CGAL users discussion list

[Laurent Rineau <>]

The CGAL Open Source Project is pleased to announce the recent releases
of CGAL versions 5.5.5, 5.6.2, 6.0, and 6.0.1.

## CGAL version 6.0

CGAL version 6.0 was released on September 27, 2024. Following the
discovery of early issues, version 6.0.1 was subsequently released on
October 22, 2024.

This version is a major release, with many new features and
improvements.

General changes

-   C++17 Requirement: CGAL 6.0 requires a C++17 compatible compiler.
-   GMP/MPFR Optional: GMP/MPFR are no longer mandatory;
    Boost.Multiprecision can be used.
-   Qt6 Demos: All demos are now based on Qt6.
-   Polyhedral Surface: The demo has been renamed to “CGAL Lab” and
    moved to its own directory in demo/Lab/.

New Packages

-   Kinetic Space Partition: Partition of the space from planar input
    shapes.
-   Kinetic Surface Reconstruction: Reconstructs surfaces from point
    clouds.
-   Basic Viewer: Interactive visualization for various CGAL packages.
-   Polygon Repair: Algorithms to repair 2D polygons and multipolygons.

Breaking Changes

-   CMake Changes: UseCGAL.cmake removed; use CGAL::CGAL target instead.
-   Kernel: Replaced boost::variant with std::variant and
    boost::optional with std::optional in the intersection functions.

Enhancements

-   AABB Tree: Now supports 2D and 3D primitives.

See the announcement of CGAL version 6.0.1 for more details:

  https://www.cgal.org/2024/10/22/cgal601/



## Bug-fix releases

-   CGAL version 5.5.5 has been published. This is the last bug-fix
    release for CGAL-5.5.
-   CGAL version 5.6.2 has been published. This is the second bug-fix
    release for CGAL-5.6.

These releases include various bug fixes and enhancements. For more details,
please visit:

  https://www.cgal.org/2024/10/22/cgal555/
  https://www.cgal.org/2024/10/22/cgal562/



The development of CGAL will now focus on the upcoming CGAL-6.1 release,
planned for late 2025. Bug fixes will continue to be backported to the
CGAL-5.6.x and CGAL-6.0.x branches.


The CGAL project is a collaborative effort to develop a robust,
easy-to-use, and efficient C++ software library of geometric data
structures and algorithms, like
- triangulations (2D constrained triangulations, Delaunay triangulations
  and periodic triangulations in 2D and 3D),
- Voronoi diagrams (for 2D and 3D points, 2D additively weighted
  Voronoi diagrams, and segment Voronoi diagrams),
- Boolean operations on polygons and polyhedra,
- regularized Boolean operations on polygons with curved arcs
- arrangements of curves,
- mesh generation (2D, 3D and surface mesh generation,
  surface mesh subdivision and parametrization),
- alpha shapes (in 2D and 3D),
- convex hull algorithms (in 2D, 3D and dD),
- operations on polygons (straight skeleton and offset polygon),
- search structures (kd trees for nearest neighbor search, and
  range and segment trees),
- interpolation (natural neighbor interpolation and placement of
  streamlines),
- optimization algorithms (smallest enclosing sphere of points or
  spheres, smallest enclosing ellipsoid of points, principal
  component analysis).




Some modules are distributed under the terms of the LGPL Open Source
license (GNU Lesser General Public License v3 or later versions).
Most modules are distributed under the terms of the GPL Open Source
license (GNU General Public License v3 or later versions).
If your intended usage does not meet the criteria of the
aforementioned licenses, a commercial license can be purchased from
GeometryFactory (https://www.geometryfactory.com/).


For further information and for downloading the library and its
documentation, please visit the CGAL web site: https://www.cgal.org/

-- 
Laurent Rineau, PhD
R&D Engineer at GeometryFactory           http://www.geometryfactory.com/
Release Manager of the CGAL Project       http://www.cgal.org/