[Devel] 2.1.0 branch created

[David Turner]

Hello,

  I've just created the "unstable" branch of the FreeType
  sources, tagged "VER-2-1-0". It is based on "VER-2-0-6"
  with is the current "stable" branch..

  As explained a few days ago, the "stable" branch will be
  kept for incremental bug-fixes..

  The "unstable" branch is likely to be heavily modified,
  and there are a few good reasons to do so:

    - first, in order to drastically simplify the way
      modules are organised and provide their services

    - second to add a bit of consistency to the library's
      source code, as well as a lot of it to its design :o)

    - to be able to support new features that are going
      to be important in the not-so-distant future:

         o OpenType Layout processing (validation + parsing)

         o LCD-optimized rendering (a.k.a. "ClearType")

         o Gamma correction

         o A special rasterizer to render monochrome glyphs
           better (since it's the only way to deal with
           auto-hinted diagonals properly)

         o Maybe incremental font loading, font editing
           and automatic conversion ??


  I'm currently wondering wether all these changes can
  fit adequately in the 2.x release branch, or if we'd
  better start working on FreeType 3.x right now.

  Doing so would allow us a certain number of interesting
  things:

     - rewriting the library in C++, though I'm uncertain
       wether this will be a good thing or not, I'd like
       your opinion on the subject. (Of course this doesnt
       prevent us from providing a C interface for it)


     - use the MLib, which now supports 95% of the non-font
       specific features of FreeType (memory management,
       streams, structure i/o, debugging, etc..) as well as
       allow for the coding of much simpler and maintainable
       code (for more details on this topic, head to
       http://www.freetype.org/david/reliable-c.html";)


  Your opinion on these two topics would be highly appreciated
  since I can't make up my mind for now.


  Meanwhile, I intend to work on the 'jam' build tool. My first
  goal is to support Unix builds and installation flawlessly for
  FreeType in order to get rid of our infamous Make-based build
  system. I also want to collaborate with the Boost project
  (www.boost.org) since they have enhanced Jam to support really
  interesting things like the management of multiple builds
  (debug/release/optimized) (with all the voodoo that it requires,
  like determining special compilation options, etc..)


  I'll also complete the MLib to release version 0.1.0 (yes, an
  unstable one) as well as some documentation..



So little things to do, so little time :o)

Cheers,

- David