dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman) (02/24/85)
Floating-point doesn't work on our awk. (We have a 3220 running Edition VII, no floating-point hardware, floating point is trapped by the kernel and works in C.) Is there a fix? Dave Sherman -- {utzoo pesnta nrcaero utcs hcr}!lsuc!dave {allegra decvax ihnp4 linus}!utcsri!lsuc!dave
steve@lpi3230.UUCP (Steve Burbeck) (02/27/85)
>Floating-point doesn't work on our awk. (We have a 3220 running >Edition VII, no floating-point hardware, floating point is trapped >by the kernel and works in C.) >Is there a fix? 1) this has been reported on the net some months ago by someone. The only fix I know of is to use an older version of awk. You are using the v2.4 version I would guess. Our version (v.2.2.1.1 or v.2.3 dated Aug 23 1980) works with floats just fine. 2) But this brings up again the question of why PE doesn't make itself responsible for maintaining and distributing a bug list so that each site doesn't have to find out for itself about each bug. I'll bet that you wasted quite a bit of time before you gave up and decided it wasn't something you were doing, it was a bug in awk. At the last Interchange meetings, both Axel and Carl made rather strong arguments to PE about just this problem. There was no response. 3) Another related point is that it would be helpful if PE would at least include a list of all commands that have been changed in each new distribution. There are two benefits. First, if a command such as awk seems to have a problem, you could at least see whether it has been changed (and hence may be suspected of harboring a new bug). Second, if a new distribution has few changes it would be easier to install just the changes into your currently working system than to have to install the whole thing, and then add back in your own site dependent system changes (e.g., uucp patches, permission changes, etc.). Steve Burbeck Linus Pauling Institute
dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman) (02/28/85)
Steve is absolutely right. Which brings up another question: just who *is* responsible for UNIX development, maintenance and bug fixes (including Edition VII) at P-E? Are they on the net? If not, why not? If the answer is that the only people who really understand Edition VII are TWG or Wollongong people who are no longer around, then at least let us know. I think the effort Earl Wallace and the Western Support people have put into tying the pe.cust net together is excellent. And now that we have the net, can we optimize its use by making sure the right people are on it? Dave Sherman The Law Society of Upper Canada Toronto -- {utzoo pesnta nrcaero utcs hcr}!lsuc!dave {allegra decvax ihnp4 linus}!utcsri!lsuc!dave