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From:	Paul Haahr <paul@paulhaahr.com>
To:	Tim Goodwin <tjg@star.le.ac.uk>
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Subject: Re: rc 1.6 $version
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Tim wrote

> > I'd prefer $rc-version, but either should be fine.
> 
> (As it turns out, this is all irrelevant, but I have would two
> objections to this.  First, `-' turns on free careting, [...]

Yeah, I forgot about that.  (We had fixed that in es.)

> Secondly, rc is meant to be C-ish, not Lisp-ish.)

That, too, we fixed in es.

> Mea culpa.  I failed to realise that there are two types of special
> variable in rc: 1) those that merely have a default initial value, and
> 2) those that invoke special code when substituted.  Till now,
> $version was in category 2.  I've just moved it to category 1.

This seems quite sensible.

> As a separate matter, several variables are not exportable.  These
> are: $apid, $apids, $cdpath, $home, $ifs, $path, $pid, and $*.
> (Remember that $cdpath, $home, and $path are all aliased to upper case
> versions, which *are* exportable.  Also, the default assignment to
> $path happens before $PATH is examined: so if $PATH is set, $path will
> acquire its value instead of the default.)
> 
> I think $bqstatus and $status ought to be non-exportable too.  I've
> just made them so; you can all see what this breaks in the next
> release candidate :-).

Seems good to me.

Three questions:
  - Is $version exportable?
  - Is $version exported if the user doesn't assign to it?
  - Is $version inherited from the environment?

--p