gnuplot-beta

OK, here's the updated "version" splash text

[Hans-Bernhard B. <br...@ph...>]

Ok, then,

I've modified show.c:show_version() and version.c, and the splash screen
now looks like this:

        G N U P L O T
        Version 4.0 patchlevel 0
        last modified Wed Apr 14 14:46:24 CEST 2004
        System: Linux 2.4.20-4GB-athlon

        Copyright (C) 1986 - 1993, 1998, 2004
        Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley and many others

        This is gnuplot version 4.0.  Please refer to the documentation
        for command syntax changes. The old syntax will be accepted throughout
        the 4.0 series, but all save files use the new syntax.

        Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual
        The gnuplot FAQ is available from
                http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/

        Send comments and requests for help to
                <gnu...@li...>
        Send bugs, suggestions and mods to
                <gnu...@li...>


I.e. the "pre-release of version 4.0" is revised, and the mailing lists
shown are now the release-version ones, and they're wrapped over to a line
for themselves to keep the whole display withing 80 columns.  I could have
used the sf.net alias instead, but think it looks better this way.

-- 
Hans-Bernhard Broeker (br...@ph...)
Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.

Re: OK, here's the updated "version" splash text

[Daniel J S. <dan...@ie...>]

You're going to hate me for this, but I think the "throughout" might 
look better at the start of the third line of the paragraph as opposed 
to the end of the second line.

Dan


Hans-Bernhard Broeker wrote:

>Ok, then,
>
>I've modified show.c:show_version() and version.c, and the splash screen
>now looks like this:
>
>        G N U P L O T
>        Version 4.0 patchlevel 0
>        last modified Wed Apr 14 14:46:24 CEST 2004
>        System: Linux 2.4.20-4GB-athlon
>
>        Copyright (C) 1986 - 1993, 1998, 2004
>        Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley and many others
>
>        This is gnuplot version 4.0.  Please refer to the documentation
>        for command syntax changes. The old syntax will be accepted throughout
>        the 4.0 series, but all save files use the new syntax.
>
>        Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual
>        The gnuplot FAQ is available from
>                http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/
>
>        Send comments and requests for help to
>                <gnu...@li...>
>        Send bugs, suggestions and mods to
>                <gnu...@li...>
>
>
>I.e. the "pre-release of version 4.0" is revised, and the mailing lists
>shown are now the release-version ones, and they're wrapped over to a line
>for themselves to keep the whole display withing 80 columns.  I could have
>used the sf.net alias instead, but think it looks better this way.
>
>  
>

-- 

Dan Sebald
email: daniel DOT sebald AT ieee DOT org
URL: http://acer-access DOT com/~dsebald AT acer-access DOT com/

Re: OK, here's the updated "version" splash text

[Petr M. <mi...@ph...>]

Well, I have some comments too:

> >        G N U P L O T
> >        Version 4.0 patchlevel 0
> >        last modified Wed Apr 14 14:46:24 CEST 2004
> >        System: Linux 2.4.20-4GB-athlon
> >
> >        Copyright (C) 1986 - 1993, 1998, 2004
> >        Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley and many others
> >
> >        This is gnuplot version 4.0.  Please refer to the documentation
> >        for command syntax changes. The old syntax will be accepted throughout
> >        the 4.0 series, but all save files use the new syntax.

please use always either single space like ". " or double space ".  ".

> >        Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual

I would like more to see "." at the end of this sentence.

> >        The gnuplot FAQ is available from
> >                http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/

What about:

	   See also the gnuplot FAQ available from

as all the surrounding sentences start with a verb too?


********


Now, I've updated the head of NEWS. Please proofread.

---
PM

Re: OK, here's the updated "version" splash text

[Hans-Bernhard B. <br...@ph...>]

> > >        This is gnuplot version 4.0.  Please refer to the documentation
> > >        for command syntax changes. The old syntax will be accepted throughout
> > >        the 4.0 series, but all save files use the new syntax.
> 
> please use always either single space like ". " or double space ".  ".

Agreed.

> > >        Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual
> 
> I would like more to see "." at the end of this sentence.

Agreed.

> > >        The gnuplot FAQ is available from
> > >                http://www.gnuplot.info/faq/
> 
> What about:
> 
> 	   See also the gnuplot FAQ available from
> 
> as all the surrounding sentences start with a verb too?

No.  A little variation in style never hurt anybody ;-)

And, as you all indubitably noted already, no, I did not draft an 
Announcement yet, nor actually release the tarball yesterday night.
It's become clear that the "last minute" changes will take at least
one more day to settle.

The main thing I currently consider release-critical would be that issue
on Tru64 Unix's cc compiler regarding TBOOLEAN.  This really should have
been found earlier (what else did I make all those release candidates
for?), but in the current state of affairs, we can't seriously release the
code.  We either have to put a comment into INSTALL telling users to use
GCC on Tru64 instead of DEC cc, or find out what really happens there and
fix it.

-- 
Hans-Bernhard Broeker (br...@ph...)
Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.

Re: OK, here's the updated "version" splash text

[Lars H. <lhe...@us...>]

> And, as you all indubitably noted already, no, I did not draft an 
> Announcement yet, nor actually release the tarball yesterday night.
> It's become clear that the "last minute" changes will take at least
> one more day to settle.
 
 :)

 [If you are concerned with d/l bandwidth, that tarball is about 20% smaller
  when bzip2'd.]

> The main thing I currently consider release-critical would be that issue
> on Tru64 Unix's cc compiler regarding TBOOLEAN.  This really should have
> been found earlier (what else did I make all those release candidates
> for?), but in the current state of affairs, we can't seriously release the
> code.  We either have to put a comment into INSTALL telling users to use
> GCC on Tru64 instead of DEC cc, or find out what really happens there and
> fix it.
 
 I have only access to Tru64 4.0F, nothing newer, and compiler defaults and
 features may be different in newer versions.

 On 4.0F:

 o cc -std:  relaxed ANSI mode, __STDC__ = 0
 o cc -std0: K&R, __STDC__ undefined (default mode)
 o cc -std1: strict ANSI mode, __STDC__ = 1

 (I ___think___ -std may be default in 5.x.)

 configuring with either 'CC=cc' or 'CC="cc -std"' gives rise to warnings
 like this:

cc -std -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I..  -I../term -I../term -DBINDIR=\"/usr/local/bin\" -DX11_DRIVER_DIR=\"/usr/local/libexec/gnuplot/4.0\" -DCONTACT=\"gnu...@li...\" -DHELPFILE=\"/usr/local/share/gnuplot/4.0/gnuplot.gih\" -I/usr/local/include  -g -c `test -f 'axis.c' || echo './'`axis.c
cc: Warning: axis.c, line 188: In the definition of the function "axis_unlog_interval", the promoted type of checkrange is incompatible with the type of the corresponding parameter in a prior declaration. (promotmatchw)
    TBOOLEAN checkrange;
-------------^

 cpp analysis shows that TBOOLEAN gets defined to _Bool, which in turn is
 typedef'd to unsigned char.

Re: OK, here's the updated "version" splash text

[Hans-Bernhard B. <br...@ph...>]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004, Lars Hecking wrote:

[... regarding OSF1 / Digital Unix / Tru64 ...]

>  configuring with either 'CC=cc' or 'CC="cc -std"' gives rise to warnings
>  like this:
> 
> cc -std -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I..  -I../term -I../term -DBINDIR=\"/usr/local/bin\" -DX11_DRIVER_DIR=\"/usr/local/libexec/gnuplot/4.0\" -DCONTACT=\"gnu...@li...\" -DHELPFILE=\"/usr/local/share/gnuplot/4.0/gnuplot.gih\" -I/usr/local/include  -g -c `test -f 'axis.c' || echo './'`axis.c
> cc: Warning: axis.c, line 188: In the definition of the function "axis_unlog_interval", the promoted type of checkrange is incompatible with the type of the corresponding parameter in a prior declaration. (promotmatchw)
>     TBOOLEAN checkrange;
> -------------^
> 
>  cpp analysis shows that TBOOLEAN gets defined to _Bool, which in turn is
>  typedef'd to unsigned char.

I revived my access to a Tru64 box, and saw the same thing.  The weird 
thing is that if I change the affected function definitions into 
ANSI style, the problem goes away.

That would seem to go against the grain of the whole way gnuplot handles
pre-ANSI vs. ANSI C (optional ANSI prototype declarations, but K&R
definitions), which seems to be accepted by just about every other
compiler on the planet.

-- 
Hans-Bernhard Broeker (br...@ph...)
Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.

Re: OK, here's the updated "version" splash text

[Lars H. <lhe...@us...>]

> >  cpp analysis shows that TBOOLEAN gets defined to _Bool, which in turn is
> >  typedef'd to unsigned char.
> 
> I revived my access to a Tru64 box, and saw the same thing.  The weird 
> thing is that if I change the affected function definitions into 
> ANSI style, the problem goes away.
 
 ANSI and K&R compilers differ in how they handle arument promotions.

> That would seem to go against the grain of the whole way gnuplot handles
> pre-ANSI vs. ANSI C (optional ANSI prototype declarations, but K&R
> definitions), which seems to be accepted by just about every other
> compiler on the planet.

 In fact, half or so of the gnuplot sources already have ANSI function
 definitions.

 At this point, we should switch to ANSI/ISO C throughout the source
 (maybe not just now for the new release). Not sure how many K&R compilers
 we need to support, but SunOS' cc worked quite well with the supplied
 ansi2knr, last time I checked (probably some time last year).