New releases of OpenSlide and Java/Python bindings

[Benjamin Gilbert]

Hi,

New versions of OpenSlide, OpenSlide Java, and OpenSlide Python have 
been released.

OpenSlide 3.3.0 adds support for Leica SCN files and preliminary support 
for MIRAX 2.2, adds standard properties for microns-per-pixel and 
objective power, and improves the command-line tools.  There are also 
several API changes of note; see below.

OpenSlide Java 0.11.0 renames some methods, adds APIs for obtaining the 
versions of OpenSlide and the Java bindings, fixes error handling under 
OpenSlide 3.3.0, and fixes many build problems.

OpenSlide Python 0.4.0 renames some methods and properties, adds a 
property for the OpenSlide library version, fixes error handling under 
OpenSlide 3.3.0, and fixes initialization on Mac OS X.

The new versions are available from:

     http://openslide.org/download


API changes
-----------

Layers are now called "levels" throughout the OpenSlide stack, as 
"level" seems to be the more commonly-used term.  OpenSlide functions 
operating on layers have been renamed; the old names will still work but 
will produce a deprecation warning at compile time.  The corresponding 
methods in the Java and Python bindings have been renamed outright, 
since those packages do not yet provide a stable API.  Properties 
relating to layers have also been renamed, but were not "public" 
(documented) so no backward compatibility is provided.

openslide_open() now reports I/O errors by returning an openslide_t in 
error state, rather than returning NULL and logging a message via glib. 
  This makes it easier for the caller to obtain the error message.  If 
the file is not in a recognized format, the function returns NULL as 
before.  While the new behavior is within the documented rules for error 
handling, you may want to double-check that your application properly 
handles this case (if it uses the C interface).  Both the Java and 
Python bindings got this wrong!

openslide_get_comment() is now deprecated in favor of the 
"openslide.comment" property.  The C function will produce a warning at 
compile time; the Java function has been removed.

OpenSlide and the language bindings now provide APIs to get the 
OpenSlide version and, for the bindings, the binding version.


Thanks,
--Benjamin Gilbert