This morning, I have updated the Plugin Central database with the latest batch of plugin releases. This batch has once again been packaged and prepared for release by Oliver Rutherfurd and Slava Pestov. It consists of an even dozen of this year's hottest new plugins.

• ActionHooks 0.5: plugins can add support for custom EditBus messages; fixed plugin reloading bug; requires jEdit 4.2pre3 and JDK 1.3
• ColumnRuler 0.9.0: (0.8.0 changes) this release adds line guides, a tab indicator, the number of selected characters, allows the plugin to be active by default, and makes it all more configurable; requires jEdit 4.2pre8 and JDK 1.4
• CommentFolder 1.0.0: initial Plugin Central release; requires jEdit 4.2pre8 and JDK 1.4
• Console 3.7.1: added commando panel for Hugs98 compiler; bug fixes; requires jEdit 4.2pre8, ErrorList 1.3.1, and JDK 1.3
• ErrorList 1.3.2: new icons; bug fixes; requires jEdit 4.2pre8 and JDK 1.3
• FindFile 0.4: bug fix release; no functional changes; requires jEdit 4.2pre6 and JDK 1.4
• HeadlinePlugin 1.1.2: changed default feed list to include updated jEdit community RSS feed; automatically scrolls titles to keep active story in view when using keyboard; requires jEdit 4.2pre1, InfoViewer 1.0, and JDK 1.4
• LaTeXTools 0.5: now uses the jEdit 4.2 API; improved BibTeX and Label Navigators now take into account the file import structure; compilation commands integrate with Console plugin; image browser to look at the images in your document; various navigability improvements and utility commands; extended default.nav (Thanks to Stephan Kost for this); new icon types: table, list, verbatim; requires jEdit 4.2pre6, Console 3.7, SideKick 0.2, and JDK 1.3
• MacroManager 1.2: can now choose an arbitrary directory to download macros to; properly handles new XML feed from community.jedit.org; requires jEdit 4.0final and JDK 1.3
• Rename 1.0.0: initial Plugin Central release; requires jEdit 4.2pre8 and JDK 1.4
• RETest 1.0.3: uses defered loading in jEdit 4.2; requires jEdit 3.2pre5 and JDK 1.1
• ShortcutSaver 1.0: initial Plugin Central release; requires jEdit 4.2pre6, CommonControls 0.8, and JDK 1.3

jEdit 4.2pre9 is now available. I expect to have a couple more pre-releases, then 4.2final -- so send in your bug reports, and come by #jedit on irc.FreeNode.net to say hi.

jEdit 4.2pre8 is now available. This is a bug fix release. It also includes BeanShell 2.0b1, and 5 new syntax highlighting modes.

• ConfigurableFoldHandler 0.6.1: updated to use new plugin API; performance improvements; uses java.util.regex if available (Java 1.4): this supports more regex syntax than gnu.regexp and allows folding on strings where one is a substring of another such as Function, End Function; better error reporting if invalid strings are entered; suggested default strings for some modes; fix for bug and documentation error in version 0.6 (never released); requires jEdit 4.2pre1 and JDK 1.3
  
  
• CTPlugin 0.3: miscellaneous bug fixes; requires jEdit 4.1final and JDK 1.3
  

jEdit 4.2pre7 is now available for your bug-seeking pleasure. This release adds several new syntax highlighting modes and fixes a large number of bugs.

• BufferList 0.10: updated to jEdit 4.2 API; added open buffer and unsaved buffer counts; requires jEdit 4.2pre5 and JDK 1.3
  
  
• ErrorList 1.3.1: bug fix release; requires jEdit 4.2pre6 and JDK 1.3
  
  
• FTP 0.7.1: updated to SSHTools 0.2.6 beta; bug fixes; requires jEdit 4.2pre6, JakartaCommons 0.3, and JDK 1.3
  
  
• HeadlinePlugin 1.1.1: implemented the deferred loading API for faster jEdit startup times; removed the "Hide Description" option which was obsolete since 1.1; added new actions to move to the next/previous story within a feed; you can now do everything via the keyboard; requires jEdit 4.2pre1, InfoViewer 1.0, and JDK 1.4

jEdit 4.2pre6 is now available. While this is mostly a bug fix release, it has a few nice new features too, like C+b that completes from all visible buffers, and auto-detection of a buffer's encoding if an XML encoding processing instruction is present. A full changelog is available.

• BufferList 0.9: added tooltips to the tree view; added an option to fully expand the tree by default; requires jEdit 4.0final and JDK 1.3
  
  
• Dict 0.4: updated to 4.2 API; upgraded menus; upgraded options pane; upgraded the DictPlugin menu; requires jEdit 4.2pre1 and JDK 1.3
  
  
• FTP 0.7: improved SFTP support thanks to SSHTools 0.2.5; improved FTP thanks to various bug fixes; requires jEdit 4.2pre3, JakartaCommons 0.3, and JDK 1.3
  
  
• IRC 2.0: new features like DCC File Transfer and CTCP added, as well as support for Bots written as jEdit plugins; you can also have the time printed in front of each message on a channel; requires jEdit 4.1pre5 and JDK 1.3

jEdit 4.2pre5 is now available. This release adds text drag and drop, and fixes a large number of bugs. See the change log for a full list.

From MacNN News :

Apple has released Java 1.4.1 Update 1 via the the Mac OS X Software Update preferences The update adds improved Java applet support for Safari and other Web browsers, improved rendering, and other compatibility enhancements. A Web download link is currently not available.

A native binary of JDK 1.3.1 for FreeBSD has been
Released

"minor bugfix release that fixes a problem with the javah task on JDK 1.4.2 and a couple of bugs in the Visual Age for Java intergration tasks. If you don't use javah or VAJ, there is no reason to upgrade.

Ant News

• CodeBrowser 1.3.0: improved support for ftp and other remote file systems; added caching; added context menu; simplified internal structure; requires jEdit 4.1final and JDK 1.3; requires separate installation of Exuberant CTags http://ctags.sourceforge.net/
  
  
• Console 3.7: added TOGGLE_ENTRY, LONG_ENTRY, FILE_ENTRY and DIR_ENTRY controls to commando; bug fixes; requires jEdit 4.2pre2, ErrorList 1.3, and JDK 1.3
  
  
• FastOpen 0.9: added the ability to open file + jump to a line number; optimised implementation to ArrayList instead of Vectors; requires jEdit 4.1final, ProjectViewer 2.0, and JDK 1.3

• AntHelper 0.8.3: initial Plugin Central release; requires jEdit 4.0pre4, JCompiler 1.5.0, EBrowse 0.5.3, JBrowse 1.4.4, AntFarm 1.2, and JDK 1.3
  
  
• Console 3.6: Console now prints a shell-provided "prompt" upon completion of a command; each shell's scrollback is now maintained separately, and is restored when switching shells; you can now switch shells from the keyboard by entering the shell's name prefixd with :, eg :System; Bug fixes; Updated for jEdit 4.2 deferred loading API; requires jEdit 4.2pre2, ErrorList 1.3, and JDK 1.3
  
  
• CTPlugin 1.0: initial Plugin Central release; requires jEdit 4.1final and JDK 1.3

• CharacterMap 1.1.1: updated for jEdit 4.2 APIs; requires jEdit 4.2pre1 and JDK 1.3
  
  
• FastOpen 0.8: FastOpen now remembers file search patterns you had entered previously and allows easy access to them by using Ctrl+Up or Ctrl+Down arrow to traverse between them for re-run of previous searches; FastOpen can now also show/switch between "non-project open files" and also supports color coding of such files for Visual identification; you can now use the "Jump to file" feature also by placing the cursor on a filename besides the usual 0.7 way of selecting the text and invoking FastOpen on it; the text color in the pattern box now default to that of jEdit's textarea; requires jEdit 4.1final, ProjectViewer 2.0.0, and JDK 1.3

There is now an RPM package for Linux of jEdit 4.1 that bundles all dependencies. Get it from the Download page.
Note that if you use a tool like apt4rpm or urmi, or you use several Java programs, it might be best to use the packages from JPackage instead, where dependencies are unbundled and can thus be shared to save disk space.

This batch consists of 12 plugins, 6 of which are jEdit 4.0-compatible (PMDPlugin, JUnitPlugin, SourceControl, JSwatPlugin, HeadlinePlugin, and CommonControls). All of these plugins work under jEdit 4.1. Some of the plugins in my queue were not included in this batch. Those plugins are listed in the linked message to jEdit-devel and should appear in the next batch if all goes well.

• AntFarm 1.3.1: fixed bug #711270: clicking tree in AntFarm 1.3 not selecting build file; requires jEdit 4.1final, CommonControls 0.7, Console 3.4, ErrorList 1.2.3, XML 0.11, and JDK 1.3 CommonControls 0.8: fixed NPE on autoresizing HelpfulJTable; autoresizing no longer necessarily means no manual resizing; column headers can participate in autoresizing; requires jEdit 4.0 and JDK 1.3

Here's just a few ...

You can now define 'projects'. When you add a project, you provide a home location for it much in the same way as always. However, when you change to a directory that is defined as a project, the entire tree file is loaded. This gives the ability to show that files need attention somewhere in the directory structure (modified, added, conflicts etc) even when the parent(s) are not expanded. The trade-off is that start-up time and memory consumption is higher (especially for large workspaces). I would recommend you try this one ...

An XML parser is now required (this is used for the projects file). Over the next few releases, more and more of gruntspuds configuration files will be migrated to XML. Xerces is included with the source distribution, so if you want (or need) to use JDK13 get that version. The jEdit plugin adds the 'XML' plugin as a dependency.

• AntelopePlugin 2.42: some feature enhancement; new extra tasks; exposed an API for other plugins to interact with Antelope; other feature enhancements; supports the ability to run a number of targets sequentially with a single click; requires jEdit 4.0pre1, Console 3.3, ErrorList 1.2, CommonControls 0.7, and JDK 1.4
  
  
• AntFarm 1.3: updated the look and feel to be consistent with jEdit 4.1; updated to include Ant 1.5.1; reworked the integration of the ProjectViewer plugin to include the ProjectViewer 2.0 release; the Console plugin is not utilized (brought to the front/made active) until a target is run; fixed #560025 Ant Farm 1.1 does not reparse build.xml; fixed #630805 Ant Farm not a valid target; fixed #674224 AntFarm: Doesn't execute targets; requires jEdit 4.1final, CommonControls 0.7, Console 3.4, ErrorList 1.2.3, XML 0.11, and JDK 1.3; includes Ant 1.5.1

It seems that Apple (finally!) released a Java 1.4.1 implementation for MacOS X. Post your experiences below.