The 1.6 stable release features fifteen new reproducible papers and multiple other enhancements including the addition of the seismic migration gallery.

According to the SourceForge statistics, the previous 1.5 stable distribution has been downloaded more than 5,000 times. The record number of downloads in September 2013 is probably due to the fact that Madagascar is being used for teaching at different universities. The top country (with 40% of all downloads) was China, followed by the US, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia.

According to Ohloh.net, the year before the 1.6 release was the period of a high development activity, with 41 contributors (up 41% compared to the previous year) making 1,762 commits to the repository. Ohloh.net says that Madagascar “has a well established, mature codebase maintained by a very large development team with stable year-over-year commits” and estimated 201 man-years of effort.