README-alpha for RCS


* What?  RCS is alpha?  RCS, almost older than GNU itself, is alpha?!

  Well yes.  This RCS release includes a number of possibly-destabilizing
  changes in an attempt to modernize its build system and code base, in
  addition to the usual bugfixes and feature enhancements.  See the
  ChangeLog files for details on the simplifying assumptions, possibly
  misguided finessing and outright source-code thuggery involved, the
  result of which is that there might be breakage for old or extremely
  non-standard platforms.  Testing has been limited to GNU/Linux (Debian
  5.0 "Lenny"), which is by no means cutting edge, but is indeed a far cry
  from the platforms listed in README, reproduced here:

        AIX 3.2
        GCC 2.5.8 Intel x86
        HP/Apollo DomainOS
        HP-UX 8.07 and 9.*
        Solaris 2.4
        SCO Unix V.3.2
        Ultrix

  Other likely-to-suffer platforms are DOS and OS/2.

  The good news is that we now have in place a policy to announce any
  planned drop in support one or two releases before doing it.

  The bad news is that here is the announcement: We hereby plan to drop
  support for non-POSIXizable (via gnulib) platforms starting in RCS 6.x.

  The good news is that RCS 6.x might take a while to release.

  The bad news is that it might not.

  The good news is that gnulib grows and grows...

  Confused?  Maybe good/bad is not such an important distinction.
  Likewise, lucky/unlucky...


* The configure script told me that my platform might be desupported in
  the future.  What to do?

  You are very lucky!  As a courageous builder of pretest software you
  are now empowered to clue in the RCS maintainer on the desirability of
  continued support for your platform, thereby quietening your fears and
  increasing the connectedness of the RCS-using community.

  You do this by mailing the warning text output by the configure script
  to bug-rcs@gnu.org, with a suitably detailed (i.e., optional) explanation
  of your platform, including why it should (or shouldn't) be supported.


* The configure script told me to see this file, and stopped.  Why?

  Well, you're doing a good job so far!  To shut up the configure script,
  and get it to do what you want it to do, (re-)run it with the variable
  RCS_PRETEST set to "acknowledged", like so:

  ./configure [other-options] RCS_PRETEST=acknowledged

  Then, while the RCS is building, please read the rest of this file and
  send feedback to bug-rcs@gnu.org to help us move more quickly towards a
  real release.  Also, look for "Question forpretesters" in NEWS.


* So what's holding up the real release?

  Aside from the platforms dithering mentioned above, there are still some
  uncertainties that you can help clear up.  Note that your answers to the
  following questions are also valid after the real release.  However, you
  have come this far, why wait any longer?

  - If you find a functionality or documentation bug, please report it!

  - If the (info) documentation is unclear or poorly organized, how would
    you improve it?  Long-term, the manpages will be reduced to pointers
    to the info documentation, so focus your attention there.

  - Are there any interesting scenarios you'd like to see tested?  It
    would be best if you could suggest a self-contained test case to add
    to the (just budding) test suite, but that is not critical.

  - Are there any interesting features you'd like to see added?  See file
    HACKING and (info "(rcs) Still missing"), for current thoughts.
