Beta-test version of elvis (vi clone) for VMS
Steve Kirkendall
The first stab at porting elvis to VMS is now ready for beta testing.
(Elvis is a clone of vi, the standard UNIX editor.) If you want a
copy, you can grab it via FTP from m2xenix.psg.com, in the directory
"pub/elvis/beta".
Frankly, elvis is *not* ready for general distribution yet. There are
bugs. This version is being made available for *BETA-TESTING* only
because we want a little feedback.
Although this beta-test is aimed primarily at VMS users, it should work
under UNIX too, and maybe DOS.
Here's the READ.ME file that goes with it...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|This is a beta-test version of elvis, the vi clone. Its version number
|is 1.5f, which is somewhere between 1.4 and 1.5.
|
|The term "beta-test" means...
| - You should avoid this version unless you know what you're doing,
| and are willing to put up with a lot of hassle.
| - There are bugs in this version -- probably minor, maybe not so minor.
| But there are definitely bugs. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
| - You can use this version yourself, but you shouldn't distribute it to
| anybody else. The *real* version 1.5 will be freely redistributable,
| but this particular version isn't.
| - I'm only making this version available because I want bug reports.
| If you never intend to contact me, then I'd prefer to have you use
| older, more stable version 1.4.
| - There will be changes made to this code fairly often.
|
|COMMENTS REQUESTED:
|For this particular beta-test, the emphasis is on VAX/VMS users. Elvis was
|ported to VMS by John Campbell. In doing the port, he had to make several
|decisions, and he'd like some feedback about them.
|
| - Is the implementation of pipes & filters sufficient for VMS?
| - Are the temporary files stored in reasonable places?
| - Are any other features missing from the VMS version that you'd like
| to see added?
|
|And for users of any OS...
| - Did you have any trouble unpacking the archives? How would you prefer
| to see them packaged? I've been thinking of LHARC.
| - Did you have any trouble compiling or installing elvis? What could be
| done to help?
| - Did you have any trouble printing the documentation? Which format would
| you prefer to have the documentation distributed in? Your choices are
| troff source, formatted ASCII, or formatted ASCII with control codes.
| - How 'bout them ex-commies, huh?
| - Which missing features do you want the most?
|
| - Any other comments are welcome, too.
|
|KNOWN BUGS:
| - There are some problems with screen updates. They aren't as efficient
| as they should be. On at least one occasion, elvis failed to redraw a
| portion of the screen that should have been redrawn.
| - Some of the ":set" options don't do anything.
|
|Note: I took a stab at fixing the screen update bug just before placing this
|in the archive. John Campbell hasn't seen the final version. Obviously, I
|expect it to work (It does on my UNIX system) but if something goes horribly
|wrong, its my fault and not his.
|
|EMAIL ADDRESSES:
| Steve Kirkendall, primary author, ported to various UNIX flavors.
| kirk...@cs.pdx.edu
|
| John Campbell, ported to VAX/VMS
| camp...@nauvax.ucc.nau.edu
|
|FILES:
| 15f-doc.sh -- this is the documentation for elvis. You need troff or
| nroff to print it, though.
|
| 15f-src.sh -- this is the complete source code for elvis 1.5f
|
| READ.ME -- This file.