Changes in version 1.04 (2012-04-17):

BACKWARD COMPATIBILTY ISSUES

    o   The default for 'lin.abs' is now 'TRUE'.  There is a
	warning about this if it could be a problem.

    o   Some components of the output of 'trade.optimizer'
        ('lin.style' and friends) are now in the 'lin.table'
        component.  There is also a new 'dist.table'.

    o   The default value of the 'collapse' argument in 
	'valuation.randportBurSt' has changed from 'FALSE' to
	'FALSE' only if 'prices' is not a matrix (or array).

    o   The default value of 'cash' in 'valuation' has changed
	(to be what was intended but not computed or stated)

    o   The default and optimized portfolio methods of 'valuation'
        failed to respect the 'weight' argument when 'collapse' was 
        'TRUE'.

    o   The default value for 'weight' has changed for the default and 
	optimized portfolio methods of 'valuation', but the default 
	behavior remains the same.

    o   The trade-past-zero feature now only applies to linear
	costs, and so 'doubleconst' is no longer used.

NEW FEATURES

    o   Linear constraints are now available on the fraction
	and value of variance attributed to categories of
	assets (sectors, for example).

    o   There is a variety of risk fraction choices now, including
	the correlation of each asset to the portfolio.

    o   The 'valuation' function has been expanded:
        - it will return simple and log returns
        - it allows prices to be a three-dimensional array
        - it will give valuations, weights and returns for
          categories of the assets (sectors, for example)
        - it gains the 'all.assets' argument that allows
          weight vectors that also include assets with zero weight

    o   A namespace has been added to the R package.

CHANGES

    o   The 'sum.weight' argument now allows lower bounds (via a
	two-column matrix) as well as upper bounds.

    o   'timestamp' in the result of 'trade.optimizer' and 
	'random.portfolio' now includes the start time of the
	call as well as the ending time.

    o   the strings given to 'keep' in 'randport.eval' no longer
	need to exactly match the component names on the result
	of 'trade.optimizer' -- they can be abbreviated.

    o   'randport.eval' and 'update.randportBurSt' gain an 'envir'
	argument so gymnastics are no longer necessary when they
	are called from within a function.

    o   'deport' now accepts a file name of zero characters as
	meaning to print to R (or S+).

    o   The 'existing' argument now accepts a random portfolio
	object of length one.

    o   Names now appear on the 'alpha.values' and 'var.values'
	components of the output of 'trade.optimizer'.

    o   The 'seed' argument now accepts a single integer.

    o   'random.portfolio' will now accept 'ntrade=1'.  Previously
	'ntrade' needed to be at least 2 for no apparent reason.

    o   It is now much harder to get in trouble when you have an
	asset with zero variance.

    o   A better error message is now given when short positions
	are forced in a long-only portfolio.

    o   There's a better error message if 'positions' (probably
	unintentionally) forces too many assets into the portfolio.

    o   You'll not care, but 'head' and 'tail' of a random portfolio
	object set the 'funevals' to a missing value.

    o   Various minor improvements in error handling and warnings.

BUG FIXES

    o   Fixed 1.03 bug regarding risk fractions and existing portfolios.

    o   Fixed 1.03 bug of problems when 'trade.optimizer' was called
	from within a function.

    o   Fixed 1.03 bug in which 'summary' could falsely report a
	linear constraint violation (infinite bounds were involved).

    o   Giving non-integer values to 'lower.trade' or 'upper.trade'
	allowed non-integer trading in unintended circumstances.

    o   There was a problem when an exact non-integer forced trade was
	done and 'stringency' was greater than zero.

    o   Fixed a bug (apparently very rare) where a valid random portfolio
	was found, but an invalid one returned.

    o   'randport.eval' failed when the 'control' argument was given in
	the 'random.portfolio' call.

    o   There was a problem with infinite values in 'positions' when
	it had no asset names on it.

    o   A non-tradeable benchmark was not counted in the portfolio value.

    o   The maximum information ratio utility could use the wrong
	variance and/or expected returns in certain circumstances.
	The bug only triggered if there were multiple variances and/or
	expected returns and a single utility value was requested.

    o   Fixed 1.03 buglet where 'print' had all forced trades in
	'forced.explicit' rather than just the explicit ones.

NEW BUGS

    o   'constraints.realized' can be a little confused when evaluated
	with additional linear constraints.


Changes in version 1.03 (2011-04-11):

NEW FEATURES

    o  Added 'risk.fraction' argument which constrains the fraction
       of variance attributed to individual assets.

    o  Added 'bench.weights' argument which specifies the weights 
       of assets in benchmarks.  This is required if there are
       'risk.fraction' constraints involving benchmarks.  But it
       also allows benchmarks to be added automatically to the
       variance and expected returns even if there are no risk
       fraction constraints.
 
CHANGES

    o  There is now a warning if it appears that the variance
       is unreasonably small when the information ratio is 
       being maximized (for instance, if the benchmark can be
       reproduced almost exactly).  The 'do.warn' item to suppress 
       the warning is 'var.eps'.

    o  An error is now thrown if a variance matrix is not symmetric
       since this leads to confusion in the algorithm.

    o  If there is more than one benchmark, then the utilities
       that are created (in 'utable') are now more logical.  The
       former behavior can be recovered by specifying a 'utable'
       argument.

    o  The occurrence of more than one zero in the diagonal of a 
       variance is now a warning rather than an error.  Suppression
       of the warning is with the 'do.warn' item 'zero.variance'.

    o   Various minor improvements in error handling and warnings.

BUG FIXES

    o  Assets that had a forced trade were way too likely to be
       at the value of the forced trade in random portfolios.
       There were some additional changes that might improve the
       uniformity of the generation process.

    o  Thresholding could get confused in an extreme case.

    o  In rare circumstances there was the possibility of a short
       position being allowed in a long-only portfolio (which
       throws an error).

    o  An uninitialized variable problem was found.



Changes in version 1.02 (2010-11-18):

NEW FEATURES

    o  Add weighted sum of squares option for distances.


CHANGES

    o  'valuation.portfolBurSt' and 'valuation.default' now
       work for price matrices.  The 'collapse' argument
       and its relatives have been added to these functions.

    o  'constraints.realized.lin' has better functionality
       in rare circumstances.

    o  benchmark identities are now put on the appropriate
       elements of the output components 'var.values' and
       'alpha.values' of 'trade.optimizer'.


BUG FIXES

    o  An alpha constraint when no variance was given caused
       a system terminating -- fatal error, trivial fix.

    o  There was a bug when a benchmark constraint was imposed
       with a maximum return utility.

    o  Some error messages are improved.

    o  A nicety when 'turnover' is set to zero.



Changes in version 1.01 (2010-05-19):

NEW FEATURES

    o   Distance constraints and utility added to 'random.portfolio' and
        'trade.optimizer'.  This involves a few new arguments.

    o   Related to this 'constraint.realized' now returns a list with
        (possibly) a linear component (what it previously returned) and
        a distance component.  Empty components are not in the return value.

    o   'trade.distance' will now accept a weight vector as one or both
        of the first two arguments if 'scale = "weight"'.


CHANGES

    o   Parameter settings have been changed to possibly slightly speed up 
        the generation of random portfolios.

    o   Various minor improvements in error handling and warning.


BUG FIXES

    o   'update.randportBurSt' could fail trying to check input when it
        didn't have the input.

    o   Some C code fixes to avoid possible rare errors and stupidities.

