ITK 5.4.5 has been released! Onboarding AI Agents

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We are pleased to announce the release of ITK 5.4.5!

ITK 5.4.5 is a maintenance release focused on critical bug fixes, improved documentation, and platform support, while introducing AI agent onboarding to assist in project maintenance tasks :robot:. This is the latest maintenance update for this cross-platform, open-source toolkit supporting N-dimensional scientific image analysis with spatially-aware algorithms. :partying_face:

:flashlight: Highlights

  • Bug Fixes:
    • Resolved issues with zero-sized CompositeTransforms and out-of-bounds access in GDCM, addressing possible security vulnerabilities.
    • Addressed bugs in imread with single-element lists and added corresponding tests to reinforce image IO reliability.
  • Documentation:
    • AnatomicalOrientation was backported along with usage guidance.
    • Minor corrections including spelling, removal of legacy documentation, and updates to shared guides.
    • The AGENTS.md file was introduced to onboard AI agents, outlining project structure and contribution guidelines.
  • Platform Support:
    • Improved testing for macOS-15 (Intel), updates for Python Xcode 16.2
    • Support for building with newer system Eigen3

:robot: AI Agent Onboarding

A key development in this release is the formal introduction of AI agents to assistent with maintenance. An AGENTS.md file guides a developer’s agent through ITK’s processes, ensuring contributions follow established community standards. Additionally, GitHub Copilot agent integration is streamlined by including a setup step to install the Pixi package manager, enabling agents to establish reproducible build and test environments quickly-- mirroring the workflow of human contributors.

:floppy_disk: Download

Python Packages

Install ITK Python packages with:

pip install itk

Guide and Textbook

Library Sources

Testing Data

Unpack optional testing data in the same directory where the Library Source is unpacked.

Checksums and Signatures

:folded_hands: Acknowledgments

Thank you to contributors Jon Haitz Legarreta Gorroño, Bradley Lowekamp, Hans Johnson, Matt McCormick, Dženan Zukić, Michael Cho, and the ITK community for their code, testing, and documentation efforts.

:speaking_head: What’s Next

ITK 6.0 Beta 2 Preparation
The community is preparing for ITK 6.0 Beta 2, featuring:

  • Architectural upgrades for contemporary C++ development
  • Enhanced template metaprogramming capabilities
  • Code modernization for improved readability and maintainability

5.4 Maintenance Commitment

We remain dedicated to supporting current users through:

  • Regular security and regression patches
  • Critical bug resolution
  • Platform compatibility updates

Enjoy ITK!

ITK Changes Since v5.4.4

Bradley Lowekamp (2):

Bug Fixes

  • Fix setting zero sized CompositeTransforms (55f1bbb046)
  • Backport GDCM out-of-bounds fix (7db3af9585)

Dženan Zukić (1):

Documentation Updates

  • Change version number in download.md from 5.4.3 to 5.4.4 (5c39ed7c57)

Hans Johnson (8):

Enhancements

  • Backport AnatomicalOrientation to ITKv5 (abc05a6a2d)
  • Add minimum policy version specification for external FFTW builds (066ea6de53)
  • Specify CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES for external FFTW builds (34f0432cb7)

Documentation Updates

  • Backport documentation for use of AnatomicalOrientation (294937f135)

Platform Fixes

  • Remove wrapping for AnatomicalOrientation backport (54b89d3ee6)
  • Remove LEGACY off mode in backport (1b746f8d16)
  • Replace np.bool with np.bool_ (5690d5ba51)

Style Changes

  • Fix spelling ignore for named class (Resizeable) (386e33e9f1)

Matt McCormick (13):

Enhancements

Documentation Updates

  • Use --as-is for pixi run in AGENTS.md (b46eb4a46b)
  • ITK 5.4.4 release notes (cfd33fd326)
  • Fix links to 5.4.4 release artifacts (6d0bafddea)
  • Add AI agent guide for ITK development (8a9622e5ae)
  • Do not upgrade CMake in emulated Linux ARM build (f3aae0f198)
  • Update Python Xcode version to 16.2 for macos-15 runners (acd395990d)

Platform Fixes

  • Replace np.bool with np.bool_ (a63750180b)
  • igenerator.py %i usage in help string (bb262e5285)
  • Migrate macos runners from macos-13 to macos-15-intel (f052bd7aec)
  • Update branch fro ITKClangFormatLinterAction to main (01248b7848)
  • Avoid PySequence_Fast_GET_ITEM (1726d3e518)
  • Exclude BigIO from AzurePipelinesLinux (cea974eb42)

Michael Cho (1):

Enhancements

  • Support building with system Eigen3 >= 5 (96e01b5d3b)

copilot-swe-agent[bot] (2):

Enhancements

  • Add copilot-setup-steps.yml with pixi installation (78fbad0de5)

Bug Fixes

  • Fix imread with single-element list and add test (8480b5f6d3)
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