Subject: Re: Online help file - library(MANUAL)

From: Jonathan D Johnston <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 11:51:06 -0400

> > Jonathan D Johnston <[email-masked]> writes:
> > The SWI-Prolog web site includes a page on "Building SWI-Prolog on
> > MS-Windows."  The instructions were easy to follow.  However, if  
versions
> > 3.3.7 and 3.3.8 are typical, one caveat needs to be added.   There's
no
> > direct support for making the SWI-Prolog online help files in the
> > MS-Windows environment.
> > 
> > I suppose one could also download the binary distribution.  Or,
download
> > the GNUish tools for DOS. Or, as I plan to *eventually* do: make my
> > computer a dual-boot system (Windows/UNIX).
>
>Jan Wielemaker <[email-masked]> writes: 
> The MANUAL and helpidx files are part of the source distribution 
exactly
> for this reason: you need too many junk around. Even on a Unix  machine
> you probably need to install proper version of the used tools. On
> Windows it will be a lot of work. 

Jan, do you mean that the MANUAL and helpidx files in the source
distribution are supposed to be ready to use?  If so, then there is a
problem with the source distribution for 3.3.7 and 3.3.8.  The helpidx
seems to be out of sync. Try help(3-23), for instance.

> > Jonathan D Johnston <[email-masked]> writes:
> > Of course, as long as the manual does not change, I can simply  copy
> > library(MANUAL) and library(helpidx.pl) from the old version's 
library. 
> > I guess that's more of a CVS issue.  Using the CVS web interface,
there
> > does not seem to be easy way to determine which source files  changed
> > from, say, 3.3.7 to 3.3.8.
> 
>Jan Wielemaker <[email-masked]> writes:
> In principle there should be symbolic tags for each version (I  forgot
> the V3_3_6 tag). You can check whether there are checkins between two
> symbolic tags. 
> 

Using CVSweb? (I know this is not a CVS forum; I will shut up after this
:-))

>Jan Wielemaker <[email-masked]> writes:
> The CVS version is there for a few reasons:
> 
> 	* I can help people with specific problems easier
> 	* It is easier for users to deal with modified versions
> 	* It can reduce network traffic for people that want the  latest
>           source
> 	* You can have a look around in the source without having to
> 	  download it all.

> > Jonathan D Johnston <[email-masked]> writes:
> > Any suggestions would be appreciated.  I enjoy using SWI-Prolog,  but
I am
> > definitely new at it.
> 
> Jan Wielemaker <[email-masked]> writes:
> For a start, a binary should suffice :-)
> 
> 	Regards --- Jan

You are probably right.  I was thinking that I would want both a Windows
and UNIX version of SWI-Prolog. Also, it's hard to resist pulling things
apart to see how they work :-)
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