Harlequin Core 13.2r0 Release Notes

This page applies to Harlequin v13.2r0 and later; both Harlequin Core and Harlequin MultiRIP.

Introduction

Harlequin Release Notes are now published directly to our website.

Harlequin v13.2r0 is the second major release since HQN v13.0r0. This release consolidates work of HQN v13.0r0 and v13.1r0. We also responded to many customer issues including compatibility and other issues that required Core changes, as you can see in the "Harlequin Core v13.2r0 change details" table (below).

Nonetheless there was time for some new developments. Harlequin v13.2r0 introduces:

• A change to the HMR user interface to help operators manage very long separation names.
• Updating LDK components for Windows 11 support.
• HVD optimizations to help identify reusable objects in jobs that are not constructed particularly well.
• Improvements to RIP farm.

Alerts and guidance

• A new version of the HMR plugin kit 20.3r3 is also now available to accompany Harlequin v13.2r0.
• The updated LDK components v8.3 for Windows 11 support will be installed. LDK components identify as v8.31 on Windows 11, macOS, and Red Hat.
• The drop-dead date for HMR v13.2 watermark RIPs has been set to July 1, 2023.

Windows 11 support guidance

While Global Graphics have been testing Windows 11 with Harlequin Core SDK and MultiRIP v13.2r0, we have found no platform specific issues; however, the number of machines for automated and performance testing for this platform is currently limited but expanding.

Microsoft officially released Windows 11 on October 4, 2021; support for LDK licensing was scheduled to be introduced after that. We are aware that many customers have upgraded to Windows 11 (or sometimes found it difficult to avoid upgrading); therefore we are announcing support for this platform from 13.2 onwards subject to the following guidance:

• Upgrading from Windows 10 was phased in by Microsoft and some PCs shipped with earlier version, thus you should ensure that you are using 21H2 build 22000 or later.
• That your hardware met the minimum requirements for Windows 11 (as defined by the Microsoft downloadable benchmarking application being successfully run).
• Should you find an issue, where possible please repeat the steps to reproduce it on Windows 10.

Windows 2022 Server note

Global Graphics is not yet ready to sign off Harlequin Core as being formally supported under Windows 2022 Server. This will be completed for v13.xrx available in 2022. Also note that the Server version 2022 is based on Windows 10 and succeeds Windows Server 2019. 

Red Hat Linux

Global Graphics is moving from Red Hat Linux 6+7 to 7+8.x during 2022. Customers have been asking to leverage various features of Red Hat 8.5 and the yet unreleased Red Hat 8.6. We intend to support Red Hat 7 and Red Hat 8 for Harlequin 14, as Red Hat 6 is now in “extended support”.

Harlequin Core v13.2r0 change details

Each change in the following table specifies whether it applies to Core SDK, to HMR, or to both Core SDK and HMR.

Jira Story	Support call(s)	Summary	Applies to:
HQN-384143	HQNSUP-126503	Bugfix: There was an error in the NamedColor resource that has been fixed.	HMR
HQN-383979 / HQN-381716		Consolidate HXM Flexo installer to include all current screens. A new installer with up-to-date contents of screens for use with Harlequin.	HMR
HQN-310560	SW Call #119837, HHR #4002	Modular halftones with in-RIP halftoning. It is now possible to mix modular and in-RIP halftones on the same page.	All
HQN-370906	SW Call #124822	Added a horizontal scroll bar to the Output Monitor to help locate very long separation names for reprinting to an output device.	HMR
HQN-379101	#4056	HVD; reduce excessive post-scan time. In some cases, excessive post-HVD scan times (many minutes) have been reduced.	Core SDK
HQN-379264		QL PDF2.0 suite fts_17_1724_a4 and fts_18_1814_a4 job failed, now RIPs to completion.	All
HQN-381526	HQNSUP-126524	Switch to using the latest version of the Kakadu library - 8.2.1. An update to the library that decodes JPEG2000 files.	All
HQN-384211 / HQN-384198		Include LDK runtime v8.31 in RIP distributions. updated to the latest Thales LDK 8.3 components for Windows 11 support.	All
HQN-382275	#126110 #126109	PDF2.0 compability issue; Extension of q/Q inside BT/ET to Preserve Text Position	All
HQN-382417		Extend PS stack checking across HqnImpose2. Expanded PS stack checking to more procedures, particularly HqnImpose. This adds to a collection of tools for checking stacks in the HqnAssert procset.	All
HQN-382516		HqnUnloadImpose now works for unloading overlays.	All
HQN-382572	#126200	RIP slows down when repositioning color bar in a page feature. A customer who uses Page features to add color bars onto an input file will no longer experience a large slowdown of up to 95%, depending on the difference in distance they are placing the bar with their script.	All
HQN-382697		Performance improvement; Improve efficiency of frame-interleaved TIFF output from the Core SDK	Core SDK
HQN-382707	#3694	(Position Independent) PI-eHVD: Speedup: Extend our clip offset optimization. Several changes to optimize ignoring clips that don't actually clip the PDF object in question.	Core SDK
HQN-382740	#3730 #126322 #126351 #126426 #4047	Accent gets moved to the left by HHR and causes assert, outputs OK on Jaws. A customer submitted a file that when RIPped, the accent gets moved to the left. The output is now correct.	All
HQN-382740	#126264 #126294	Existing v11 and v12 plugins crash in 13.0 RIP due to Memory Overwriting. There are now no crashes, warnings, or errors.	HMR
HQN-383187		JSON config - Support HqnImpose2 in JSON configs. For further information see the Extensions Manual.	Core SDK
HQN-384399		Update product version and copyright strings	All
HQN-383842		PDF object reference test job for PDF 2.0 2020 crashes RIP. The RIP was non-compliant with part of the 2020 revision of PDF 2.0, and test files crashed. This is now fixed.	All
HQN-383933		Optimize clipped axial and radial blends by reducing their geometry; an extreme radial gradient was very slow to process.	All
HQN-383314	#3891	PDF compliance, Handle Inline OCG Properties Without Erroring, when PDF Reader shows no problem with it.	All
HQN-383953	#4023	Update List Spot Colors page feature for speed.  The List Spot Colors page feature was slow with larger numbers of colors; there is now a much more efficient way of extracting and storing spot color names. It is now many times faster than previous versions.	All
HQN-383922	#4013	Very long and flat PDF files gradually go slower. It was noticed that very fast pages with extremely short processing times per page go slower after each multiple of thousands of pages. The PDF memory loss has been resolved.	All
HQN-383314	#3891	Handle Inline OCG Properties Without Erroring. A tested Pre-Flight does not show a syntax error. Change the RIP to ignore incorrect OCG properties dictionary and return that the OCG is ON.	All
HQN-383421		HVD: MaxBlit flags are not set up optimally for ImageMask with OptimizedPDFFastScan. Fixed an issue that can lead to bad output, for both iHVD and eHVD,	All
HQN-383585		HqnContour ignores ObeyScalingAndExtraOrientation false, and scales/rotates the contour as well as the render. Only rendered pages (and NOT contours) should be scaled/rotated/mirrored with ObeyScalingAndExtraOrientation: false.	Core SDK
HQN-383899	#3923 #4005	Fix a crash when using SetFlatRange.	Core SDK
HQN-383621	#3911 #3957	Control the location of the farm RIP SW folders Add control over the location of the SWfr-xxx folders. This Story served to create them in the same location as PKSetSWWriteDir().	Core SDK
HQN-383971	#126377	Large miter limit value results in distorted shape. A very large value for miter limit resulted in a spike on the character "A". Change to make the rendering compatible with PDF viewer behavior.	All
HQN-383740	#3913	Implement parameter to limit eHVD to one foreground per page; provide a parameter that, when in use, limits eHVD to producing at most one foreground per page.	Core SDK
HQN-383810		Preserve behavior affected by group elimination; fix some discrepancies in this behavior between non-HVD and HVD.	All
HQN-383857		Enable scalable RIP to number pages correctly if each RIP is run with non-contiguous chunks. Allows RIP farm to use chunks with less risk of starving a press and enables HVD to be on.	Core SDK
HQN-383858	#126403	Chinese-named PDF with no title submitted via spool folder is not named correctly. A job submitted via a spool folder had its name reported incorrectly in the Output Controller and in the Job Completed message in the monitor window.	All
HQN-383905	#3850	Use PKOpenFile/PKWriteFile/PKCloseFile for log file access.	Core SDK
HQN-383920		JSON config - Update some pagedevice key.	Core SDK
HQN-383922		Monitor and fix PDF memory leaks. When processing PDF files there were memory build-ups due to allocations being left behind that were not required after the page concerned was completed. Performance could drop linearly through a long PDF job.	All
HQN-383953		Update List Spot Colors page feature for speed.	HMR
HQN-383973		Remove global optimization from Visual Studio release builds.	Core SDK
HQN-383996		Increase or remove limit on number of object in PS calculator function.	Core SDK
HQN-383999		New version of the plugin kit.	HMR
HQN-384006		Review settings for Genoa CET shfill tests to improve sampling. Improve some output in the Quality Logic CET suites.	All
HQN-384014	#4062	Add value to suppress pre-conversion messages.	Core SDK
HQN-384015	#4057	Throw specific error if colorant set dictionary doesn't match PCM.	Core SDK
HQN-384016		Farm stopped not always being received after being sent to the Scalable RIP; fixed.	Core SDK
HQN-384024		Scalable RIP hangs if the farm RIPs aren't all spawned; fixed.	Core SDK
HQN-384124	#4078	Problem with TIFF with extra channels when used as a dynamic overlay.	Core SDK
HQN-384128	#4081	Modify addSegment() in customer-specific cutdata.cpp to fix crash.	Core SDK
HQN-384159		eHVD: Make SingleForeground use NPI inside (was: Provide an InternalNPI parameter and mode).	Core SDK
HQN-384191	#4086	Error thrown when reading MDUs in progressive jpeg; fixed jpeg file which results in an error.	All
HQN-384251	#4056	Do not force compositing for a NextDevice with CMYKPassThrough and where all spots are IndependentSpots.	Core SDK
HQN-384284	HQNSUP-126491	Make UTF-16BE job name identifiable in HHR skin code.	Core SDK
HQN-384291		Improve use of memory in PDF.	All
HQN-384324	HQNSUP-126556	Prevent calibration curves being applied within a soft mask.	Core SDK
HQN-384386		IOERROR on LZW stream if internal state invalid after data totally decompressed. Compatibility (to match a PDF viewer) where compressed data was not as expected	All
HQN-384395	HQNSUP-126560	Move significant reusable objects as far down the Z-order as possible. Enhancement to allow some jobs to better utilize HVD to speed up RIPping.	All

Known issues

• Mac ARM compilation is as yet unsupported, though the Makefile implies that it's an option.
• Recent installs of MSVS2019 do not include the Windows 8.1 SDK. OEMs wishing to build for this OS can retrofit it. See "Updates to supported platforms and compilers" (below).
• Harlequin Core SDK Installer can fail on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Server 8.1. Global Graphics opened a case (02603280) with Red Hat and are looking for workarounds for support of Red Hat 8.x.
• In testing Ubuntu 20.4, LE-secured v13.2r0 customizations install OK; however, at the end, the installer says it was unable to run the LDK tool but it created the files on disk. It shouldn't - and doesn't - create an LDK folder. This would be ignored as a workaround.
• HQN-384531 - Bad output (that is, missing objects) may occur with HVD for some jobs; there may also be a loss of reuse.  This problem was originally reported for HVD with PDF/VT-2 jobs.  However it can happen for other jobs with an XRef object or an XObject with GGSL_Opaque tag (when we have /OptimizedPDFTestOpaqueHint false).  We do not expect this to occur with the combination of /OptimizedPDFPositionIndependent true, and /OptimizedPDFIgnorePatternPhase true.

Documentation change details

ANNOUNCEMENT

As the next step of a project that will continue for some time, the following Harlequin Core content is available to you online alongside the v13.2r0 release:

• Extensions Manual
• API Reference Manual
• SDK Developer’s Guide

In addition to updating any technical content and formatting, we will amend any invalid hyperlinks as we continue to update and publish the remaining Harlequin Core documents. If you find something that doesn’t look right, please email donna.burns@globalgraphics.com.

These documents are located here:

https://documentation.globalgraphics.com/support/hqnc/manuals

This following table contains details of the various documents that were created or updated for Harlequin Core 13.2r0:

Updates to supported platforms and compilers