Frescobaldi release - asking for support

[Urs Liska]

Hi all,

after ages we hope to see a new Frescobaldi release 3.1 in the not-too-distant 
future. While I can't say “tons of new features” it will be an exciting update 
with notable visible features and invisible improvements. Among the most 
important things that have been implemented since the last release (available 
when running Frescobaldi from its Git repository) are:

* An Extensions API
  (allowing easily adding functionality to Frescobaldi)
* A Document Fonts dialog
* Bugfixes and editor improvements
* Improvements in the handling of MusicXML imports
  (Note: this doesn't update the actual conversion, only the handling in 
Frescobaldi)
* Sessions can be grouped
* Proper handling of paper orientation in the Score Wizard

Among the features we hope will make it into the next release are:

* Rewriting of the Music View code, which will mainly improve future development
  but has some implications that can already be seen now.
  * More image formats (for the Music View and the Manuscript viewer)
  * Better handling of "pages"
  * Integration of PDF and SVG viewer in *one* tool
  * pages can be overlaid, which will make visual diff tools possible
* A Multi-process Job Queue
  This has already been implemented but needs further testing and
  an interface to be of more use.
  Frescobaldi can be assigned a number of "runners" (e.g. six if you have an 
eight core CPU)
  which dynamically assign (compilation) jobs. In a project I have thrown 
thousands of jobs
  (compilation of a huge number of score snippets) at it, and this ensures that 
all six
  (or whatever) cores are always busy without overloading the PC (if you simply 
start those
  1000 external processes the OS will do the job but flood the *whole* CPU).
* A unified compilation manager
  I've successfully used the Job Queue in an extension but it is not too well
  integrated with Frescobaldi's general operation.
  A new tool is planned to integrate the various compilation modes (Preview, 
Publish,
  Custom, Layout Control) and to integrate with the job queue.
  The job queue will also be used to balance the load with engraving processes 
and
  Frescobaldi's own work
* Removing the slowdown with large LilyPond files
  Large files can make working with Frescobaldi unusably slow
  (because updating the information for syntax highlighting and code completion
  can take a long time).
  This can be completely removed by moving this parsing to an external process 
using the
  Job Queue.
* Integrate basic Git support in the editor
  There has been much work as part of a GSoC project that *still* hasn't been 
merged.
  Probably it needs more review but it would be really good to finally get this 
done.

BUT:
This comes with a big caveat: as with LilyPond itself we're suffering from 
serious shortage of developer manpower, and so in order to make this happen I 
strongly (if not to say desperately) urge you to consider helping us, at least 
for the next months. This is an opportunity not only for developers to join the 
effort of bringing Frescobaldi (which I know most of you love and use) to the 
next level. You can help with

* Testing and discussing
  (requirement: Running Frescobaldi from Git, Github account)
* Translating
* Writing documentation
* Implementing
  (we have a number of issues tagged as "beginners"
  
https://github.com/frescobaldi/frescobaldi/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Abeginner
 )
* Coding, especially reviewing Python code
* Making installers work on Mac and Windows

Best
Urs