From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 8069 invoked from network); 5 Jun 2000 21:38:59 -0000 Received: from sunsite.auc.dk (130.225.51.30) by ns1.primenet.com.au with SMTP; 5 Jun 2000 21:38:59 -0000 Received: (qmail 5364 invoked by alias); 5 Jun 2000 21:37:33 -0000 Mailing-List: contact zsh-announce-help@sunsite.auc.dk; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk X-No-Archive: yes X-Seq: 110 Received: (qmail 5029 invoked from network); 5 Jun 2000 21:35:32 -0000 To: zsh-announce@sunsite.auc.dk (Zsh announcements list) Subject: Zsh 3.0.8 and 3.1.9 released Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 22:35:22 +0100 From: Peter Stephenson Message-Id: Versions 3.0.8 and 3.1.9 of zsh have been released. Zsh is an enhanced UNIX shell, intended to be compatible with the Korn shell, with particular emphasis on features for interactive use. 3.0 is the current stable production version. 3.0.8 consists mainly of bug fixes, but there are a few user-visible changes to ease awkward features and for improved configuration. 3.1 is still officially in beta. However, it is hoped that it will provide the basis of version 4.0 of the shell without any major new work. Consequently sites likely to upgrade are encouraged to install this version at least for the purposes of evaluation. Major changes in this version include continued development of the new completion system, internal improvements in memory usage, enhancements to pattern matching, support for floating point numbers with a library of floating point functions, and a test suite. There follows a more detailed list of changes in these versions of the shell. After that, the Meta-FAQ is appended. This gives details of FTP sites where the latest version can be found. If you are reading this via a web browser, you might want to go straight to http://www.zsh.org/ where there is a list of FTP mirrors. New features in zsh version 3.1.8 and 3.1.9 ------------------------------------------- These are primarily bug-fix versions. There are only a few user-visible changes. Note that the last announced version (last August) was 3.1.6. - Array slices ${array[a,b]} with b < a now correctly have zero length. New features in zsh version 3.1.7 --------------------------------- Further enhancements to new completion system: - Comprehensive context-sensitive configuration via `styles', which can be set by the menu-driven front end in compinstall - General mechanism for setting patterns to be ignored in a completion; overriding of patterns to be matched for functions - New completers: _prefix to complete word before cursor, _ignored to complete using words so far ignored (like $fignore but more powerful), _history to complete words from shell history - Multiple use of completers with different options, similarly splitting of different types of completion (`tags') so they are considered with different styles - Many more supplied completions for standard commands which work out of the box, and better handling of command line options/arguments which behave in the usual way - $fpath now set up to use installed functions by default; functions can be loaded just by `autoload -U compinit; compinit' - Much improved handling of nested quoting and nested braces - New LIST_PACKED and LIST_ROWS_FIRST completion options and corresponding styles - compctl library separated out (frozen but still supported) - User-friendly introduction available at zsh website http://sunsite.auc.dk/zsh/ Additions to complist listing library (coloured completion and menu selection): - Listings can be shown page by page (are by default for new completion) - Menu selection allows full up and down scrolling of long lists Other editing features: - new parameters $PENDING, $MARK, $BUFFERLINES - Easy display of a prompt from within an editing widget Code parsing, storing and execution: - Completely new system of storing code internally, greatly optimised - Much less memory for shell functions etc. - Can compile shell functions to .zwc `wordcode' functions for fast loading - Can create `digest' files of entire directories in .zwc format Parameters: - Floating point support added, similar to ksh93, `typeset -F' and `typeset -E' declare floating point variables; usual C/Fortran-like rules for integer/float conversion - Mathematical library zsh/mathfunc contains all the standard mathematical functions for use in arithmetical expressions - Improved parsing of arithmetical expressions and better error messages - Special parameters can be made local - `typeset -h' hides specialness of parameters, either as parameter attribute or when declaring new local variable - Local parameters can now be exported as in other shells; new option GLOBAL_EXPORTS on by default provides old behaviour that `typeset -x' referred to global parameters. - zsh/parameter module enhanced: now needed for new completion; parameters provided have `-h' flag set so that they are hidden by `typeset', so that existing functions don't need to be changed - Quotes can be stripped from parameter values with ${(Q)...}, providing reverse of ${(q...)...} facility Globbing and pattern matching: - Pattern matching rewritten for efficiency - Supports `backreferences', i.e. extracting parenthesised chunks of matches, e.g. [[ $foo = (#b)(*/)[^/]* ]] stores the part of $foo up to the last / in $match[1] and the indexes of the match in $mbegin[1], $mend[1]. (#m) is also available to set $MATCH to the entire match and corresponding $MBEGIN, $MEND: useful in parameter substitutions like ${.../.../...}. - (#s) and (#e) match start and end of pattern like ^ and $ in regular expression, useful in complex expressions such as ((#s)|/)dirname((#e)|/) and in parameter expressions. - Depth-first/last listing of recursive glob lists Functions etc.: - `autoload -X' inside a function body instructs the shell to bootstrap the function at that point - `autoload +X fn' says load the function fn but don't execute it - Prompt `themes' make customization of prompts easier Modules: - New hierarchical naming scheme for modules; supplied modules go into zsh subdirectory, so zle becomes zsh/zle etc.; aliases supplied for compatibility for existing code, but the new format should be used in future. - zmodload is more consistent between dynamically and statically linked shells - zsh/zftp and its function suite support multiple sessions (zfsession command); zftransfer allows transfer of files between two ftp sessions with no local file; use styles for e.g. progress style; IPv6 supported; recursive put `zfput -r' for uploads - zsh/zpty module creates pseudoterminal and allows builtin `expect'-like behaviour Other: - Test suite, not yet complete (`make test') - use of Linux task limits - Many fixes including output redirection with `setopt xtrace' and other redirection fixes; NIS+ problem. - Better null-command behaviour in sh and csh emulation - Internal memory usage optimisations New features in zsh version 3.0.8 --------------------------------- User-visible changes: - the "maxpthreads" limit is now recognized. - the token "%L" is recognized in prompts and expands to the current value of the SHLVL parameter. - parameter expansions using the ${(e)...} flag now obey quoting rules; in previous versions, such expansions always acted as if double-quoted. - ranges (e.g. [A-Z]) in file patterns are no longer locale-specific. Configuration changes: - test for mknod() prototype. - more comprehensive signal name detection, copied from 3.1.6. - more comprehensive rlim_t type detection, copied from 3.1.7. - support additional hardware platforms in config.sub, from 3.1.6. - better detection of setlocale() support, and a switch to turn it off. - better detection of tgetstr() support, from 3.1.6 (as of 3.0.7). - use newer autoconf test for functions in libnsl (as of 3.0.7). Otherwise, versions 3.0.7 and 3.0.8 provide bug fixes only. ------------------------ META-FAQ for the Z Shell ------------------------ The latest version of this META-FAQ can be found at any of the FTP sites listed below. Author ------ Zsh was originally written by Paul Falstad . Zsh is now maintained by the members of the zsh-workers mailing list . The development is currently coordinated by Peter Stephenson . The coordinator can be contacted at , but matters relating to the code should generally go to the mailing list. Availability ------------ Zsh is available from the following anonymous FTP sites. These mirror sites are kept frequently up to date. The sites marked with (H) may be mirroring ftp.cs.elte.hu instead of the primary site. Primary site ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/ http://www.zsh.org/pub/zsh/ Australia ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/ http://www.zsh.org/pub/zsh/ ftp://ftp.ips.gov.au/pub/packages/zsh/ (H) Denmark ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/unix/shells/zsh/ Finland ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/unix/shells/zsh/ France ftp://ftp.cenatls.cena.dgac.fr/pub/shells/zsh/ Germany ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/unix/shells/zsh/ (H) ftp://ftp.gmd.de/packages/zsh/ ftp://ftp.uni-trier.de/pub/unix/shell/zsh/ Hungary ftp://ftp.cs.elte.hu/pub/zsh/ http://www.cs.elte.hu/pub/zsh/ ftp://ftp.kfki.hu/pub/packages/zsh/ Israel ftp://ftp.math.technion.ac.il/mirror/ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/ http://www.math.technion.ac.il/mirror/ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/ Italy ftp://ftp.unina.it/pub/Unix/pkgs/shell/zsh/ Japan ftp://ftp.nisiq.net/pub/shells/zsh/ (H) ftp://ftp.win.ne.jp/pub/shell/zsh/ Norway ftp://ftp.uit.no/pub/unix/shells/zsh/ Poland ftp://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/unix/shells/zsh/ Romania ftp://ftp.roedu.net/pub/mirrors/ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/ ftp://ftp.kappa.ro/pub/mirrors/ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/ Slovenia ftp://ftp.siol.net/mirrors/zsh/ Sweden ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/unix/zsh/ UK ftp://ftp.net.lut.ac.uk/zsh/ ftp://sunsite.org.uk/packages/zsh/ USA ftp://uiarchive.uiuc.edu/pub/packages/shells/zsh/ ftp://ftp.rge.com/pub/shells/zsh/ ftp://foad.org/pub/zsh/ http://foad.org/zsh/ Mailing Lists ------------- Zsh has 3 mailing lists: Announcements about releases, major changes in the shell and the monthly posting of the Zsh FAQ. (moderated) User discussions. Hacking, development, bug reports and patches. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to the associated administrative address for the mailing list. YOU ONLY NEED TO JOIN ONE OF THE MAILING LISTS AS THEY ARE NESTED. All submissions to zsh-announce are automatically forwarded to zsh-users. All submissions to zsh-users are automatically forwarded to zsh-workers. If you have problems subscribing/unsubscribing to any of the mailing lists, send mail to . The mailing lists are maintained by Karsten Thygesen . The mailing lists are archived; the archives can be accessed via the administrative addresses listed above. There is also a hypertext archive, maintained by Geoff Wing , available at http://www.zsh.org/mla/. The Zsh FAQ ----------- Zsh has a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), maintained by Peter Stephenson . It is regularly posted to the newsgroup comp.unix.shell and the zsh-announce mailing list. The latest version can be found at any of the Zsh FTP sites, or at http://www.zsh.org/FAQ/. The contact address for FAQ-related matters is . The Zsh Web Page ---------------- Zsh has a web page which is located at http://www.zsh.org/. This is maintained by Karsten Thygesen , of SunSITE Denmark. The contact address for web-related matters is . The Zsh Userguide ----------------- A userguide is currently in preparation. It is intended to complement the manual, with explanations and hints on issues where the manual can be cabbalistic, hierographic, or downright mystifying (for example, the word `hierographic' does not exist). It can be viewed in its current state at http://sunsite.auc.dk/zsh/Guide/. As of this writing, chapters dealing with startup files and their contents and the new completion system are essentially complete.