From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Dan Nicolaescu Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: status of the VMS port ? Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:43:26 -0800 Message-ID: <200802252143.m1PLhQfr027312@sallyv1.ics.uci.edu> References: <200802250026.m1P0QjKm029368@sallyv1.ics.uci.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1203976021 32030 80.91.229.12 (25 Feb 2008 21:47:01 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:47:01 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: rms@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Feb 25 22:47:25 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1JTlAN-0003f7-MR for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:47:20 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1JTl9r-0006bg-RP for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:46:47 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1JTl9n-0006aj-RH for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:46:43 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1JTl9m-0006aI-7B for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:46:42 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1JTl9m-0006aF-26 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:46:42 -0500 Original-Received: from sallyv1.ics.uci.edu ([128.195.1.109]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA1:24) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1JTl9i-00044Q-6O; Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:46:38 -0500 X-ICS-MailScanner-Watermark: 1204580607.79258@I60bkYs/abMrp9KmNuTyxA Original-Received: from mothra.ics.uci.edu (mothra.ics.uci.edu [128.195.6.93]) by sallyv1.ics.uci.edu (8.13.7+Sun/8.13.7) with ESMTP id m1PLhQfr027312; Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:43:26 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: (Richard Stallman's message of "Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:01:59 -0500") Original-Lines: 103 X-ICS-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-ICS-MailScanner-SpamCheck: not spam, SpamAssassin (score=-1.44, required 5, autolearn=disabled, ALL_TRUSTED -1.44) X-ICS-MailScanner-From: dann@mothra.ics.uci.edu X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Solaris 10 (beta) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:90436 Archived-At: Richard Stallman writes: > RMS said at some point that someone is working on making emacs work on > VMS. Who is that person? > > Sorry, I do not remember. > > Unless someone comes forward and announces that he will work on getting > the VMS in good shape, can we deprecate the port in 22.2 and remove it > after that? > > Please do not be in such a rush to delete things! You read too much into that. Let's just give VMS an equal opportunity with the other platforms: to stay or go based on existence of users + willing maintainers. Right now it's in a state of limbo: it does not build, but it's not dead either... > Before we delete this, we ought to do more than just wait and see if > "someone comes forward". We should make a real effort to try to find > the person. One way that we should certainly try is to search the > emacs-devel archives for the past 5 years for "VMS". I found this page: http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/EmacsOnVMS For your benefit the contents are below. The updates mentioined there are almost 4 years old... EmacsOnVMS I'm currently porting GNU Emacs 21.2 to OpenVMS? 7.3-1, and summarizing progress in this space. When the work is done, only build tips will remain. --ttn Current status Rather than make everyone wait while I puzzle out the copyright status of old VMS-specific files, I've decided to expose the work-in-progress so others can play, too. Details are available on the Emacs for VMS homepage: * http://www.gnuvola.org/software/emacs-for-vms/ What works (that is, reproducibly w/o too much manual tweaking) Configuration, "dump", file read/write, byte compilation, timers and unixoid select(2) emulation, multiple subprocesses (synch and asynch - implies dired, comint, compile, and so forth), colors on console, filename completion (with "magic" right square brace and slash key bindings), network operations via open-network-stream. Yes, that means M-x zone in color over ssh from a VMS box. "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." (HST) Release methodology The "public releases" will actually be in the form of checking things into the GNU CVS repositories, updating the Emacs for VMS page, and making the occasional announcement to gnu-emacs-sources. Commentary Feel free to ignore the lunatic ramblings in this section. * (2004-04-02) In debugging next-error (for M-x compile), I notice that var compilation-error-regexp-alist for Emacs 19.28 used to support specification of a function to do further parsing, beyond that which func compilation-parse-errors would do. Dropping this support makes for a cleaner design, evidently. Parsing must be one of the least-loved branches of computer science. * (2004-05-01) I asked the GNU Autoconf maintainers for vms-branch write privs but the response was not encouraging, so I've decided to publish "Autoconf for VMS" independently until a time (if any) when merging maintenance efforts becomes desirable. + http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf/2004-04/msg00131.html + http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/automake/2004-04/msg00205.html + http://www.gnuvola.org/software/autoconf-for-vms/ * (2005-03-22) There is a Bourne shell script PREP-ZIP available in the distribution directory that can be used to perform the first half of the bootstrap relatively painlessly (on unixoid hosts). Observant readers will notice a workaround for a methodology bug in the script. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Field Reports Since there is no mailing list, this section is for those intrepid spirits wishing to share experiences and tips building Emacs for VMS. * Autoconf for VMS requires GNU m4, and has been tested with Richard Levitte's port of GNU m4 version 1.2. Newer versions may or may not work. There is now a directory "m4" w/ source and an Alpha binary in the Autoconf for VMS distribution dir.