The Lazarus team is glad to announce the third release candidate of Lazarus 1.8.

This release was built with FPC 3.0.2.
The previous release Lazarus 1.6.4 was built with FPC 3.0.2 too. The Linux releases are built with FPC 3.0.3 r36408 due to bug https://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=31629

Here is the list of fixes for Lazarus 1.8.x:
http://wiki.freepascal.org/Lazarus_1.8_fixes_branch

Here is the list of changes for Lazarus and Free Pascal: http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Lazarus_1.8.0_release_notes http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/User_Changes_3.0.2

The release is available for download on SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/lazarus/files/

Choose your CPU, OS, distro and then the "Lazarus 1.8 RC3" directory.

Checksums for the SourceForge files:
http://www.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?page=checksums#1_8_0RC3

Minimum requirements:

Windows:
2k, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10, 32 or 64bit.

FreeBSD/Linux:
gtk 2.8 for gtk2, qt4.5 for qt, qt5.6 for qt5, 32 or 64bit.

Mac OS X:
10.5 to 10.12; Carbon (32bit), Cocoa (64bit, not stable), qt and qt5 (32 or 64bit).

The svn tag is
http://svn.freepascal.org/svn/lazarus/tags/lazarus_1_8_0_RC3

For people who are blocked by SF, the Lazarus releases from SourceForge are mirrored at: ftp://ftp.freepascal.org/pub/lazarus/releases/
and later at (after some time for synchronization) http://mirrors.iwi.me/lazarus/

== Why should everybody (including you) test the release candidate? ==

In the past weeks the Lazarus team has stabilized the 1.8 fixes branch. The resulting 1.8RC3 is now stable enough to be used by any one for test purposes.

However many of the fixes and new features that where committed since the release of 1.6 required changes to the code of existing features too. While we have tested those ourself, there may still be problems that only occur with very specific configurations or one project in a million.

Yes, it may be that you are the only person with a project, that will not work in the new IDE. So if you do not test, we can not fix it.

Please do not wait for the final release, in order to test. It may be too late. Once the release is out we will have to be more selective about which fixes can be merged for further 1.8.x releases. So it may be, that we can not merge the fix you require. And then you will miss out on all the new features.

== How to test ==

Download and install the 1.8 RC3.
- On Windows you can install as a 2ndary install, that will not affect your current install: http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Multiple_Lazarus#Installation_of_multiple_Lazarus
- On other platforms, if you install to a new location you need to use --primary-config-path

In either case you should make backups. (including your primary config)

Open your project in the current Lazarus (1.6.x), and use "Publish Project" from the project menu. This creates a clean copy of your project.

You can then open that copy in the RC3. Please test:
- If you can edit forms in the designer
- rename components / change properties in Object inspector / Add new events
- Add components to form / Move components on form
- Frames, if you use them
- If you can navigate the source code (e.g. jump to implementation)
- Auto completion in source code
- Compile, debug and run
- Anything else you use in your daily work

Mattias

Mattias Gaertner wrote

The Lazarus team is glad to announce the third release candidate of Lazarus 1.8.

<...>

I'm seeing an *extremely* strange problem with 1.8.0 RC3, AMD64 version as DEBs, as downloaded from SourceForge.

I'm using the latest Ubuntu Studio 64-bit, which basically means Ubuntu 17.04. Using the Lazarus IDE, and creating a totally new application, every keypress appears multiple times, e.g. if I try to type the word 'Array' in the editor it will come out as something like 'AAArrrraayyy'. I have tried typing a single line of code and attempting to compile, and yes, the compiler does generate a syntax error, it's not some problem with the display. I don't see this on ANY other application which I've tried - LibreOffice works OK, I can type URLs into Firefox without a problem, JEdit works just fine, and I'm writing this message in Thunderbird on the same system without any multiple characters. The FP IDE works OK too, FWIW.

Obviously this makes RC3 totally unusable as far as I'm concerned, however fortunately (for me? (: ) v 1.6.4 still works OK. My DEBs for 1.6.4 were also obtained from Sourceforge, they're not from the Ubuntu repositories.

I have no idea what's going on here, and I'm amazed to see that nobody else is reporting this. If the developers have anything they want me to try to help diagnose the problem, then by all means ask.

Brian.

You have been bitten by ibus, last upgrade must have installed it or activated it.

I don't have it on my system anymore so can't do a help on it but what you need to do is turn it off, something like:

ibus -close

or something. Then, Problem gone.

ibus has something to do with asian keyboards I believe and causes double keystroke problems.

Well, I'm certainly not using an Asian keyboard (not unless you mean manufactured in Asia! :) ) and I don't understand, in that case, why it's apparently ONLY the Lazarus 1.8 RC3 IDE that's affected. In case you missed it in my original posting, I can still use 1.6.4 with no evidence of the problem.

However, out of curiosity, I did check, and ibus is NOT installed on my system.

Brian.

Can you find the revision that broke it?

Mattias

It surely is reported. See this and the related issues: https://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=30863
Nobody has found a way to fix it for good on every system. It is annoying, yes.

Juha
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I can try installing the other two release candidates on SourceForge, sure. The answer will be up here my ( = USA Eastern) time tomorrow morning.

Brian.

OK, I'll not bother testing the other two release candidates then. I think "annoying" is a bit of an understatement, myself. If the final release of 1.8 still shows the problem *for me*, then I'm certainly going to be staying with 1.6.4.

Brian.

brian wrote

I think "annoying" is a bit of an understatement, myself. If the final release of 1.8 still shows the problem *for me*, then I'm certainly going to be staying with 1.6.4.

It is not so serious because there are workarounds. The problem happens only in some Linux distro / desktop combinations and even there not always. Users were able to configure their systems to get rid of the problem.
For example I have used various distros with XFCE and KDE but never seen the problem.
One option is to dive into LCL-GTK2 code and fix the problem. That should be done by somebody who actually experiences it.

[OutOfTopic]
I can recommend Manjaro Linux + KDE. It always has the latest released versions of everything and KDE5 has matured beautifully. I always screwed up my Ubuntu derivatives when I tried to install new stuff without using their package repos.
Ubuntu was the state or art > 10 years ago but not any more. Things have advanced since then.
[/OutOfTopic]

{
"OutOfTopic" : ["If by mature you mean 'bloated', then yes.", "KDE has become so bloated, it has driven me away.", "To linux mint and cinnamon." ]
}

;)

Michael.