V6 release dates and work still to be done

[David]

The rough plan
We think the V6 beta 2 release is fairly stable, so we aren't expecting a flood of bug reports. But we aren't naive enough to think there aren't still bugs in the beta release.

The plan at the moment is that we will release probably two more beta releases over the coming weeks. Then do a final release around end of November 2008, or mid Dec.

But in the end we'll release it when it is ready, rather than rushing out a release to meet an artificial date.

Work still to be done
The major work that still needs doing before the release is
- A native 64bit release. The current 32bit beta will run fine on 64bit systems, but a native 64bit release as the potential to raise the indexing capacity (in conjunction with some major changes to the index file format, which we have been putting off until now).

- Web site updates. Almost every page on our web site will need checking and updating.

- Marketing activities in preparation for the launch.

[Ray]

We have just put out a new beta release: V6 beta 3. This can be downloaded from our beta download page.

There have been many bug fixes and changes. Some of them are as follows:

- ZIP files found within ZIP files are now indexed. Up to 5 levels of recursive ZIP files will be extracted and indexed.
- Fixed crash bugs caused during ZIP file indexing.
- New "Param tag value" indexing feature to index values within tags such as:
<param name="Proprietary.Data" value="Serial#12344451">
- Fixed bugs where "Showing x of y messages" does not update.
- Changed behaviour of the buttons on the Log tab and added a "Hide all" option.
- Added "Erase/clear index log" toolbar option.
- Status threads list window is now resizable.
- Stopped category summary from being displayed when all results found are within the same category.
- Fixed crash bug in CGI and ASPX.
- Improved error message reporting.
- Fixed issues with TAB key throughout the Indexer GUI.
- Fixed behaviour of spider mode which was indexing images served via PHP or similar scripts, when no image extensions were in the Scan Extensions list.
- Fixed several "access violation" crash bugs.
- Many other minor bug fixes and changes.

As always, please contact us if you have any questions or problems with the latest build.

[Ray]

V6 beta 4 is now available. You can download it from the beta download page.


Some of the main changes in this release includes:

• An important bug fix for the CGI on Linux and BSD, where the context description would show incorrect words.
• Minor bug fixes for category summary and suggestions for PHP, ASP, JavaScript and CGI.
• Fixed bug with skipping offline folders.
• Fixed bug with filenames extracted for titles for files which were indexed from recursive ZIP archives.
• Maximum plugin password length has been increased from 20 to 40 characters.
• Fixed bug with error messages regarding the configuration file not showing in the Log window.

JavaScript capacity increased!
A big change is in the JavaScript version, which utilizes a new method to get around a significant limitation in the scripting engine of browsers such as Internet Explorer. This new implementation allows you to index and search a much larger number of files using JavaScript than ever before. We have tested the new version to index upwards of 10,000+ pages and 100,000+ unique words. However, performance varies on Internet Explorer, which is the slowest performing browser (in terms of JavaScript execution). Firefox and Chrome fares much better with such an intensive JavaScript application.

PHP and ASP capacity
We have also increased the maximum unique words limit for PHP and ASP from 300,000 to 500,000. This was made possible by the optimizations and improvements we have made for these two scripts in V6.

Search Statistics PHP Script
There is a new script which you can use to generate live statistics on your web server. This script is only available for PHP, and does not generate graphical charts like the "Statistics Report" tool in the Indexer. It will however, provide concise, up-to-date statistics on your server without needing to download the log file. See the Help file for more information (under the "Advanced Options" chapter).

As always, please let us know if you have any questions or problems with the latest beta.

[David]

V6 beta 6 is now available. You can download it from the beta download page.

This release fixed some bugs, includes a more secure new license key scheme, and changes to the index file format to support 64bit releases. Note 1: The beta is still 32bit software, but file format changes were requried in 32bit to support 64bit. Note 2: As usual, the 32bit software runs OK on 64bit operating systems.

[David]

Development is complete !!!

V6.0 is now available, 17/Dec/2008.

So this thread can now be closed. But please feel free to open up new V6 threads as issues arrise.