In message <[email protected]> on Sun, 18 May 2014 18:52:26 -0500, "Matthew D. Fuller" <[email protected]> said:
fullermd> The code is full of minor ifdefs and such for odd systems that, given fullermd> the above, we can stop caring about. Most of them, though, I don't fullermd> think we need to go to any work to proactively remove, as they're fullermd> relatively isolated and not hurting much. However, there is the major fullermd> case of VMS, which deserves special attention. It's a long way from fullermd> all the *nix-alikes ctwm runs on, and the support for it is in many fullermd> places very invasive; large sections of #if/#else'd conditional code fullermd> make some parts of the codebase hard to read (even breaking fullermd> brace-matching). fullermd> fullermd> Lacking somebody really watching it, it's highly likely to break from fullermd> other chances, and I wouldn't even want to give odds that we didn't fullermd> break it from 3.8.1 to 3.8.2. So even more than other systems, we fullermd> definitely need somebody engaged keeping it up, or it's going to rot fullermd> very quickly. Unlike the above systems, where conditionals are fairly fullermd> isolated, this case is so intrusive and ententacled into the code that fullermd> if we don't have somebody who wants to keep it up, I'm inclined to go fullermd> all grim-reaper on the whole thing and eliminate the mess. fullermd> fullermd> Should we care more about it than DEC^WCompaq^WHP does? This is one place where I should probably say something, as I was the VMS wiz around, and probably am responsible for the majority of the invasive code. However, I've stoppped caring about VMS years ago, and the last accounts I had around have expired a couple of years ago. Something worth consideringis that, as I understand it, HP has given up on VMS, to their customer's dismay. Not sure it's final or still a matter of negoatiation, but it does mark an intent, VMS is slowly being nixed. With this in mind, I'd say that the VMS code should be taken out... however, it might be good to keep it around somehow, for reference or just in case someone is interested in working with it. In a separate branch, maybe? Granted, that branch will get moldy after a while, but still... Cheers, Richard -- Richard Levitte [email protected] http://richard.levitte.org/ "Life is a tremendous celebration - and I'm invited!" -- from a friend's blog, translated from Swedish
