Beta release rc-1.6b3 available

[Tim Goodwin <tjg@star.le.ac.uk>]

A new beta release, rc-1.6b3, is available from the usual place.

    http://www.star.le.ac.uk/~tjg/rc/beta/rc-1.6b3.tar.gz

Please test this beta!  I'd like to turn it into rc-1.7, but it needs
a lot more testing first.  I need positive feedback (platforms where
it builds and runs smoothly) as well as reports of any problems.

The NEWS file from this release is appended: it describes significant
changes since the rc-1.6 full release.  Further details are in the
ChangeLog file in the distribution, and even more details can be found
on my new "hacking notes" page; anyone who is, or would like to be,
familiar with rc's internals is encouraged to look at this page.

    http://www.star.le.ac.uk/~tjg/rc/misc/notes

The only major missing feature that I'm aware of is support for the
4.4 BSD libedit.  This is planned, but probably not till after rc-1.7.

Tim.


Highlights of changes since rc-1.6.  See ChangeLog for further details.

Portability.  Many minor tweaks, including fixes for BeOS, CygWin, and
gcc-3.

Bug fixes.  A number of bugs have been fixed.  The serious ones were:
a core dump, triggered by `~ () '*''; premature exit, triggered by
sourcing a file which could be open()ed but not read() (such as a
directory on many systems); uninterruptible looping, triggered by
semantic errors in `fn prompt'.

New features.  The following features are new: the `$version' variable
replaces the `-V' flag; the `-I' flag (definitively not interactive)
was added for compatibility with the Plan 9 rc; ASCII SOH (^A) is now
handled transparently.

Documentation.  Distributions of this rc used to include a PostScript
paper given by Tom Duff to the UKUUG, describing the Plan 9 rc.  This
paper is no longer distributed with rc, but instead is available on
the web, both in its original PostScript version, and an updated HTML
version.

Tim Goodwin
2001-10-05