accessing Opus/UrbanSim via the subversion repository; new release and documentation

Dear UrbanSim users,

We've converted our source code repository from cvs to subversion. A
major advantage is that subversion supports anonymous access, so that
UrbanSim users will be able to synchronize their code more easily as
the system evolves. Another advantage is that subversion supports a
repository-wide release number, so that you'll be able to easily
check out a version of the code that corresponds to any particular
release.

At the same time, we've reorganized the way downloads are handled.
For users who just want to try a few things with UrbanSim, we provide
a zip file that can be unzipped on your machine into a local
workspace. More serious users should access code via the subversion
repository -- that makes it much easier to synchronize with updated
versions. In both cases we are now using a workspace in your user
directory for Opus and UrbanSim, rather than putting the code into
Python site-packages (where it is harder to find and modify).

We hope that you will find these changes to be improvements, but let
us know!

The web page http://www.urbansim.org/download includes links to the
subversion repository, a beta stable release, and current
documentation, including updated installation instructions, the
Eugene tutorial, and the user guide. There is still a link there
also to the older stable release from last year for those who need
it. But if some of you could try out the new repository and download
mechanism that would be great - please let us know if there are
problems and we will try to fix them. If things are working OK we'll
turn the beta stable release into a real one.

Important: if you are updating an existing Opus/UrbanSim
installation, please delete the existing code from your Python site-
packages directory before installing the new code in a workspace --
that way they won't interfere with each other. (This is also noted
in the release notes and on the download page.)

    best regards,
    Alan
Received on Fri Jun 22 2007 - 00:49:29 PDT