GLVis · v-dobrev · Feb 6, 2026 · Jan 5, 2026 · Jan 28, 2026 · Jan 29, 2026
diff --git a/.github/workflows/builds.yml b/.github/workflows/builds.yml
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
 # terms of the BSD-3 license. We welcome feedback and contributions, see file
 # CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
 
-# GLVis - an OpenGL visualization server based on the MFEM library
-
 name: builds
 
 on:

diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
 # terms of the BSD-3 license. We welcome feedback and contributions, see file
 # CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
 
-# GLVis - an OpenGL visualization server based on the MFEM library
-
 name: release
 
 on:

diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
@@ -9,48 +9,51 @@
                              https://glvis.org
 
 
-Version 4.4.1 (development)
+Version 4.5 released on Feb X, 2026
 ===================================
 
 Unlike previous GLVis releases, this version requires a C++17 compiler.
 
+- Added visualization of the finite element DOF numbering in 2D scalar mode,
+  with the 'n'/'N' keys that now cycles through: None → Elements → Edges →
+  Vertices → DOFs. In parallel, the default numbering is the "local" one for
+  each rank. This can be switched to the "global" parallel numbering with
+  'Alt+n' (the former numbering method).
+
+- Added visualization of complex data for grid functions from MFEM's class
+  (Par)ComplexGridFunction. The complex values are represented by their
+  magnitude, phase, real part or imaginary part, which can be cycled with the
+  'Q' key. Additionally, complex functions can be animated by an added harmonic
+  phase. The phase frequency can be increased/decreased with keys ';'/':'.
+
+- Added the option to choose palettes by name using the command line argument
+  -pname or --palette-name. This option is also available in scripts and streams
+  using the keyword "palette_name".
+
+- Color palettes defined in an external file can now also be specified in
+  scripts and streams using the keyword 'palette_file'.
+
 - Added headless (no GUI) visualization, relying on the EGL (Linux) or CGL
-  (MacOS) interface. It is available through '-hl' command-line option or
-  'headless' script command (before the visualization commands). The end of the
-  loaded stream or script file ends the visualization in this mode. Note GLVis
-  must be compiled with with EGL/CGL (see INSTALL).
-
-- Added non-persistent mode of the server, when the server terminates after all
-  visualization windows are closed.
-
-- Added visualization of complex function data originating from
-  '(Par)ComplexGridFunction' class in MFEM. The complex values are represented
-  by their magnitude, phase, real part or imaginary part, which can be switched
-  by 'Q' key. Additionally, the complex function can be animated by an added
-  harmonic phase. To increase or decrease the phase frequency, use ';' or ':',
-  respectively.
-
-- Implemented DOF numbering in 2D scalar mode, pressing the `n` or `N` key cycles
-  through: None → Elements → Edges → Vertices → DOFs. Parallel numbering is now by
-  default 'local' to each rank; 'global' vs. 'local' numbering can be toggled with
-  'Alt+n'.
-
-- Refactored code base enabling automatic generation of the script and stream
-  command lists (shown as help when an unrecognized option is entered). Other
-  improvements include:
-  * Unified window initialization between the app and GLVis-js.
+  (macOS) interface. It is available through '-hl' command-line option or the
+  'headless' script command (before the visualization commands). In this mode,
+  visualization ends at the end of the stream or script file. Note that GLVis
+  must be compiled with EGL/CGL (see INSTALL).
+
+- Refactored the code base to enable automatic generation of the script and
+  stream command lists. Other improvements include:
+  * Unified window initialization between the app and glvis-js.
   * Unified handling of streams and improved data storage, enabling animation
     of all data types.
   * Fixed the flag for real attributes of distributed meshes.
   * Fixed setting of padding digits for data collections.
   * Fixed cycling of the vector-to-scalar function in 2D with raw data.
 
-- Added the option to choose palettes by name using the command line argument
-  '-pname' or '--palette-name'. This option is also available in scripts and
-  streams using the keyword 'palette_name'.
+- Added non-persistent mode for the GLVis server, where the server terminates
+  after all visualization windows are closed.
+
+- Added single-color palettes with a linear gradient of opacity to
+  share/palettes-variable-opacity.txt.
 
-- Color palettes defined in an external file can now also be specified in
-  scripts and streams using the keyword 'palette_file'.
 
 - Generalized and unified processing of stream commands for glvis-js to support
   all commands.

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -3,10 +3,9 @@
 </p>
 
 <p align="center">
-<a href="https://github.com/GLVis/glvis/releases/latest"><img alt="Release" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/release-v4.4-success.svg"></a>
+<a href="https://github.com/GLVis/glvis/releases/latest"><img alt="Release" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/release-v4.5-success.svg"></a>
 <a href="https://github.com/GLVis/glvis/actions/workflows/builds.yml"><img alt="Build" src="https://github.com/GLVis/glvis/actions/workflows/builds.yml/badge.svg"></a>
 <a href="https://github.com/glvis/glvis/blob/master/LICENSE"><img alt="License" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-BSD-success.svg"></a>
-<a href="https://glvis.github.io/doxygen/html/index.html"><img alt="Doxygen" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/code-documented-success.svg"></a>
 <a href="https://glvis.github.io/releases/glvis-macOS.dmg"><img alt="License" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Download-Mac-success.svg"></a>
 <a href="https://glvis.github.io/releases/glvis-Windows.zip"><img alt="License" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Download-Windows-success.svg"></a>
 </p>
@@ -89,8 +88,10 @@ The GLVis source code has the following structure:
 ```
   .
   ├── lib
-  │   └── gl
-  │       └── shaders
+  │   ├── egl
+  │   ├── gl
+  │   │   └── shaders
+  │   └── sdl
   ├── share
   └── tests
 ```
@@ -202,8 +203,8 @@ Before you can start, you need a GitHub account, here are a few suggestions:
     change the code by default.
 
 - Code specifics
-  - All significant new classes, methods and functions have Doxygen-style
-    documentation in source comments.
+  - All significant new classes, methods and functions have (preferably
+    Doxygen-style) documentation in source comments.
   - Consistent code styling is enforced with `make style` in the top-level
     directory. This requires [Artistic Style](http://astyle.sourceforge.net)
     version 3.1 and MFEM's style configuration file, typically located in
@@ -265,10 +266,9 @@ Before a PR can be merged, it should satisfy the following:
     - [ ] Check if `make distclean; git status` shows any files that were generated from the source by the project (not an IDE) but we don't want to track in the repository.
     - [ ] Add new patterns (just for the new files above) and re-run the above test.
 - [ ] New capability:
-   - [ ] All significant new classes, methods and functions have Doxygen-style documentation in source comments.
+   - [ ] All significant new classes, methods and functions have (preferably Doxygen-style) documentation in source comments.
    - [ ] Consider saving cool simulation pictures with the new capability in the Confluence gallery (LLNL only) or submitting them, via pull request, to the gallery section of the `glvis/web` repo.
    - [ ] If this is a major new feature, consider mentioning it in the short summary inside `README` *(rare)*.
-   - [ ] List major new classes in `doc/CodeDocumentation.dox` *(rare)*.
 - [ ] Update this checklist, if the new pull request affects it.
 
 
@@ -310,7 +310,6 @@ Before a PR can be merged, it should satisfy the following:
   ```
 - [ ] Create the release tarball and push to `glvis/releases`.
 - [ ] Recreate the `next` branch as described in previous section.
-- [ ] Update and push documentation  to `glvis/doxygen`.
 - [ ] Update URL shortlinks:
     - [ ] Create a shortlink at [http://bit.ly/](http://bit.ly/) for the release tarball, e.g. https://glvis.github.io/releases/glvis-3.1.tgz.
     - [ ] (LLNL only) Add and commit the new shortlink in the `links` and `links-glvis` files of the internal `glvis/downloads` repo.

diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 GLVis is a multiplatform OpenGL application and can be built on Linux/Unix
 systems, including Mac OS X, and under Windows.
 
-Besides a C++ compiler, GLVis depends on the following external packages:
+Besides a C++17 compiler, GLVis depends on the following external packages:
 
 - the MFEM library (use the latest release) plus any libraries that MFEM was
   built to depend on

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -8,10 +8,9 @@
 
                              https://glvis.org
 
-<a href="https://github.com/GLVis/glvis/releases/latest"><img alt="Release" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/release-v4.4-success.svg"></a>
+<a href="https://github.com/GLVis/glvis/releases/latest"><img alt="Release" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/release-v4.5-success.svg"></a>
 <a href="https://github.com/GLVis/glvis/actions/workflows/builds.yml"><img alt="Build" src="https://github.com/GLVis/glvis/actions/workflows/builds.yml/badge.svg"></a>
 <a href="https://github.com/glvis/glvis/blob/master/LICENSE"><img alt="License" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-BSD-success.svg"></a>
-<a href="https://glvis.github.io/doxygen/html/index.html"><img alt="Doxygen" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/code-documented-success.svg"></a>
 <a href="https://glvis.github.io/releases/glvis-macOS.dmg"><img alt="License" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Download-Mac-success.svg"></a>
 <a href="https://glvis.github.io/releases/glvis-Windows.zip"><img alt="License" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Download-Windows-success.svg"></a>
 

diff --git a/glvis.cpp b/glvis.cpp
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 // terms of the BSD-3 license. We welcome feedback and contributions, see file
 // CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
 
-
 // GLVis - an OpenGL visualization server based on the MFEM library
 
 #include <limits>

diff --git a/lib/aux_js.cpp b/lib/aux_js.cpp
@@ -70,13 +70,11 @@ void display(StreamCollection streams, const int w, const int h)
    SendExposeEvent();
 }
 
-//
 // StreamReader::ReadStream requires a list of unique_ptr to istream and since
 // we cannot directly pass a list of string we need to repack the strings into
 // a new list.
 //
-// each string in streams must start with `parallel <nproc> <rank>'
-//
+// Each string in streams must start with `parallel <nproc> <rank>'
 using StringArray = std::vector<std::string>;
 StreamCollection processParallelStreams(DataState & state,
                                         const StringArray & streams)
@@ -122,9 +120,8 @@ void displayStream(const std::string & stream, const int w, const int h)
    display(std::move(sc), w, h);
 }
 
-//
 // update the existing stream
-//
+
 int update(DataState & new_state)
 {
    double mesh_range = -1.0;
@@ -175,9 +172,8 @@ int updateParallelStreams(const StringArray & streams)
    return update(new_state);
 }
 
-//
 // other methods
-//
+
 void iterVisualization()
 {
    win.wnd->mainIter();

diff --git a/lib/egl/egl.hpp b/lib/egl/egl.hpp
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #ifdef GLVIS_USE_CGL
-#define GL_SILENCE_DEPRECATION // CGL has been deprecated since MacOS 10.14
+#define GL_SILENCE_DEPRECATION // CGL has been deprecated since macOS 10.14
 #include <OpenGL/OpenGL.h>
 #endif
 

diff --git a/lib/egl/egl_main.cpp b/lib/egl/egl_main.cpp
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ EglMainThread::Handle EglMainThread::CreateWindow(EglWindow *caller, int w,
 
       return out_hnd;
    }
-#endif //GLVIS_USE_EGL
+#endif // GLVIS_USE_EGL
 #ifdef GLVIS_USE_CGL
    if (!out_hnd.isInitialized()) { return out_hnd; }
    CGLError err = CGLSetCurrentContext(out_hnd.ctx.get());

diff --git a/lib/glwindow.hpp b/lib/glwindow.hpp
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ class GLWindow
    /// Set window position
    virtual void setWindowPos(int x, int y) { }
 
-   /// Returns true if the window has been succesfully initialized
+   /// Returns true if the window has been successfully initialized
    virtual bool isWindowInitialized() const { return false; }
 
    /// Returns true if the OpenGL context was successfully initialized

diff --git a/lib/sdl/sdl_main.hpp b/lib/sdl/sdl_main.hpp
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@ class SdlMainThread : public MainThread
    bool terminating {false};
    std::unique_ptr<SDL_Window, decltype(&SDL_DestroyWindow)> bg_wnd{nullptr, SDL_DestroyWindow};
 
-   // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // Objects for handling passing of window control commands to the main event
    // loop.
 
@@ -130,7 +129,6 @@ class SdlMainThread : public MainThread
 
    int num_windows {-1}; // -1: waiting for window to be created
 
-   // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // Objects for handling dispatching events from the main event loop to
    // worker threads.
 

diff --git a/lib/stream_reader.cpp b/lib/stream_reader.cpp
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ bool StreamReader::CheckStreamIsComplex(std::istream &solin,
    solin >> ws;
    // Returning of the characters to stream(buffer) does not work reliably,
    // so compare only the initial character, which fortunately does not
-   // conincide with the header of FiniteElementSpace.
+   // coincide with the header of FiniteElementSpace.
    return (solin.peek() == header[0]);
 }
 

diff --git a/lib/threads.cpp b/lib/threads.cpp
@@ -1076,7 +1076,7 @@ bool communication_thread::execute_one(std::string ident)
             {
                break;
             }
-            *is[np] >> ident >> ws; // "parallel"
+            *is[np] >> ident >> ws; // 'parallel'
             if (ident != "parallel")
             {
                cout << "Expected keyword \"parallel\", got \"" << ident

diff --git a/lib/vssolution.cpp b/lib/vssolution.cpp
@@ -2009,8 +2009,8 @@ void VisualizationSceneSolution::PrepareVertexNumbering()
    }
    else
    {
-      // Draw the vertices for each element. This is redundant,
-      // except when the elements or domains are shrunk.
+      // Draw the vertices for each element. This is redundant, except when the
+      // elements or domains are shrunk.
       for (int e = 0; e < mesh->GetNE(); e++)
       {
          if (!el_attr_to_show[mesh->GetAttribute(e) - 1]) { continue; }

diff --git a/share/Info.cmake.plist.in b/share/Info.cmake.plist.in
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   <key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
   <string>GLVis.icns</string>
   <key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
-  <string>4.4</string>
+  <string>4.5</string>
   <key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
   <string>6.0</string>
   <key>CFBundlePackageType</key>

diff --git a/share/Info.plist b/share/Info.plist
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   <key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
   <string>GLVis.icns</string>
   <key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
-  <string>4.4</string>
+  <string>4.5</string>
   <key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
   <string>6.0</string>
   <key>CFBundlePackageType</key>

diff --git a/tests/data b/tests/data
diff --git a/vcpkg.json b/vcpkg.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/vcpkg/master/scripts/vcpkg.schema.json",
   "name": "glvis",
-  "version": "4.4",
+  "version": "4.5",
   "dependencies": [
     "fontconfig",
     "freetype",