114 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
114 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
=================================================
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New Version Information for the Weather Utility
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=================================================
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:Copyright: (c) 2006-2024 Jeremy Stanley <fungi@yuggoth.org>. Permission
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to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software is
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granted under terms provided in the LICENSE file distributed
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with this software.
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.. contents::
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2.5 Release
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-----------
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This release no longer works with Python versions prior to 3.9 since it
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relies on the new zoneinfo module from the 3.9 standard library, and may
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need the pytz library from PyPI if your system lacks time zone data.
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Added support for tornado watches and warnings, as well as fixing some
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bugs which caused certain alerts to fail to be found or to get filtered
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out prior to their intended expiration times. A new command line and
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configuration option for document expiration delay is included,
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defaulting to 1 hour. Data sources have also been updated, including
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2023 census locations. WX weather zone definitions now include time
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zones as well, in case they should become necessary in the future.
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2.4 Release
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-----------
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This is planned to be the last release supporting Python 2; starting
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with the 2.5.0 release, this software will only be usable with Python
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3.x.
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Refreshed correlation sets and data sources including updating to 2019
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US Census locations and incorporating public domain airport information
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from the wonderful ourairports.com community, stopped using the long
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defunct metar.tbl and zonecatalog.curr.tar files, switched to HTTPS
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protocol since all the URLs had started redirecting from HTTP to HTTPS
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anyway, added functionality for fetching forecasts from HTML pages where
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they're wrapped in preformat tags and included a new forecast zone for
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the Hong Kong Observatory using this, fixed a few bugs when running
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under recent Python 3 versions.
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2.3 Release
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-----------
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Fixed a regression in the correlate function which reintroduced the
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wrong (old) URLs for zone-specific data sources, and corrected the
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entries in the zones file accordingly.
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2.2 Release
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-----------
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Fixed a bug where the setpath search order was effectively being
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reversed.
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Updated correlation data is included based on newer 2015 Census data and
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2016 NWS station and zone lists.
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2.1 Release
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-----------
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The old http://weather.noaa.gov/pub site was deprecated and as of August
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23 subsequently removed from service. Correlation data files have been
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updated to use the working http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov URL instead.
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Updated correlation data is included based on newer 2014 Census data.
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The correlation data rebuilding process has been improved and more
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thoroughly documented.
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Radian floats in correlation data are now truncated to 7 decimal places,
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significantly reducing rounding error fuzz against future data file
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updates.
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The /etc/weather/weatherrc file mentioned in documentation is now
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properly read.
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2.0 Release
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-----------
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The 2.0 release involves a major rewrite of the underlying code and
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addition of large volumes of previously-unneeded location correlation
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data. In the Spring of 2011 the USA NOAA/NWS made significant changes to
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the way they organized and published forecast data such that it could
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no longer be supported by design assumptions inherent within this
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utility. Attempts were made to preserve backward compatability with 1.x
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command-line usage and configuration file formats where possible, but
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some regressions are unfortunately unavoidable. The aurl, city, flines,
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furl, id, murl, st and zones options have been removed. Minimal logic
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was retained to recognize and continue supporting limited use of city,
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id and st in configuration files, though these are deprecated for
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eventual removal in a future release.
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On a positive note, this provided an opportunity to design out
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some reported bugs and add in numerous requested features. Highlights
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include:
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* Because NOAA/NWS now treats forecast data in the same way as alerts,
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the alert reporting features are now much better integrated and no
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longer considered a beta test.
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* The lack of memorable alert/forecast zone coding in the new scheme
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drove development of intelligent search functionality, allowing users
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to find stations and zones through a variety of methods like place
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names, IATA/FAA/ICAO/FIPS/ZIP codes and even raw coordinates.
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* To reduce unnecessary load on NOAA/NWS servers, the utility now
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caches retrieved data for a configurable period of time.
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* Airport code lists are no longer maintained in configuration (though
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they are still easily overridden through configuration), and are
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instead now separately managed in a manner similar to the other
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pregenerated correlation data.
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Worth noting, however, is that the new forecast data publication format
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(now essentially identical to the alert format) is all-caps freeform
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prose, and not easily parsed as a result. Due to the lengthy nature of
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this output, piping it through a pager is highly recommended.
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