[CIG-SHORT] PyLith v2.1.0 released

[Brad Aagaard]

Greetings,

I am pleased to announce the release of PyLith 2.1.0, a finite-element
code designed to solve dynamic elastic problems and quasi-static
viscoelastic problems in tectonic deformation.

This release provides a few new minor features and bugfixes.

You can download the source code and binaries from

     http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/pylith

Detailed installation instructions for the binary packages are in the
User Manual with detailed building instructions for a few platforms in
the INSTALL file bundled with the PyLith Installer utility.


======================================================================
MIGRATING FROM VERSION 2.0 TO 2.1
======================================================================

The points file for OutputSolnPoints must now contain station names as
the first column.

======================================================================
RELEASE NOTES
======================================================================

* Station names are required for output at arbitrary points
   (OutputSolnPoints) and are included in a /stations dataset in HDF5
   files.

* A progress monitor will update a text file with the progress of a
   simulation (time in the time stepping loop or the number of impulses
   completed) and given an estimate of when the simulation will be
   completed.

* Bug fixes

   - A few bugs related to creating cohesive cells for fault
     intersections have been fixed. Faults can now meet at T
     intersections provided the buried edges of the faults are
     clamped. In other words, the fault ending at the T intersection
     has a clamped edge along the intersection. The fault ending at the
     intersection must also come AFTER the through-going fault in the
     list of fault interfaces.

   - There have been two major bug fixes for Drucker-Prager plasticity,
     for both DruckerPrager3D and DruckerPragerPlaneStrain. The first
     fix was a missing initial pressure term for the plastic multiplier
     in the Drucker-Prager formulation. This affects plasticity
     calculations when initial stresses are used. The error has been
     corrected in the code, the manual, and the unit tests. The second
     bug was an incorrect test for tensile yield that could cause
     PyLith to exit with an error when plastic yield had not actually
     occurred. The error would only occur when the allow_tensile_yield
     flag was set to False. This bug has been fixed in the code, and
     the new test is also described in the manual. This should prevent
     problems that previously existed when allow_tensile_yield was set
     to False (as it should be for most quasi-static problems).

   - Fixed bug in DataWriterHDF5Ext associated with multiple processes
     writing information to the HDF5 file. With external datasets the
     HDF5 file is limited to metadata and is maintained by process 0.

   - A two-dimensional gravity example has been added, based on the
     tutorial from the June, 2014 workshop at Stanford University.  The
     tutorial itself is in examples/2d/gravity, and a new section has
     also been added to the manual describing the example.

   - Fixed inconsistent fault orientation when running in parallel for
     2-D domains.