[comp.emacs] WARNING - Bug in JOVE 4.14

LC.YRS@forsythe.stanford.edu (Richard Stanton) (09/06/90)

I've just noticed a problem with JOVE 4.14 (MS-DOS version).

I was looking at some ASCII data files, and noticed to my dismay
that they seemed to contain some blank lines, with a record missing
at each blank line. However, using another program to view the same
files, I was relieved to find that there were in reality no blank
lines at all, and all the data were there.

It seems to occur on or around line numbers which are a multiple of
826 (I noticed 826 and 1653, but also 216 at one point), and is
something of a problem. I didn't try saving the files to see if they
would be saved with a missing line, but it's disconcerting not to be
able to see all of your file on the screen, even if it doesn't
actually get lost.

Has anyone else noticed this behavior, and (even better) is there a
fix for it?

Richard Stanton
pstanton@gsb-what.stanford.edu

tih@makro.nhh.no (Tom Ivar Helbekkmo) (09/06/90)

LC.YRS@forsythe.stanford.edu (Richard Stanton) writes:

>I've just noticed a problem with JOVE 4.14 (MS-DOS version).

>I was looking at some ASCII data files, and noticed to my dismay
>that they seemed to contain some blank lines, with a record missing
>at each blank line. However, using another program to view the same
>files, I was relieved to find that there were in reality no blank
>lines at all, and all the data were there.

It's an old, old bug in the screen update function of Jove.  It's been
there for years, and is specified in one of the README files with the
sources as a known bug with no known fix.  If you can figure out
what's going on there, more power to you!

The problem is only with screen output, the line is actually there in
memory.  If you position the cursor on the missing line, and do C-A
and C-E a few times, you'll see that the line seems to start in column
2 (!) and consist of blanks.  To get the screen right, do C-A
Backspace Return (deleting the newline in front of the offending line
and reinserting it).

I spent several hours once looking for this one, but had no luck...

-tih
-- 
Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, NHH, Bergen, Norway.  Telephone: +47-5-959205
tih@barsoom.nhh.no, thelbekk@norunit.bitnet, edb_tom@debet.nhh.no