Re: Beta release rc-1.6b3 available

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

> Suse Linux 7.2 with a CVS gcc-3.1 from last week does fine.

Thanks for the report.  (Keep 'em coming, folks!)

> But there are some issues, not version dependant, that I don't understand.
> This will get out of control:
> 
> ; fn l {ls -l $*}
> ; fn l {l -a $*}
> ; l

Your function `l' always calls itself recursively, so it rapidly runs
out of stack.

Remember that, unlike other shells, rc is not a macro processor.  In
particular, the `l' in the function body of your second definition is
*not* expanded using the previous definition of `fn l'.  (You can
always use `whatis' to see the current definition of a function.)

A simple

    fn l { ls -la $* }

is probably what you want.

Also, check out the `builtin' builtin, which allows a function to call
a builtin or external command of the same name without recursing:

    fn ls { builtin ls -F $* }

> And what about job control, how do I handle that?

This shell does not have job control.

It has been said (by Duff? Pike? Rakitzis? I forget...) that job
control adds a deal of complexity to handle just the easy part of a
hard problem.  The suggested alternative in a windowing environment is
to open a new window.

If you're not in a windowing environment, you might like the `screen'
program, which does both the easy and hard parts of the problem.
There's also a "tabbed" version of gnome-terminal around, called
`multignometerm'.

Tim.