We have not yet decided on how often completely new versions of the
program will be released, but every year, or every second year, are
likely estimates. New versions will be announced on the DALTON\
homepage (http://www.kjemi.uio.no/software/dalton/dalton.html) as well
as the DALTON mailing-list
(dalton-users@kjemi.uio.no) .
Inbetween releases, bug fixes will be distributed as patches to an existing version. New patches will be freely available from the DALTON homepage, and will be announced on the DALTON mailing list. Patches will normally be distributed in order to correct significant errors. In case of minor changes, explicit instructions on modifying the source file(s) will be given.
In general, users should not make local
modifications in the FORTRAN source code, as this usually makes it
much harder to incorporate the changes into subsequent versions.
It is more convenient to use the C preprocessor code. Indeed, by
judicious use of local #define variables (this
is described in any book on C that also describes the C
preprocessor) it is often possible to isolate local
modifications completely, making it much easier
to apply them to later
releases.
Often one may be interested in code that is newly developed within the
DALTON author group, but not part of any release of the program. In
such cases, users are asked to take direct contact with one of the
authors of that code, and ask for him/her for the new code
needed. Such requests are not to be sent to
dalton-admin@kjemi.uio.no. Note also that this may lead to user
restrictions of the program not contained in the license agreement
signed for a released version of the program.