diff --git a/doc/scsh-release-0.5 b/doc/scsh-release-0.5 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..114fcbd --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/scsh-release-0.5 @@ -0,0 +1,102 @@ +We are pleased to release version 0.5 of scsh, the Scheme shell. + +* Scsh +------ + +Scsh is a Scheme system designed for systems programming and high-level +scripting of Unix applications. It includes + +- a complete Posix interface from Scheme, including complete + sockets support, signal handlers, and tty control; + +- a uniform interface to other generally-universal Unix features, + such as symlinks and pseudo-terminals; + +- a library of generally useful tools for scripting applications, + such as regular expressions; + +- macro support for a high-level process notation, allowing one to + build pipelines of programs and redirect I/O, similar to Unix shells + such as sh and csh; + +- a full R5RS-compliant Scheme, with important extensions: record types, + exceptions, and modules; + +- command-line interface designed for writing scripts that are invoked + with #! triggers on their first line. + +Scsh runs on most Unix platforms, including Linux, various BSD systems, +Solaris, AIX, and Irix. It is implemented as an extension of Scheme 48, +a portable, byte-code interpreter Scheme implementation. + +* Obtaining scsh +---------------- + +You may obtain the new release at the scsh web page + + http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/scsh/ + +which points to the following file, retrievable by anonymous ftp: + + ftp://ftp-swiss.ai.mit.edu/pub/su/scsh/scsh.tar.gz + +The tar file includes full sources, a detailed manual and a paper +describing the design of the system. + +For the lazily curious, we also have the manual separately available as + ftp://ftp-swiss.ai.mit.edu/pub/su/scsh/scsh-manual.ps +Just click 'n view. + +You should be able to build scsh for your system by simply ftping +the release file, and doing the following: + gunzip < scsh.tar.gz | tar xf - + cd scsh-0.5 + ./configure + make + make install + +* New in this release +--------------------- +Our last release had a lot of new code, and some elements were pretty +flaky. Scsh is now much more robust. All known bugs have been fixed. + +Scsh now supports complete Posix, including signal handlers. +Early autoreaping of child processes is now handled by a SIGCHLD +signal handler, so children are reaped as early as possible with no +user intervention required. + +A functional static heap linker is included in this release. +It is ugly, limited in functionality, and extremely slow, but it works. +It can be used to build scsh binaries that start up instantly. + +There is a new command-line switch, + -sfd +which causes scsh to read its script from file descriptor . + +Scheme 48's floating point support was inadvertently omitted from the last +release. It has been reinstated. + +The regular expression system has been sped up. Regular-expression +compilation is now provided, and the AWK macro has been rewritten to +pre-compile regexps used in rules outside the loop. It is still, however, +slower than it should be. + +Execing programs should be faster in this release, since we now use the +CLOEXEC status bit to get automatic closing of unrevealed port file +descriptors. + +* Thanks +-------- + +We received many bug reports, improvements, fixes and suggestions from scsh +users. In particular, we'd like to thank Alan Bawden, Michael Becker, Jin +Choi, Sean Doran, Lutz Euler, Kevin Esler, Rolf-Thomas Happe, David Hull, +Shriram Krishnamurthi, Tod Olson, Michel Schinz, Bill Sommerfeld, Mike +Sperber, and Victor Zandy for their contributions to this release. + +Thanks, guys; we really appreciate the feedback. + +Olin Shivers Brian D. Carlstrom +Cambridge, Mass. Santa Clara, Ca. + +May, 1997