The ekr-section-refs branch is ready for early testing

[Edward K. Ream]

This branch limits section references to otherwise blank lines.

See #2309 and PR #2310.

Work is nearly complete. Only some tests remain. The changes were remarkably straightforward.

Please report any problems immediately. There will be a lengthy period of testing.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 11:13:07 AM UTC-5 Edward K. Ream wrote:

 

> This branch limits section references to otherwise blank lines. See #2309 and PR #2310.

 

> Work is nearly complete. Only some tests remain. The changes were remarkably straightforward.

Work is now complete.  I have updated the first comment of #2309 to reflect all the work.

Note: instead of a new conversion script, the new --trace=sections command-line argument will warn of legacy section references that Leo now ignores.  Such section references might cause undefined references, but don't necessarily do so.  Indeed, C code such as a = b << c >> 2 is now valid and won't generate a warning.  Eliminating spurious warnings is one of the main advantages of this entire project!

In other words, --trace=sections will be of use only while converting legacy code.

I have just created #2312 to explore the possibilities of simplifying Leo's importers due to the new restrictions on recognizing section references.

> There will be a lengthy period of testing.

This "lengthy period" is to make sure that the impacts on existing outlines and practices are indeed minimal.  The new code itself is solid.

I plan to merge the work into devel this Friday, Nov 11.

Edward