HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: emcguire@mama3.intellection.com (Ed McGuire)
Subject: GNU DIFF 1.15 "diff3 -e" causes unnecessary edit
Organization: Intellection, Inc.
Distribution: gnu
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 23:56:27 GMT

Is there a patch or new version of GNU DIFF addressing the following
behavior?  Under SunOS 4.1.2, GNU DIFF 1.15 "diff3 -e", compiled
either with gcc 2.2.2 or cc from SunOS, gives wrong output.  This in
turn affects RCS merge operations, such as those invoked by CVS.

An example illustrates the problem.  Consider the command "diff3 -e
file1 file2 file3", intended to merge into file1 any differences
between file2 and file3.  The contents of the files are typed below.
Notice especially that file2 and file3 differ only by a single initial
line, containing X.

	file1	      file2         file3
     1		   1	         1  X
     2		   2	         2   
     3		   3	         3   
     4  a	   4    a        4   
     5  P	   5	b        5  a
     6  P	   6	b        6  b
     7  P	   7	b        7  b
     8		   8	         8  b
     9  d	   9	c        9   
    10		  10	c	10  c
    11  Q	  11	c	11  c
    12  Q	  12		12  c
    13  Q	  13	d	13   
    14		  14	e	14  d
    15  e		        15  e

The expected output of GNU diff3 is
	0a
	X
	.
an ed(1) script which would insert the X.  This is also the output
given by SunOS diff3.

In fact, the original large C++ source file from which this example
was derived could not be reduced to a simpler case than this, or GNU
diff3 would also give the expected output: for example, removing line
5 of file1; or, removing line 5 of file2 and line 6 of file3.  But the
actual output of GNU diff3 in the absence of further simplification is
	9,14c
	d
	.
	5,7c
	b
	b
	b
	
	c
	c
	c
	.
	0a
	X
	.
an ed(1) script which radically disturbs file1, actually making it
identical to file3.

In the file from which this example was taken, the wrong output of GNU
diff3 had the same effect: invoked from CVS, it not only incorporated
a couple of changes made by another programmer near the top of the
file, but it also discarded all changes made by this programmer,
replacing them with the lines in the repository.  Fortunately, this
was recognized by RCS merge as a merge overlap, so the programmer
could recover manually.

My great fear is that this behavior sometimes results in "silent" code
lossage in the CVS environment.  So far I have no evidence that this
has occurred.

-- 
Ed McGuire                   1603 LBJ Freeway, Suite 780
Systems Administrator/       Dallas, Texas 75234
 Member of Technical Staff   214/620-2100, FAX 214/484-8110
Intellection, Inc.           <ed@intellection.com>
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: evanc@uuisis.isis.org (Evan Champion)
Subject: GNU News Reader
Organization: International Shared Information Service (Ottawa)
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 13:49:47 GMT

Also, where could I find source for the GNU News Reader (GNUS I
believe?)  Thanks!

Evan
From: jbw@bigbird.bu.edu (Joe Wells)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: confusing GNU, FSF, and LPF (was: [misc.int-property] Re: Apple lo...)
Date: 12 Aug 92 15:50:29 GMT
 <hp48sx.713361528@wuarchive.wustl.edu> <1992Aug10.030009.1375@nntp.hut.fi>
 <FRIEDMAN.92Aug10221458@nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu>
 <1992Aug11.103521.24421@cl.cam.ac.uk>
Organization: Boston University Computer Science Department
In-reply-to: ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk's message of 11 Aug 92 10:35:21 GMT

In article <1992Aug11.103521.24421@cl.cam.ac.uk> ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant) writes:

   friedman@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Noah Friedman) writes:
   > ... The LPF is a separate organization from the GNU Project, with
   > different objectives.  Don't be confused about the two).

   So why did I get asked for my opinion about software patents when I 
   reported a bug in Bison to the official GNU project address as given
   in the documentation?

Because Len Tower, who handles mail sent to gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu (and lots
of other addresses that get forwarded to this one), is also a member of
the League for Programming Freedom.  There is some overlap between the
memberships of the GNU project (that is, the Free Software Foundation) and
the LPF, mainly because if the LPF loses its battles, the GNU project will
be seriously hurt.

-- 
Joe Wells <jbw@cs.bu.edu>
Member of the League for Programming Freedom --- send e-mail for details
From: barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: A question about the GPL with respect to binary distributions
Date: 18 Aug 1992 05:32:06 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: gandalf.think.com

In article <pgr.223645.17Aug1992@prg.ox.ac.uk> pgr@prg.ox.ac.uk (Partially Grown Rhododendron) writes:
>But what happens if I put a second tar-file on the *same* site, in the
>same directory (with a clear labelling of what the two files are)?
>Does this fall under clause 3(a) of the GPL (version 2):

I believe so.

>In other words, is putting the source in the same directory as the
>executables classified as `accompanying'?

I believe the intent of the "accompanying" clause is that anyone who can
get the binary must be able to get the source the same way.  Just as you
can split a single binary or source distribution into multiple files to
keep them to a reasonable size, you can also split a source/binary
distribution up into separate source and binary files.

>Ok, final case.  Suppose I don't put the source in the same directory;
>what obligations am I under then?  My guess is that it is definitely
>going to be 3(b) even if it appears on other (or the same) FTP site;
>is that right?

I don't think this is necessary.  I believe 3(b) only comes into play when
you have to do something different (such as sending mail) to get the
source.  I don't think a "cd" command counts.

-- 
Barry Margolin
System Manager, Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar@think.com          {uunet,harvard}!think!barmar
From: pascoe@rocky.gte.com (Dave Pascoe)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: gnutar -r
Date: 19 Aug 92 20:02:25 GMT
Organization: GTE/SCSD
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Should gnutar -r be able to append an archive if the tape drive is a
1/4" type on a Sun-4 running SunOS 4.1.1?

I have been trying to use gnutar -rvf to append an archive and I've
been getting the following errors:

>gnutar: can't write to /dev/rst0:  : I/O error
gnutar: Blocksize = 1 records

and on the console:

 st0:     Error for command 'write', Error Level: 'Fatal'
        Block: 141219   File Number: 0
        Sense Key: Illegal Request
st0:    Error for command 'write file mark', Error Level: 'Fatal'
        Block: 141219   File Number: 0
        Sense Key: Illegal Request

Any ideas?

--
Dave Pascoe KM3T
pascoe@rocky.gte.com
GTE/SCSD - Needham Heights, MA
(617) 455-5704
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: rodmur@ecst.csuchico.edu (The Terminally Bored)
Subject: Pascal to C translater
Organization: California State University, Chico
Distribution: gnu
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 00:59:15 GMT

Does anyone know if GNU makes a pascal to C translater,  thought I've seen
a p2c somewhere before but I didn't see anything at prep.ai.mit.edu


-- 
   __        _                                       Dale A. Harris
  /  )      //                           /            rodmur@ecst.csuchico.edu 
 /  / __.  // _      , , , __.  _       /_  _  __  _   {Internet}
/__/_(_/|_</_</_    (_(_/_(_/|_/_)_    / /_</_/ (_</_ Watch where you step
From: dg@dgupta.hpl.hp.com (Dipankar Gupta)
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 13:30:43 GMT
Subject: Re: Texinfo Extraction from C++
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss


If you're not restricting yourself to texinfo per se, you might wish
to consider some variants of Knuth's WEB system of structured
documentation. Two variants that I use are:

- Norman Ramsey's spidery web
- John Krommes' FWEB

FWEB has quite a few bells & whistles, while spidery web is much
closer to Knuth's original (It is derived from Levy's CWEB if I
remember right). FWEB is supposed to support both TeX and LaTeX, but I
haven't exercised the LaTeX bits at all. I prefer spider when I'm in
the mood for TeX hacking, and FWEB otherwise. There are some
irritating differences between the two, but nothing a few lines of
Emacs Lisp can't solve!

Cheers,
Dipankar Gupta
Hewlett-Packard
--
--
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: WZAP@rusvm1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de
Subject: Latest Version of GNUPLOT
Organization: Comp.Center (RUS) U of Stuttgart, FRG
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 14:00:45 GMT

Dear netters,
please tell me, what is the latest version of GNUPLOT. We are
actually using GNUPLOT 3.0 patchlevel 1.
ThX in advance.
-- Stefan Dallwig
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: arumble@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Anthony Rumble)
Subject: GROFF Macros for Epson Printers
Keywords: GROFF, EPSON printers
Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 05:24:45 GMT


Does anyone know of any Macro sets for GROFF so that I can format
man pages for printing on an Epson printer, using Epson standard
type change commands.. (Ie use Normal/bold/italic) 
Maby even different fonts?

Please reply via E-Mail


-- 
Anthony Rumble
aka SmilieZ
"Anything is possible.. If there is enuf money in it"
From: pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: [misc.int-property] Re: Apple loses "look and feel" lawsuit (forwarded)
Date: 14 Aug 92 17:57:42 GMT
	<1992Aug10.030009.1375@nntp.hut.fi>
	<FRIEDMAN.92Aug10221458@nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu>
	<LEE.92Aug11144015@meercat.wang.com>
	<FRIEDMAN.92Aug13062433@nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu>
Reply-To: pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi)
Followup-To: gnu.misc.discuss
Organization: Prifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth

On 13 Aug 92 10:24:33 GMT, friedman@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Noah Friedman) said:

friedman> The other concern is that IBM presently owns more software
friedman> patents than any other company I know of.  It appears that IBM
friedman> is mainly interested in using those patents in order to get
friedman> cross licenses. [ ... ]

friedman> "You get value from patents in two ways," says Roger Smith,
friedman> IBM Assistant General Counsel, intellectual property law.
friedman> "Through fees, and through licensing negotiations that give
friedman> IBM access to other patents.

friedman> "The IBM patent portfolio gains us the freedom to do what we
friedman> need to do through cross-licensing--it gives us access to the
friedman> inventions of others that are the key to rapid innovation.
friedman> Access is far more valuable to IBM than the fees it receives
friedman> from its 9,000 active patents.  There's no direct calculation
friedman> of this value, but it's many times larger than the fee income,
friedman> perhaps an order of magnitude larger."

Which brings back my idea that perhaps the LPF could use the patent
system to develop a strong "free" patents portfolio to be cross licensed
only in exchange for public access to other companies' patent
portfolios.

I am quite confident that many, many academic and even commercial
inventors would be happy to have their work patented in the name of the
LPF to this end, instead of putting their inventions in the public
domain, where they cannot be used to extract concessions from
proprietary patent owners.

This is quite similar to that thr FSF does; it has a strong portfolio of
copyrighted software that is only avaiable to those that make available
their own works in the same way (the analogy is not perfect of course).

The first time I put out this idea Stallman said that patents are
expensive, unlike copyrights, and therefore developing a free patent
portfolio was beyond the means of the LPF, or the FSF for that matter.

Has the situation changed? Would maybe the EFF pitch in? What about a
funding drive? Many small companies believe their one competitive
advantage is a patent, many more know instead that it is very hard to
get anything done without risking a patent infringement suit from a much
larger established compatitor. They might want to support a drive to
develop a strong portfolio of "free" patents.
--
Piercarlo Grandi                   | JNET: pcg@uk.ac.aber
Dept of CS, University of Wales    | UUCP: ...!mcsun!ukc!aber-cs!pcg
Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK | INET: pcg@aber.ac.uk
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: Rudy.Zalesak@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Rudy Zalesak)
Subject: Re: Apple loses "look and feel" lawsuit (forwarded)
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 22:39:22 GMT

In article <BsuIK7.32F@news.udel.edu> johnston@me.udel.edu (Bill Johnston)
writes:
>I doubt that Sculley has ever heard of Richard Stallman.  I'd
>be willing to wager that Roel Pieper, chairman of Unix Systems
>Laboratory, hasn't heard of Stallman either, or doesn't care.
>Pieper is chairman of Unix Systems Laboratory, which is currently
>suing UC Berkeley and BSDI in a case that many people, including
>some LPF members, regard as a 'look and feel' case.

Even if Sculley et al haven't heard of Stallman from their contacts
in the computing community (highly unlikely), they probably read
the special computing issue of the Wall Street Journal that featured
a long rather sympathetic portrait of Richard Stallman. I think it
appeared late last year.

		Rudy Zalesak
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
From: pgf@cayman.COM (Paul Fox)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: which readline is latest/greatest?
Date: 14 Aug 92 17:30:41 GMT
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge Ma


hi -- I've just added code to readline-1.1 to support the vi-mode '.'
command, that it, the 'redo' command.  But as I was doing it, I realized
that the version I was working with is _not_ the same as that in the
current bash, nor, I think the same as the one in gdb.  (Our source-archive
filesystem is inaccessible at the moment, so I can't explore much.) Just
what code _should_ I be submitting patches for?  Which readline/s is/are
definitive?

paul fox, pgf@cayman.com

-- 
		paul fox, pgf@cayman.com, (617)494-1999
		Cayman Systems, 26 Landsdowne St., Cambridge, MA 02139
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: cproto@marsh.cs.curtin.edu.au (Computer Protocol)
Subject: version control with RCS or CVS
Summary: version control with RCS or CVS
Keywords: RCS CVS
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 12:04:14 GMT



I'm trying to use RCS or CVS to keep track of changes made to 386bsd.
My problem is the amount of diskspace wasted. Using NSE under SunOS I
don't have the same problem. All source files of a project are under
NSE control but are mapped into a work area using the translucent
file system. This gives read access to all files associated with that
particular project so that you can do a make or browse through files.
Once you check out a file a writeable copy is created in your work
environment. This means that only during the time a file is checked
out you require additional diskspace. Once you checked a changed file
back in it becomes read only (mapped via the translucent file system),
the space for the copy is freed but you still can do a make on it or 
browse through it without having to check the file out.

The question is - can I achieve the same thing with RCS or CVS.
Otherwise is there a public domain version of the TFS ?

Regards - Tibor Sashegyi (cproto@abel.cs.curtin.edu.au)

Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: cyrus@pprg.eece.unm.edu (W. Tait Cyrus)
Subject: gas/gld for HP7XX (PA-RISC)
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 20:57:02 GMT
Organization: Solutions Unlimited
Summary: gas, gld, hp730, PA-RISC
Followup-To: cyrus@su.com


I am looking for gas and gld for an HP730 (PA-RISC) running HP-UX.  I am
getting one for my office and I would like to play with gas/gld.

Thanks

---
W. Tait Cyrus				e-mail: cyrus@su.com
Solutions Unlimited			Phone: 719-260-7227
4710 Nightingale Dr. #M202
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
-- 
W. Tait Cyrus   	e-mail: cyrus@pprg.unm.edu
University of New Mexico			
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
From: jbw@bigbird.bu.edu (Joe Wells)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Does the LPF really exist?
Date: 12 Aug 92 15:45:57 GMT
 <FOX.92Aug10150357@graphics.nyu.edu>
Distribution: gnu
Organization: Boston University Computer Science Department
In-reply-to: fox@cs.nyu.edu's message of 10 Aug 92 20:03:57 GMT

In article <FOX.92Aug10150357@graphics.nyu.edu> fox@cs.nyu.edu (David Fox) writes:

      Since a few months, i try to join the LPF, without much success.  I
      have sent several mails to league@prep.ai.mit.edu and
      lpf-request@prep.ai.mit.edu, but apparently they are gone fishing.
      So, how do i proceed, or should i forget the whole idea?

   I mailed a check to the address given in the FTP document.
   They cashed it, so I assume I'm a member.  :o)

You may want to send e-mail to league@prep.ai.mit.edu asking to be added
to the LPF mailing lists.  This doesn't always happen automatically when
people join.

-- 
Joe Wells <jbw@cs.bu.edu>
Member of the League for Programming Freedom --- send e-mail for details
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: edguer@ces.cwru.edu (Aydin Edguer)
Subject: Re: [misc.int-property] Re: Apple loses "look and feel" lawsuit (forwarded)
Organization: Computer Engineering and Science, Case Western Reserve University
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 92 00:34:32 GMT

In article <PCG.92Aug14175742@aberdb.aber.ac.uk> pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes:
> I am quite confident that many, many academic and even commercial
> inventors would be happy to have their work patented in the name of the
> LPF to this end, instead of putting their inventions in the public
> domain, where they cannot be used to extract concessions from
> proprietary patent owners.

If the LPF wanted software patents to continue that would be a fine idea.
The LPF is, however, opposed to software patents is general and should
not compromise their stand.

The correct idea is to start a separate organization, which will act
as a patent clearing house, and permit anyone to join who agrees to
license _all_ their software patents to any other member at no charge.
No holding back or the organization loses rights to _all_ patents held
by the "League for Software Patent Exchange".

>The first time I put out this idea Stallman said that patents are
>expensive, unlike copyrights, and therefore developing a free patent
>portfolio was beyond the means of the LPF, or the FSF for that matter.

This is correct.  [Hearsay follows] The average cost of to obtain a
patent is around $2000 each, not counting the salary of patent author.

>Has the situation changed?

No.  If anything it will get worse as salaries at the Patent & Trademark
Office [PTO] rise.  Due to a Reagan plan, the PTO is supposed to be
self-supporting.  It used to be subsidized, but it is now supposed to
be charging all its costs back to the people who use its services.
Depending upon your economic point of view, this is either good or bad.

Aydin Edguer
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: davids@davids.b11.ingr.com (David Reed Smith)
Subject: GNU readline library
Reply-To: davids@davids.b11.ingr.com
Organization: Intergraph Corp., Huntsville, AL
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 14:43:45 GMT

Are there any plans to switch the readline library (used in bash and
gdb) from the GNU General Public License to the GNU Library General
Public License? 

If so, when?

If not, why?

Thanks.

davids
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Smith				davids@davids.b11.ingr.com (Internet)
Intergraph Corporation	 		uunet!ingr!b11!davids!davids (UUCP)
Huntsville, AL 35807			(205) 730-5752
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: tar@math.ksu.edu (Tim Ramsey)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Apple postings return to comp.archives
Date: 18 Aug 1992 19:21:55 -0500
Organization: Dept. of Mathematics, Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: hilbert.math.ksu.edu

ggw@wolves.uucp (Gregory G. Woodbury) writes:

>It was inappropriate to exclude them for political reasons in the first
>place.

I disagree.  If you wanted Apple postings to be reposted to comp.archives,
why didn't you do the work yourself to get them there?

-- 
    Tim Ramsey, 913.532.6750
    Department of Mathematics
    Kansas State University
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
From: jeffrey@algor2.algorists.com (Jeffrey Kegler)
Subject: Re: [misc.int-property] Re: Apple loses "look and feel" lawsuit (forwarded)
Reply-To: jeffrey@algor2.algorists.com (Jeffrey Kegler)
Organization: Algorists, Inc.
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 01:23:55 GMT

In article <FRIEDMAN.92Aug13054402@nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu> friedman@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Noah Friedman) writes:
>In article <1992Aug11.103521.24421@cl.cam.ac.uk> ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant) writes:
>This doesn't mean that the LPF endorses the FSF, or that the LPF has any
>interest in "free software".  It's much more conservative than that, and
>only objects to certain recent changes in copyright and patent law.  The
>LPF is a political organization, not a software house (some people might
>consider the FSF to be fairly political in nature, but if so it primarily
>makes its statement by actually producing free software, not by lobbying to
>have any laws changed).

The separation IMHO is very wise.  I, for example, endorse both the
practical work of the FSF, and the political position of the LPF.  I
am not sure I would endorse the *political* position of the FSF -- in
particular, I happily write software destined to be copyrighted by my
clients.

LPF's conservatism means I can join it (as I have) without any
reservations.  In this way I help support the practical efforts of the
FSF, which I am also glad to do.  If the two organizations were one, I
would be put in a very difficult situation.

Of course, if the only thing at stake were my support, this would not
be a big deal.  But I think a lot of people fall into the category of
loving FSF's work, wondering a bit about FSF's politics, but very
worried about wild extensions of intellectual property, which undo
centuries of precedents.  The combination of FSF software and LPF
politics was made to order for us.

-- 
Jeffrey Kegler, Independent UNIX Consultant, Algorists, Inc.
jeffrey@algor2.ALGORISTS.COM or uunet!algor2!jeffrey
137 E Fremont AVE #122, Sunnyvale CA 94087
"It is more often our modern poets who are dealing with stale