[GAP Forum] GAP 4.8.4 release announcement

[Alexander Konovalov]

Dear GAP Forum,

This is to announce the release of GAP 4.8.4, which could be downloaded from

	http://www.gap-system.org/Releases/

An overview of the changes introduced in GAP 4.8.4 is provided below. A more 
detailed version with hyperlinks to documentation is available here: 

  http://www.gap-system.org/Manuals/doc/changes/chap2.html#X85F7B6F17D29A589


New features:

* The GAP distribution now includes `bin/BuildPackages.sh`, a script which 
can be started from the `pkg` directory via `../bin/BuildPackages.sh` and 
will attempt to build as many packages as possible. It replaces the 
`InstPackages.sh` script which was not a part of the GAP distribution and 
had to be downloaded separately from the GAP website. The new script is 
more robust and simplifies adding new packages with binaries, as it 
requires no adjustments if the new package supports the standard 
`./configure; make` build procedure.


Improved and extended functionality:

* `SimpleGroup` now produces more informative error message in the case 
when `AtlasGroup` could not load the requested group.

* An info message with suggestions to use `InfoPackageLoading` will now 
be displayed when `LoadPackage` returns `fail` (unless GAP is started 
with `-b` option).

* The build system will now enable C++ support in GMP only if a working 
C++ compiler is detected.

* More checks were added when embedding coefficient rings or rational 
numbers into polynomial rings in order to forbid adding polynomials 
in different characteristic.


Fixed bugs that could lead to crashes:

* Fixed the crash in `--cover` mode when reading files with more 
than 65,536 lines.


Fixed bugs that could lead to incorrect results:

*  Fixed an error in the code for partial permutations that occurred 
on big-endian systems. [Reported by Bill Allombert]

*  Fixed the kernel method for `Remove` with one argument, which 
failed to reduce the length of a list to the position of the last 
bound entry. [Reported by Peter Schauenburg]


Fixed bugs that could lead to break loops:

* Fixed the break loop while using `Factorization` on permutation 
groups by removing some old code that relied on further caching 
in `Factorization`. [Reported by Grahame Erskine]

* Fixed a problem with computation of maximal subgroups in an 
almost simple group. [Reported by Ramon Esteban Romero] 

* Added missing methods for `Intersection2` when one of the arguments 
is an empty list. [Reported by Wilf Wilson] 


Other fixed bugs:

* Fixed several bugs in `RandomPrimitivePolynomial`. 
[Reported by Nusa Zidaric]

* Fixed several problems with `Random` on long lists in 
64-bit GAP installations.


In addition, GAP 4.8.4 distribution includes updates 
for 13 GAP packages:

====================================================
Package name               | Version    | Date   
----------------------------------------------------

AtlasRep                   | 1.5.1      | 30/03/2016
AutomGrp                   | 1.3        | 28/03/2016
Carat                      | 2.1.6      | 23/05/2016 
CRISP                      | 1.4.4      | 20/03/2016
float                      | 0.7.3      | 11/05/2016 
fr                         | 2.3.6      | 21/04/2016 
gpd                        | 1.43       | 16/03/2016 
IRREDSOL                   | 1.3.1      | 20/03/2016
NormalizInterface          | 0.9.8      | 07/05/2016
RCWA                       | 4.4.1      | 22/05/2016
ResClasses                 | 4.5.0      | 14/05/2016
Semigroups                 | 2.8.0      | 26/05/2016
Utils                      | 0.40       | 17/03/2016
====================================================


We encourage all users to upgrade to GAP 4.8.4. If you need any help or 
would like to report any problems, please do not hesitate to contact us 
at support at gap-system.org or submit new issues on GitHub: 

	https://github.com/gap-system/gap/issues


Wishing you fun and success using GAP,

The GAP Group