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.Last update: 20 April,2001
1003.2-92 #55 _____________________________________________________________________________ Interpretation Number: XXXX Topic: errorbells, eb Relevant Sections: 5.10.7.5.5 Interpretation Request: (Defect Report) ----------------------- Reference: Page 536, Section 5.10.7.5.5, "errorbells, eb" There are things in the specification of the ex/vi errorbells option in 1003.2-1992 that I believe differ from historic practice. 1: Historically, the open/visual modes were not affected by the errorbells option. I'm not sure that this is not specified by 1003.2-1992, but I can't find any discussion of how vi and ex relate in terms of the various ex options that vi can set. 2: It was not historic practice to precede error messages with an alert action if errorbells was set, as the first sentence of the paragraph requires. The historic behavior was that if the editor was in ex mode, and there was no standout mode capability for the terminal, and errorbells was set, error messages were announced by an alert character. I think that the intent of the standard is correct -- the last sentence in the paragraph appears to contradict the first one. The second sentence may not actually be English. My guess is that someone was trying to discuss the visual bell capabilities of vi, but, as far as I know, the errorbells option did not effect that. Was it the intent of the POSIX 1003.2 standard to change historic practice in these ways? There's a typo on page 537, line 1868, "the the". (Keith Bostic bostic@cs.berkeley.edu) IEEE Interpretation for 1003.2-1992 ----------------------------------- The wording in the sentence beginning on page 537 line 1864 along with the last sentence starting on line 1870 are in conflict and therefore the action to be taken by an implementation when the errorbells,eb option is set is unclear. The standard is unclear on this issue, and no conformance distinction can be made between alternative implementations based on this. This is being referred to the sponsor. Rationale for Interpretation: ----------------------------- none. _____________________________________________________________________________