Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!comp.vuw.ac.nz!nickson From: nickson@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Ray Nickson) Newsgroups: gnu.bash.bug Subject: suggestions for making it easier for local bash maintainers Message-ID: <8908102223.AA01924@comp.vuw.ac.nz> Date: 10 Aug 89 22:20:50 GMT Sender: daemon@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Distribution: gnu Organization: GNUs Not Usenet Lines: 29 Some suggestions, that you might consider for a future release: - how about automatically-mailed bug reports always go to MAINTAINER, and only to you as a last resort? They could then include an `if you don't understand this, pass it on to me' type comment.... - how about automatically giving version numbers an extra field to say which number local build this is (a la emacs). i.e. my first build of 1.02 would be 1.02.1, etc. - would it be possible for you to comment on posted bugfixes when you've had a look at them, so people using bash as their login shell can keep up to date with fixes without incorporating unsanctioned fixes, which you have already indicated is a source of some annoyance to you (I've stopped posting patches for this reason). i know it means extra work for you, but it might be worth considering if it means people are testing a bash that looks more like your current version. - could bash move away from the #ifdef SYSV approach, towards something like emacs's config.h, where I have a separate symbol for each feature? (#ifdef SYSV_STRINGS, #ifdef HAVE_ALLOCA etc). This would be especially appreciated for HPUX, which is a SYSV system that becomes more and more BSD with each release. -rgn -- Ray Nickson, Dept. Comp. Sci., Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. nickson@comp.vuw.ac.nz ...!uunet!vuwcomp!nickson + 64 4 721000x8593