NBConvert 5.6 Release

[MSeal]

We have a lot of really nice features merged into nbconvert that don't need to wait for the 6.0 release. We're waiting for jupyter_client to release jupyter/jupyter_client#438 (should be any day now) to enable parallel processing. There's still a rare race condition for ipython kernels, but ipython/ipykernel#412 once passing should resolve the issues there. I don't want to block the release on this change.

Are there any open PRs we want merged before such a release? I will note I do not have time to finish the requested changes on #986 for this release. I will endeavour to fix that before 6.0 if I can though.

[t-makaro]

#1028 I'll make a change to it later today, and I'll push a version of #947 so that at least we can get better errors from latex.

[MSeal]

You can steal the code I added to #986 for nbconvert/exporters/pdf.py to handle errors better. That part was solid.

[MSeal]

@t-makaro @willingc Do we want to get the minimal version of #947 in for this release of just bump it to a later release? Are there any other open issues / bugs that we should tackle first? I do want to get 5.6 out soon.

[MSeal]

Also an FYI ipython/ipykernel#412 got merged but there's some issue with the fixes for the tests, so master is in a broken state. We'll need to note the status or need to upgrade ipykernel to allow for parallel ipython kernel executions.

[willingc]

Do we want to get the minimal version of #947 in for this release of just bump it to a later release? Are there any other open issues / bugs that we should tackle first? I do want to get 5.6 out soon.

I would bump these to 5.7 (or 6.0).

[willingc]

Needed for release:

• Changelog updates
• Any doc updates
• Decision on Return an error if latex does. #947
• Tests and Fixed socket binding race conditions ipython/ipykernel#412

[t-makaro]

I'll take another crack at #947 tomorrow. Otherwise, skip until a later release.

[MSeal]

Making the Changelog FYI, let's pause merging until the release is completed in the next day or two.

[MSeal]

No response on the ipykernel front... I'll try to dig into it Wednesday night to see if I can determine what's wrong there on my own.

[willingc]

@minrk If you have any free time, do you have any thoughts on ipython/ipykernel#412? Specifically, ipython/ipykernel#412 (comment). Thanks 😄

[minrk]

I think ipython/ipykernel#419 fixes the shutdown issue

[MSeal]

Appears to make nbconvert run smoothly again with the current changes in ipykernel master. Thanks! I'll make an issue on ipykernel to organize a patch release there.

[MSeal]

Ok I'll work on getting a PR up tonight for the changelog -- I think we're on track to get a full release this week finally done :)