Query re `format-mode-line'

["Robert J. Chassell" <bob@rattlesnake.com>]

`format-mode-line' is a function in `emacs/src/xdisp.c'.  It was first
put into CVS on 11 June 2002.

GNU Emacs version 21.1 was released on 20 October 2001 and
`format-mode-line' came after that.  However, although I do not know
when 21.4 was released, the date for building a Debian-modified
version 21.4 is 2005.

Emacs 21.4 has it in the symbol-name slot of a symbol, but no where
else.

The current CVS has it in the symbol-function slot, too.

It is listed in NEWS as a new function in Emacs 22.1

Does anyone know what happened to get `format-mode-line' listed in the
symbol-name slot of a symbol, but no where else, in Emacs 21.4?

Do only bug fixes go into minor version updates such as 21.4?  Or put
another way, have there been no new functions introduced into the
Emacs that most people use since 2001?

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                         
    bob@rattlesnake.com                         GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  http://www.teak.cc