MetaEdit+ 3.0 image patches

These patches are only applicable for MetaEdit+ 3.0.

The patch links below are direct links to the .pat files, which are binary files that MetaEdit+ can read with its 'File in Patches' function in the startup launcher. Download the patch by selecting 'Save to file' in your browser: do not attempt to view as HTML pages! Check the size afterwards: some browsers appear to download these as ASCII files, when they are in fact binary files.

What's new?

Current Windows evaluation version and Linux non-commercial version are Service Release 3 as of 23rd November 2001.

22.12.2003 Linux: will not work on latest kernel/glibc, e.g. RedHat 9.0 or later
29.05.2001 Linux: core dumps on RedHat/SuSE 7.1 (glibc2.2) - new executable
29.03.2001 Current Windows evaluation version released - Service Release 2, me010322.pat
29.03.2001 Service release 2, me010322.pat
03.08.2000 PIII crashes resolved: update your BIOS
20.07.2000 3.0-5 RPMs released for Linux - contain all patches before 20.07.2000
17.07.2000 Linux: out of memory error on starting MetaEdit+
15.05.2000 Crashes randomly on latest PIII >=500MHz
03.02.2000 Crashes on start-up in Windows 98
22.11.1999 New Linux executable allows scalable custom property dialogs
22.11.1999 Linux primitive failed corrected
15.10.1999 Importing models/types with special characters
30.09.1999 Service release 1, me990920.pat

How to use patch files

The basic idea is to run a clean MetaEdit+ image, file in the patches using the button in the initial Startup Launcher, then exit the image which saves the image with those changes. Patches must be filed in in order, only optional patches may be omitted.

More detailed instructions are here.

All patch files are supplied 'as is', with no guarantees, and no liability for any damages is accepted by MetaCase Consulting.

Official Patches

Note that reading in this patch will remove some generic reports which were present in the original 3.0 release of MetaEdit+. These reports are no longer needed, if you use the new databases. If you will not update your databases, you may want to save the old reports (Startup Launcher | Edit Reports | Report | Write to File) before filing in this patch: you can then read the old reports back in.

Service Release 1: me990920.pat: This image patch, me990920.pat, provides significant performance increases, adds several new features, and corrects some minor problems. See here for details.
Service Release 2: me010322.pat and vw31c.zip: The image patch (me010322.pat) and new visual executable (in vw31c.zip), provides usability and performance improvements, and corrects some minor problems. See here for details. Apply the patch, and replace visual.exe (Windows) or visual (Linux) in your MetaEdit+ installation directory with the new version from vw31c.zip. If you are using the multi-user version, you must also patch your server with mes010313.pat, and use the new executable for that too.

Beta Patches

These patches are not fully tested, nor normally necessary for operation of MetaEdit+: install them and use them with care, and only if you want or need the changes mentioned.

Most earlier patches are now incorporated into Service Release 1; if for some reason you need their older versions, see the pre-SR1 page.

Linux: Occasional core dumps on RedHat/SuSE 7.1 (glibc2.2): The latest Linux distributions include glibc 2.2, which changes the stack behaviour causing MetaEdit+ to dump core with a segmentation fault occasionally. As a stopgap, we're releasing a new version of the 'visual' executable with more stack headroom, in visual31c-256.zip. Please rename the existing /usr/local/mep3mwb/visual to visual.old, and unzip the file from this zip to the same directory, calling it visual. Make sure you give the necessary users execute access (e.g. chmod +x visual).
Linux: 'Primitive failed' error opening UML Class Diagrams (corrected in 3.0-4): SuSE, Debian, and RedHat 6.0 with KDE (possibly others, but not RedHat with Gnome) have some problems with small font sizes, causing a primitive failed error, to date seen only in UML Class Diagrams. SuSEfont.pat corrects the problem (regardless of the name, it should work in any environment that exhibits this problem).
Linux: Segmentation faults on login or '#* message not understood' opening scalable property dialog with Service Release 1 demo30r or db30r database (corrected in 3.0-4): A new executable Linux86.zip corrects this and allows scalable dialogs (as in the standard 30r databases, which you will have to install from the zips on the database support page). Back up your existing 'visual' and 'splash.so' by renaming them before unzipping this in your MetaEdit+ directory. Make sure after you unzip that the permissions are correct for these files (read and execute).
Unsupported character / Syntax error: Problems with special characters in graph or type import (corrected in Linux 3.0-4 and Service Release 2): After applying SR1, importing graphs or types from a *.pat file fails if the data to be imported contains special or accented characters (ä, é etc.). The patch files are being created correctly, but filing them in does not handle special characters properly. sr1SpecialCharacters.pat should correct this problem.
Central European fonts do not work: In MetaEdit+ in Windows with Central European fonts, the standard Arial font is used (or something else), not Arial CE. This optional beta patch, cefonts3.pat, allows you to use the CE fonts. It may be applied with or without SR1. Note that there is some chance that strings using these characters will cause problems when used with or imported with images without this patch. Also, if images have this patch, but no CE fonts, the standard fonts will be used: many characters still look right, but some are mapped to something completely different, e.g. r hacek to o slash.

Known Problems

For old problems before Service Release 1, see the pre-SR1 page. After Service Release 1:

RedHat 9.0: 'Too many open files' error on logging in

MetaEdit+ 3.0 will not work with the latest kernel/glibc versions, as found for instance in RedHat 9.0 and later. MetaEdit+ 4.0 beta works fine; no correction possible for 3.0.

Linux: 'Out of memory' error on starting MetaEdit+ (17.07.2000) - corrected in Service Release 2

This is caused by having a very large number of fonts (roughly 5000). You can see how many fonts are installed with "xlsfonts | wc" - the first number returned is the number of fonts. Uninstal fonts to work around the problem, or apply Service Release 2.

Frequent random crashes on some Pentium IIIs (15.05.2000) - user BIOS problem

This is caused by cache memory timing not being properly handled by some BIOS versions for Coppermine Pentium III processors. Update your BIOS, or turn off the processor's External Cache in your Advanced BIOS settings. Other applications report the same problems: e.g. VMware have a list of problem BIOSes and links to updates.

Crashes on starting MetaEdit+ in Windows 98 (03.02.2000) - corrected in Service Release 2

One main cause is a problem with certain non-True Type fonts:

Choose Start | Settings | Control Panel | Fonts.
In the Fonts window choose View | Options, and on the TrueType tab choose 'Show only TrueType fonts' and OK.
You need to reboot for the change to take effect.

If this does not help, the problem may be in your display driver: one of the following should help:

Reduce the number of display colours to 256 (Start | Settings | Control Panel | Display | Settings | Color Palette)
Install the latest stable version of your display driver from its manufacturer's home page
Use a standard display driver, rather than one optimised for your card

Another possible culprit is Acrobat Reader 4.0: uninstalling it and replacing it with 3.02 will solve the problem in this case. Other recent software from Adobe also seems to exhibit this problem.