mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (Mike Khaw) (04/07/88)
My site got the beta distribution of ispell 2.0 back in October 87.
Has a newer version been put into circulation? I found that the
beta ispell 2.0 didn't work as well as an older version we had.
The beta version would do things like flag "path" as a suspicious
spelling, and offer a list of alternatives which included the word
"PATH".
Mike Khaw
--
internet: mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.arpa
usenet: {uunet|sun|ucbvax|decwrl|uw-beaver}!mkhaw%teknowledge-vaxc.arpa
USnail: Teknowledge Inc, 1850 Embarcadero Rd, POB 10119, Palo Alto, CA 94303geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning) (04/11/88)
In article <21882@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA> mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (Mike Khaw) writes: > My site got the beta distribution of ispell 2.0 back in October 87. > Has a newer version been put into circulation? First, for people who need the info: The current version of ispell is 2.0.02 (two patches past 2.0). You can find out what version you are running by typing "ispell -v". The latest version should produce the message "Ispell Version 2.0.02, May 1987 Beta posting". If ispell doesn't take the -v switch, you have an old version. If your version is out of date, I believe you can get the 2.0 sources from the comp.sources.misc archives. (If I'm wrong on this, I'd like to know). Unless I learn that the archives don't have ispell sources, I *will not* send out copies of ispell 2.0. In any case, dictionaries are not currently available, due to size, but the 2.0 release includes scripts that can be used to build a dictionary based on local files. As for the patches, the archives unfortunately only contain patch #2. Persons who want copies of patch #1 can mail me, and I will send it as time permits. For convenience, I am also willing to send out patch #2 at the same time, though I'd rather you got it from a nearby archive if possible. Write to me at "geoff@ITcorp.com" or "uunet!desint!geoff". Warning: if you run with emacs, or if you run ispell on multiple files, I strongly advise installing both patches. Otherwise, your personal dictionary may become clobbered. Now, as to Mike's particular problem: > I found that the > beta ispell 2.0 didn't work as well as an older version we had. > The beta version would do things like flag "path" as a suspicious > spelling, and offer a list of alternatives which included the word > "PATH". This is a feature, not a bug. It sounds like you compiled with the CAPITALIZE feature enabled, but did not update your dictionary to contain capitalization information. Thus, your dictionary lists "PATH" as a valid word, but not "path". So ispell notices this as a capitalization error and suggests the correct (to it) capitalization. You will appreciate this feature when you neglect to capitalize a proper name. There are two solutions to your problem. First, if you turn off CAPITALIZE, things will work the way ispell 1.0 worked, simply believing whatever capitalization you originally used. Unfortunately, because of bugs in the posting, you must apply at least patch #1 before this will work. The second solution is to apply the "fixdict" shell script to your dictionary, and then rebuild the hash file. This will add proper capitalization information to your dictionary, so that ispell will know that "path" is a legal word but "michael khaw" needs correction. Finally, for people who remember my promise last summer of an even better version of ispell: it's coming along just fine, but work still remains to be done. It is currently being alpha-tested with a non-English dictionary, which (as one might suspect) is uncovering a fair number of bugs. There are still at least a couple of months more work to do before it's ready for posting. -- Geoff Kuenning geoff@ITcorp.com {uunet,trwrb}!desint!geoff