2.5 Beta 2

[Kevin Miller]

Hi Everyone,

Beta 2, which is the last scheduled public test release of 2.5, is up.  This
is your last chance to test 2.5 and report problems before we ship.

Please note this version requires a new key.  If your license has not
expired you can request a new key be issued automatically from:

http://www.runrev.com/revolution/updatekeyrequest.shtml

The changes to the key generation system will make it much easier for us to
issue updates and lost keys in the future.  It is a big step forward in the
service we will be able to offer you.  However, the system is new and still
being tested.  Please do not contact support without exhausting use of the
automated system and waiting the period specified in any email it sends you.

*WE ARE STILL TESTING THE KEY ISSUING SYSTEM, IF THE EMAIL YOU RECEIVE SAYS
YOUR KEY IS GOING TO BE ISSUED MANUALLY, DO NOT CONTACT SUPPORT*

The file format has changed in this release.  This is a minor change which
in no way affects backward compatibility.  The details will not be made
public.  As with all beta test releases, back up your stacks before using
with this release.

We have tracked down most of the issues reported against beta 1.  However we
have still been unable to locate the cause of a few types of crash reported
against beta 1.  The purpose of this beta is to track those down, and to
check that there are no other stability issues, before we ship this as the
final release.  To help us do that, the engines have increased debugging
information and will write out data about their state to the console.
Please include this information, together with the crash log with any crash
report.  Please also try to include a recipe if you have one.  We hope the
additional debug data will be enough, but a recipe remains the *only* way to
be sure we can fix something, so please send one in *if at all possible*!

This version also ships with a new logging mode.  If you are having problems
or anticipate problems, please run revVerboseDebug true in the message box.
This property is persistent between sessions and only needs to be set once.
Revolution will write a complete message log to a file, veboseLog.txt in the
Revolution directory as it runs.  Please include a compressed version of
this log file with a crash log.  Note that this file is erased when
Revolution is restarted, so you need to copy this file and send in a report
before reopening Revolution.

Parts of the Learning Center have now been uploaded for use with this
release.  We are aware of an issue on Rev Online where images will highlight
incorrectly under certain circumstances, we are working on it.  In order to
view the videos, you will need to download the Ensharpen decoder from the
bottom of the page at:
http://www.techsmith.com/download/ensharpendefault.asp?lid=DownloadEnSharpen

The release version will include this codec in the distribution and prompt
to install it automatically.  Also note that some of the videos that are up
are marked as requiring a key.  In the final release only the more advanced
topics will require a key.  Right now we are testing our key issuing
mechanism so have marked some of the Getting Started videos as not
available, even though these will be free to all in the release.  All Studio
and Enterprise customers with active licenses will get a free key to access
all videos, including the advanced topics.

The URLs are as follows.  In this release we have included both Linux and
Classic builds, along with Mac OS X and Windows:

Linux:

http://www.runrev.com/downloads/distributions/2.5B2/linux.tgz
http://www.runrev.com/downloads/distributions/2.5B2/revolution-2.5-b2.i386.r
pm

Mac OS X:

http://www.runrev.com/downloads/distributions/2.5B2/revolutionosx.dmg

Mac OS Classic:

http://www.runrev.com/downloads/distributions/2.5B2/revolution.sit

Windows (no installer):

http://www.runrev.com/downloads/distributions/2.5B2/revolution.zip

Windows (with installer):

http://www.runrev.com/downloads/distributions/2.5B2/revsetup.exe

Finally, thanks for all the great feedback on the test releases to date.

Enjoy!

Kind regards,

Kevin

Kevin Miller ~ kevin at runrev.com ~ http://www.runrev.com/
Runtime Revolution - User-Centric Development Tools