python 2.2

- added Cocoa package with Foundation.py and AppKit.py wrappers.

- HelloWorld.py in Examples

- builds with -g flag for debugging. -v option will dump log
  of message sends to /tmp file.

- Fixed one major runtime bug: added ISCLASS test before isKindOfClass -
  without check, it crashes on sends to abstract classes like NSProxy.

- There are still problems with Delegates and Notifications. 

Version 2001-03-17 (March 17, 2001)
-----------------------------------

- moved to using distutils setup.py (requires small patch to distutils
  that has been submitted against python 2.1b1)

Version 2000-11-14 (November 14, 2000)
--------------------------------------

- GNU_RUNTIME is likely completely broken

- Compiles on Mac OS X Server (python 2.0)

- Compiles on Mac OS X (python 2.0)

- Works as either a dynamically loadable module or statically built
  into a python executable

- Requires a modified makesetup to work [patches have been sent to
  SourceForge.net's Python project].

- Supports NSAutoReleasepool.

- Some pre-OSX stuff removed;  references to old APIs, etc... (but
  nowhere near clean)

Version 0.55, 18 August 1998
----------------------------

- Here again, supporting GNU_RUNTIME and GNUstep Base! On my new Linux
  box I can finally test the module against them: I installed the
  latest snapshot of gstep-core, that contains the base library
  too. Given a sane GNUstep env (GNUSTEP_XXX env vars), you should be
  able to build a static ObjC-ized interpreter by::

    o Adjusting Setup, commenting out NeXT definition and enabling GNU
      ones;
    o make -f Makefile.pre.in boot
    o make static

Version 0.54, 24 March 1998
---------------------------

- OC_Pasteboard.[hm], OC_Stream.[mh] and ObjCStreams.m are definitively gone.

- OC_PythonObject derives from NSProxy.

Version 0.53, 4 January 1998
----------------------------

- Tons of changes, retargeting the core functionality around the
  OpenSTEP API. This release basically matches the previous one
  in terms of functionalities, but is should be closer to GNUstep.

- OC_Streams and OC_Pasteboard aren't supported, I've not yet decided
  if they are needed anymore.

- Updated LittleButtonedWindow demo.

Version 0.47, 29 October 1996
-----------------------------

- Misc/Makefile.pre.in automatically sets TARGET to ``pyobjc``.

- ObjC.m splitted to ObjCObject.m ObjCMethod.m ObjCPointer.m
  ObjCRuntime.m.

- New (almost invisible) types: ObjCSequenceObject and
  ObjCMappingObject; this to implement sequence and mapping syntax
  (several mapping methods have stub implementation).

- OC_Pasteboard class is gone. Its functionalities are now in a
  category of Pasteboard/NSPasteboard.

- Better methods doc.

- PyArg_ParseTuple format strings contain arguments names.

- OC_Streams are mapped to ObjCStreams by pythonify_c_value and its
  counterpart.

Version 0.46, 18 October 1996
-----------------------------

- OC_Stream is now a subclass of NSData under Foundation.

- New Objective-C class: OC_Pasteboard. Use it instead of Pasteboard/
  NSPasteboard. 

- New Objective-C class: OC_PythonBundle. Use it instead of NXBundle/NSBundle.
  The ShellText demo has been upgraded to use it, and now you can run it
  directly from the WorkSpace.

- OC_Python.[hm] aren't in the package anymore.

- Setup.in directives changed again, due to OC_Python.m dropping.

Version 0.45, 14 October 1996
-----------------------------

- Double syntax: to make it easier for us to test and choose the
  better candidate, the only one that will be present in the final 1.0
  release. Keeping both would result in a speed penality.
- Revisited streams, in particular GNUstep support.

Version 0.44, 9 October 1996
----------------------------

- Integers are now accepted too where floats or doubles are expected.

- New method: ObjC.make_pointer (1) returns an ObjCPointer containing
  ``((void *) 1)``.

Version 0.43, 7 October 1996
----------------------------

- Completed ObjCStream implementation. There is now a new module, ObjCStreams
  which is automatically loaded by ObjC. You can access it as ObjC.streams.

- Manual splitted in three parts: libPyObjC.tex with the chapter intro,
  libObjC.tex describing the main module, libObjCStreams.tex explains the
  stream facilities.

Version 0.42, 4 October 1996
----------------------------

- You can pass initialization arguments when using the ``Class()`` syntax. You
  select the right initializer selector with the ``init`` keyword parameter.

- First cut on ObjCStream objects. Thanx to Bill Bumgarner for motivations.

- New demo ShellText, to test above points.

Version 0.41, 2 October 1996
----------------------------

- Revised error messages: for arguments type mismatch they show the ObjC type
  expected.

- When a method returns a pointer to something, it gets translated as an
  ObjCPointer object, not the pythonified pointed value. When a method
  expects a pointer argument, it accepts such an object as well.

- New demo: Fred. To halt it, suspend the Python process with ^Z then kill
  it ;-).

- Setup.in directives changed. See the new file Modules/Setup.PyObjC.in

- Distribuited as a standalone package. Special thanks to Bill Bumgarner.

Version 0.4, 27 September 1996
------------------------------

- Now handles methods returning doubles or floats.

- ObjCRuntime responds to .sel_is_mapped().

Version 0.31, 26 September 1996
-------------------------------

- It's now possible to use a different strategy to map ObjC method names to
  Python ones. Sooner or later we should decide the one to go, and drop the
  other. For details, see comments on PYTHONIFY_WITH_DOUBLE_UNDERSCORE in
  objc_support.h.
- Manual section.
- ObjC.runtime.__dict__ added.
- ObjC.runtime.kind added.

Version 0.3, 20 September 1996
------------------------------

- No user visible changes, just a little effort towards GNU_RUNTIME support. 

Version 0.2, 16 September 1996
------------------------------

- Accepts a struct.pack() string for pointer arguments, but...

- ... New methods on ObjCMethod: .pack_argument and .unpack_argument:
  these should be used whenever an ObjC method expects a passed-by-reference
  argument; for example, on NeXTSTEP [View getFrame:] expects a pointer
  to an NXRect structure, that it will fill with the current frame of the
  view: in this case you should use something similar to::

        framep = aView.getFrame__.pack_argument (0)
        aView.getFrame__ (framep)
        frame = aView.getFrame__.unpack_argument (0, framep)

Version 0.1, 13 September 1996
------------------------------

- Correctly handle pointer arguments.

- New syntax to get a class: ObjC.runtime.NameOfClass

- New syntax aliasing .new(): SomeClass()

- New Demo: LittleButtonedWindow, that tests points above.

- What follow is the recipe to get PyObjC dynamically loadable on NeXTSTEP:

  * apply the patch in Misc/INSTALL.PyObjC to Python/importdl.c

  * modify Python/Makefile adding the switch ``-ObjC`` to the importdl.o
    build rule::

      importdl.o:   importdl.c
        $(CC) -ObjC -c $(CFLAGS) -I$(DLINCLDIR) $(srcdir)/importdl.c

  * modify Modules/Setup moving the PyObjC entry suggested above AFTER
    ``*shared*``, and remove ``-u libNeXT_s -lNeXT_s`` from it.

  * run ``make``: this will update various files, in particular
    Modules/Makefile.

  * modify Modules/Makefile adding ``-u libNeXT_s -lNeXT_s`` to SYSLIBS::

       SYSLIBS=      $(LIBM) $(LIBC) -u libNeXT_s -lNeXT_s

  * run ``make`` again
