[NOBUGS] McXtrace version 1.5 is released.

[Erik B Knudsen]

Dear all,

At long last we are pleased to announce the release of McXtrace 1.5.
This new release contain many improvements on the ageing 1.4 release, as
well as new features and examples.

Binaires containing the new release is available for 64 bit systems on
Debian stable (10/buster), Centos 7, Fedora 29, Windows 10, and Mac OS X
Catalina.
Debian systems may use apt-get from the mccode.org repositories, and
centos users may use yum. For fedora users we provide custom built rpms.

Other systems yet may be supported by directly from source builds (just
clone the code from https://github.com/McStasMcXtrace/McCode and follow
the instructions on www.mcxtrace.org). If this is not an option please
contact the McXtrace team, and we can help you set it up on your system
of choice. A FreeBSD port (and package) is due shortly.

Happy Simulating!
Erik

CHANGES in 1.5

1. Standardized reflectivity library, making it much simpler to deal
with reflectivity files
2. The shipped MCPL-library has been updated
3. Updated and streamlines the installation procedure - such that
windows and Mac installs are now (almost completely sandboxed).
4. New components:
        1. Bragg_crystal (replacing Perfect_crystal)
        2. Bragg_crystal_BC
        3. Laue_crystal_BC
        4. Reflective grating
        5. SAXS_samples series
        6. Attenuating_mask
        7. Phi_monitor: Phase monitor.
5. Updates to components:
        1. Mirror comp - can now be either in the xz or yz-plane
        2. Virtual option to Mask-component - used to artifically add a
2D-pattern to a subsequent component.
        3. Mirrors now use the reflectivity library
        4. Source_lab: Add Ag as an anode material
        5. Source_lab: Default is now to use lorentzian line-shapes
        6. Undulator: Easier to compile with GSL on windows
        7. PowderN Major improvement in the way incoherent scattering is
handled
        8. Monitors: Monitors now have a nowritefile option to
dynamically disable monitor (useful if an instrument has a lot of monitors)
        9. PSD_monitor: pixel count can now be set by a variable
        10. PSD_monitor_coh: optionally rays are now treated as if they
hit a pixel center. This avoids convoluting the pixel shape in the
interference pattern
        11. MCPL: encode polarization vector
6. several new example and updated instruments:
        1. MAXIV_Bloch
        2. MAXIV_DanMax
        3. DBD_IBM_Si_analyzer
        4. PDB_BT
        5. Template_Johann_spectrometer
        6. Updated Test instruments (many of these can be used as examples)
7. Updates to the GUI - including autoplot options and improved
stability of the plotting and display subsystems
8. Performance improvement to MPI
9. Better performance on reading datafiles (especially on windows)
10. Updated manual
... and more

-- 
Erik Bergbäck Knudsen, Research Engineer         | DTU | morituri
NEXMAP, DTU Fysik, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark  |<>-<>|    te
phone: (+45) 2132 6655                           |<>-<>| salutant