Re: New Linux/libc5 CVSup client

On 03-Dec-98 Thomas G. Lockhart wrote:

> I wasn't complaining; it's nice that your fallback technique of full
> transfer made it a "don't care".

Oh, I didn't think you were complaining; I was just explaining. I
always worry that when people see those "checksum mismatch" messages,
they'll think it's because the program is buggy. Then they might
decide not to trust it at all. But because of the safeguards that it
contains ("fixups"), it's impossible (to the best of my knowledge) for
the package to deliver a corrupted file. Even if you kill it manually
at any point, you'll either get a correct file or you'll still have
your original version.

>> This is the so-called "PM3" release of Modula-3, right?
>
> Yes. Any opinions on it?

It's _the_ free release to use these days. (There's also a commercial
M3 put out by Critical Mass <http://www.cmass.com/>.) DEC SRC hasn't
done anything with their M3 release for ages now. Some of the
stalwarts took over maintenance in their spare time, and the result
is PM3. Most of the progress has been in the Linux arena, since most
of the PM3 people run Linux. I've gotten it ported to FreeBSD, but
haven't submitted the changes back to the PM3 folks yet. There are
still some wrinkles to iron out, due to the fact that FreeBSD is in
a transition period from a.out to ELF.

Anyway, for Linux PM3 seems to be a big step forward. At least they
are keeping up with the libc changes that keep coming along lately.

> Hopefully it isn't too incompatible with other releases.

It's mostly compatible except for some details of the build system
that most programs never run into.

> They seem to be enthusiastic, and RPM support really helps with the
> initial installation...

Yes indeed.

> My glibc2 machine is at work, so I'll test there tomorrow if I have
> time. Have a good vacation if I don't talk to you before.

Thanks!

John
---
John Polstra jdp(at)polstra(dot)com
John D. Polstra & Co., Inc. Seattle, Washington USA
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."
-- H. L. Mencken