Re: Emacs-24.4's release

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

Hello, Stefan and Glenn.

On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 08:21:54PM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> >> Please consider the following bug a major bug that needs to be fixed for
> >> the new release:
> >> Bug#18749: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=18749
> > Same issue in 24.1 and 24.3, and it's my impression that cc-mode has
> > repeatedly had such problems, so I'm not inclined to wait for this.

> Indeed, it's good to fix those bugs, but they're not urgent enough to
> delay the release.  For all I know, the fix could be non-trivial and
> hence inappropriate for 24.4.

The fix (see patch in bug report thread for #18749) is trivial enough,
i.e. it's straightforward and easy to see that it's harmless.

> So, Alan, if you find the fix early tomorrow morning and it's obviously
> safe, feel free to install it in emacs-24, but otherwise please wait to
> install it after the release.

I'm going to commit it to the trunk today.

The bug is a serious one, in that once the bug syndrome hits a C file
(which will happen if an "interesting" place in the file is 500, 512, or
1000 non-literal characters after a "#"), it causes chaos.  This is
going to happen not frequently, but also not all that rarely.  Very few
people have Michael Welsh Duggan's tenacity and bug reporting skills.

I think, on balance, the fix is important enough to have gone into 24.4,
but the judgement is a fine one.  Perhaps it is not important enough to
justify rebuilding the 24.4 release.

On the other hand, should 24.4 need to be rebuilt for some other reason,
I ask that the fix to #18749 be incorporated into the final build.

>         Stefan

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).