04/23/81 - List of known bugs and deficiencies in Multics Emacs. See the end of the file for explanations of categories and markings. **This file is intended to be perused via dprint, print, or via an** **editor. It is not intended to be perused with the help command ** Bugs: # Date Sev Difficulty Description | | 05/79: 049*79.05.29 7 3 F: ESC-E, ESC-] can hang at end of buffer. 04/79: 048*79.04.03 6 2 F: ESC-Y not after ^Y irretrievably wipes text. 03/79: 047*79.03.23 9 8 T: Bad echo negotiation bugs exist. 046 79.03.18 3 6 M: No forwarding facility. 045 79.03.17 3 3 D: Fortran mode doc still not in vfile. 044*79.03.03 3 5 F: Lisp errors not caught/minibuffered. 02/79: 043*79.02.08 6 3 R: ^V and ESC-V ought beep at buffer limits. 042*79.02.08 7 4 M: Too many d's make RMAIL fault. (can't duplicate) 041*79.02.07 8 7 R: set-screen-size can leave bad lines on screen. 040 79.02.06 6 9 R: ESC-< ^V redisp opt. causes obscure results. 039*79.02.06 7 7 M: Messages swallowed by emacs if QUIT hit (accept-msgs). 038*79.02.06 7 4 M: Mail not deallocated if rmail not quit cleanly. 037 79.02.06 6 3 F: runoff-fill-region is mark-position-sensitive. 036*79.02.06 4 2 F: "Modified" is issued for empty buffers. 01/79: 035 79.01.29 4 4 PL1: Subscripted labels sometimes indent badly. 034 79.01.22 4 7 D: I/O attachment of info vfile left attached. 033*79.01.22 5 5 M: Reply-to is not supported. 032*79.01.22 2 7 F: Knight-TV meta numbers don't work. 031*79.01.21 9 1 M: text of messages gets pushed on kill-ring. 030*79.01.21 9 1 D: documentation pushed on kill-ring before display. 029*79.01.17 9 9 F: fundamental-mode ex. comm. doesn't revert bindings well. 028 79.01.12 5 3 T: Inverse video fields not cleared on VIP7800. 12/78: 027*78.12.27 6 1 M: ^X^S moves cursor. 026*78.12.27 9 1 D: ^X2, ^X3, ^XF documentation is obsolete. 025*78.12.15 8 7 R: If last line in top window is overlength, it is mis-displayed when two-window mode exited. 11/78: 024*78.11.21 2 1 F: ESC-^Y doesn't set the mark. 023*78.11.09 4 2 F: "Search fails." message overwrites search string. 022 78.11.08 4 6 L: Unbalanced constructs leave cursor in random places. 10/78: 021 78.10.27 5 6 CI: "emacs -mc a b" reads file b, etc. 020*78.10.20 3 5 F: Negative arguments are not supported. 019 78.10.06 4 8 R: Initial redisplay done even if input pending. 018*78.10.04 7 9 R: idel-chars not used in overlength lines. 09/78: 017*78.09.25 9 9 F: ^Q does not work in macros. 016 78.09.22 5 8 F: ^X^O deletes formfeeds. 015*78.09.22 3 10 R: ESC-99 ESC-R moves screen if last line too long. 014*78.09.15 8 8 R: minibuffer prompts are editable, should not be. 013 78.09.13 6 5 F: speedtype abbrevs > 4 chars fail. 012*78.09.12 6 5 PL1: private auto-dcl files exist, should be merged. 011 78.09.12 6 10 PL1: auto-dcl does not use the search facility. 010*78.09.05 9 5 F: comout does not trap Multics errors properly. 009 78.09.05 7 4 F: ^G beeps before all redisplays are done. 008*78.09.05 8 4 L: Local displays sometimes damage two-window mode. 007 78.09.01 5 4 R: Deleting end of buffer leaves screen blank. 08/78: 006*78.08.29 3 1 CI: Unread input is saved across emacs invocations.NOT SO. 005 78.08.28 9 5 PL1: Tab and semicolon in quoted strings leaves the cursor in a random place. 004 78.08.28 1 3 R: Trailing whitespace (ac tb) gets printed. 003 78.08.28 4 3 F: De-underlining consecutive underlined words loses. 002*78.08.25 2 4 R: Random whitespace is sometimes printed in mid-line. 001*78.08.23 5 1 CI: emacs does not recognize some TTT tty names. Suggestions: 030 79.05.29 3 4 F: Deconfuse loadlib/loadfile, use search rules, etc. 029*79.03.31 3 2 F: "new-line" should not eat last blank line. 028*79.03.03 3 5 F: End all prompts with CR, no more ESC. 02/79: 027*79.02.06 8 8 R: ^V/ESC-V with arguments to repeat redisplay-free. 026 79.02.06 8 10 F: Fill paragraph by paragraph (etc.) text. 025 79.02.06 4 8 F: Recursive editors in ^XQ/hairy searches, etc. 01/79: 024*79.01.26 4 5 F: Query-replace command, builtin (not macro). 023 79.01.18 5 3 F: Explicit kill-ring-pop, or yank-and-pop command. 022 79.01.18 8 4 F: An insert-other-buffer-here command. 021*79.01.18 9 1 D: ESC-X help ought do something useful. 020 79.01.17 3 1 PL1: electric colon should not electrify in mid-program. (should check for next line end/empty) 019*79.01.05 9 1 D: apropos should diagnose or accept multiple args. 018 79.01.03 9 1 R: set-screen-size ought default full for no arg. 12/78: 017*78.12.27 6 9 F: ^C of a ^S or ^R (etc.) should re-search same string. 016 78.12.27 7 9 F: Comout should deal with commands that ro/co internally. 015*78.12.26 8 10 M: Rmail save/log requests. 014*78.12.26 8 9 M: Rmail to read other-than-your-own mailboxes. 013*78.12.26 7 9 M: Rmail should reply to recipients. 11/78: 012 78.11.28 3 10 M: Handle memos and progress as emacs interrupts. 011 78.11.28 2 10 F: Expand active functions in file-name prompts. 010 78.11.28 3 9 F: Expand abbrevs in file-name prompts. 009*78.11.09 4 2 F: Leave search string visible when search fails. 10/78: 008*78.10.06 3 3 F: ^@ should respond visibly. 08/78: 007 78.08.30 3 4 F: Substitute globally times, n given. 006 78.08.25 2 1 F: Comout that uses different strategies for different amounts of output (LEJ has such). 005 78.08.23 2 2 R: ^XV should "integrate" output with following redisp. 004 78.08.22 1 5 R: Visible "End of Buffer" marker on screen. 003 78.08.22 4 5 R: ^XV that prints .-n,.+n (before and after cursor). 002 78.08.22 1 2 F: Global substitute command showing changed lines. 001 78.08.22 2 2 R: ^XV should delimit its printed output with "---". Major Projects: 012 79.02.06 5 20 F: COBOL mode. Problem is nobody knows what it should do. 011 79.02.05 5 30 F: Have a "tags" (multi-language label-cataloguing) package. No particular problem, just work. 010 79.01.02 6 30 F: Have a completing reader. Problem is large amount of engineering and implementation work, and prerequisite of MP 009. 009 79.01.02 8 20 F: Organized cataloguing and argument checking on extended commands. Problem is design. 008 78.12.19 7 35 R: Support underlining on "field-type" video TTY's. Same problems as Major Project 007. 007 78.12.19 8 28 R: Support overstriking on printing, TV, and other ^H-recognizing terminals. Problem is overhaul of redisplay data and control structure, specif. detabbify. 006 78.11.28 9 50 F: Keep buffers in non-PDIR place, optionally, for safety". Problem is Lisp representation of buffers. 005 78.09.21 9 25 F: Start_up files in some non-Lisp ASCII format. Problem is designing and implementing a robust reader/evaluator that gives credible diagnostics. 004 78.09.21 8 20 F: Redesign/reimplement option mechanism. Problems are lack of info on options in autoload files not yet loaded, and concomitant lack of error checking. 003 78.09.13 6 15 F: Speedtype improvements. Problem is lack of save/edit ability, bugs in hashing algorithm, integration with native Multics Speedtype. 002 78.08.30 8 25 R: Synchronize with or abort output. Problem is too much typeout, waiting for unwanted redisplays. Difficulties are needed MCS features, and inconsistent partial screens. 001 78.08.23 8 30 R: Substantially improve printing terminal redisplay. Largest problems are middle-of-line edits, asynchrony in deciding what to print, too much typeout. Other tasks: 001*79.02.06 8 9 CI: Install new Lisp; update macros to use unwind-protect. Problems are paperwork, exposure. 002 79.02.06 10 30 D: Finish user documentation (emacs_tutorial.info). 003*79.02.06 4 2 Update Emacs on CISL, incl. vfile. 004*79.02.06 2 5 Support ADDS980 terminal in Arizona. 005*79.02.06 9 2 Upgrade to MCS echo negotiation. (Yet to debug new interrupt synchronization under mcs_echo_neg as well). Explanations of categories and markings: * indicates that the bug has been fixed. Bug categories are: F - fundamental emacs; CI - command interface; R - redisplay; PL1 - PL/1 mode; L - Lisp mode; M - Mail/message subsystems; D - Documentation/auto-doc; T - terminal/network support. Definitions: A "bug" is a user-visible deficiency causing unexpected results, loss of display or data, or useless output or display, or action at variance with the documentation. Severity and estimated difficulty are rated on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 is the most urgent and hardest. A suggestion is a suggested design augmentation or modification that is open to debate about relative merit; it is not a bug fix. Suggestions do not include missing isolatable sub-subsystems. Suggestions requiring major redesign or new implementation are listed under "Major projects", and do not qualify as suggestions. A major project is a design/implementation enhancement involving substantial redesign and reimplementation, or the implementation of an entirely new subsystem within Emacs. (END) ----------------------------------------------------------- Historical Background This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is provided and donated to Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems Inc. as a contribution to computer science knowledge. This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bell Laboratories, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems Inc., Honeywell BULL Inc., Groupe BULL and BULL HN Information Systems Inc. to the development of this operating system. Multics development was initiated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project MAC (1963-1970), renamed the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under the leadership of Professor Fernando Jose Corbato. Users consider that Multics provided the best software architecture for managing computer hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating systems incorporated Multics principles. Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe , and in the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems Inc., as successor in interest by change in name only to Honeywell Bull Inc. and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. . ----------------------------------------------------------- Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission. Copyright 1972 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. Copyright 2006 by BULL HN Information Systems Inc. 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