Notepad++ 5.7 released from a new web host

The Notepad++ developers have released version 5.7.0 of their source code editor for Windows. Notepad++ is written in C++ and uses only Win32 API calls using the Standard Template Library (STL). It supports the ANSI and Unicode character sets, macros, plug-ins and a wide variety of languages, including C, C++, C #, Visual Basic, Java, Python, SQL, HTML, XML, CSS, Lua and custom languages.

The latest version of the open source editor includes the addition of a new "Inverse bookmark" feature, new HTML5 and CSS keywords and updates the the included Unicode and ANSI plug-ins. Other changes include version 2.12 of the Scintilla source code editing component and fixes for a premature deallocation bug, language switching issues and full screen mode changes. All users are advised to upgrade to the latest release.

Just before the latest release arrived, the developers launched a new project web site located at notepad-plus-plus.org – the old site was previously hosted at notepad-plus.sourceforge.net. According to a news post by developer Don HO, the new homepage is now hosted on TuxFamily.org, a non-profit organisation based in France that provides free services for projects, instead of open source hosting site SourceForge.

HO notes that the switch to the new host is in reaction to SourceForge blocking access from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria – all US sanctioned countries, saying that, "This action is totally absurd - not mentioning to that Notepad++ project is far from a part of US property (like all the hosted FOSS projects in SF), the fact that a FOSS hoster rejects the access from some population is not only a discrimination action but also a violation of fundamental FOSS principle."

The move to block access to SourceForge from the sanctioned countries, which took place in January of this year, was aimed at complying with US export restrictions, which make it illegal to transfer or export certain technologies to countries on the US government's sanction list. Failure to comply with the sanctions list can incur penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment.

More details about the 5.7 release can be found in the change log. Notepad++ 5.7.0 is available to download from SourceForge and TuxFamily.org. Notepad++ is licensed under version 2 of the GNU General Public Licence (GPLv2).

See also:

• SourceForge turns off "blanket blocking", a report from The H.
• SourceForge no longer serving open source to US sanctioned countries, a report from The H.

(crve)