Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!att!whuts!homxb!twitch!anuck!jjones
From: jjones@anuck.UUCP (jeff jones)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: MKS BUGS
Keywords: MKS, bugs
Message-ID: <1361@anuck.UUCP>
Date: 23 Nov 88 16:41:22 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Andover Ma.
Lines: 127


I've been reading the net for several months now and I
have seen a lot of references to the MKS toolkit package.
All of the references have been of a positive nature.  I
agree with all that I have read because I use the package
too, to its fullest extent, and I am completely satisfied.

Now, risking third-degree burns over most of my body, I
am posting this in a negative light.  Am I the only MKS
user on the net that finds MKS bugs!!?

Recently, I posted an example of what I think is a BUG in
MKS.  I got no responses confirming or denying the problem.
Maybe I expected too much from you MKS users on the the net.
I thought I would get a lot of responses when I considered
all the ranting and raving I read about this product.

I at least expected a response from Mr. MKS, either confirming
or denying the problem.  I know that Gerry Wheeler (Mr. MKS?)
reads this net because he always seems to volunteer his
excellent responses to MKS problems.  However, the problems
seem to have been cases of improper product configuration
rather than MKS bugs.  Obviously, MKS figures it would be in
their best interest not to respond to true bug postings in
the hopes that fingers wind up pointing at users rather
than MKS.  If MKS offers guidance on the net concerning
their product, they should also address their product's
negative aspects when they come to light.

I am now posting what I think are several BUGS in MKS.
I am posting them so that fellow MKS users might save
themselves some headaches or show me the light if I have
errored in my usage and methods.  Don't bother sending me
alternate ways of accomplishing the same thing as I already
have work-arounds for these bugs, I'm just interested in
knowing if fellow MKS users concur with these suspect bugs.

Hardware setup...IBM AT model 339 (8 Mhz), 512K ram, 30
Mb hard disk, 80287 coprocessor, IBM EGA and IBM EGA adapter
with 256K video memory, MS bus mouse.

Software setup...PC-DOS 3.2 with Microsoft's patch for
floating-point exception handling in IBMBIO.COM.  ANSI.SYS
and MS-MOUSE.SYS loaded in CONFIG.SYS.  MKS Ver 2.2,
Configuration 4...full MKS control, COMMAND.COM not even
loaded.  Nothing exported except the necessaries such as
PATH, HISTORY, etc...'set -o' returns only 'vi';  ls aliased
to 'ls -xp'; ulimit=2; FILES=20; BUFFERS=20.

1. The length of the pathname to each file seems to cause
   this bug.  This seems to work correctly if the path string
   in WHERE is only one deep.  The goal is to get the FIRST
   filename in a list of filenames sorted by last modification
   time.  BTW, this worked correctly on an AT&T 6386, but not
   on the IBM AT-339 (8 Mhz).

	WHERE=c:/dir1/dir2

	#note that there are four .log files under WHERE
	list=`ls -t $WHERE/*.log`

	#returns the first path/filename...as expected
	echo $list | sed 's/ .*$//'

	#but now try to load it into a variable...
	#this doesn't load correctly
	FIRST=`echo $list | sed 's/ .*$//'`
	echo $FIRST

	#but this DOES
	FIRST=$(echo $list | sed 's/ .*$//')
	echo $FIRST

2. Can't do a change word (cw) on the last word of a command
   line vi edit.
	Type 'echo now is the time for all bad' but don't hit CR.
	ESC and 'h' back to put cursor under the b in bad.  Now
	do a 'cw' to change 'bad' to 'good'.  The characters get
	INSERTED before the space after 'all'.  You just can't
	make 'good' out of 'bad.
   I know that 'cw' SHOULD enter INSERT input mode, but not
   when it's acting on the element at the end of the line;
   then it should enter APPEND input mode.

3. Also during command-line edit, '.' does not complete the
   entire previous text modification command.
	Type 'echo here we go again' but don't hit CR.
	ESC and 'h' back to put cursor under the h in 'here'.
	Now do an 'i' and enter the character T.  ESC and 'l'
	anywhere on the line and do a '.'...you're put back into
	insert input mode but it doesn't insert the T and then ESC.
 
4. Can't ^c out of the command history edit.
	At the shell prompt, type ESC to kick into command history
	edit, and then 'k' up a few lines into the command history.
	Now change your mind and try to get back to the shell prompt.
	You can't ^c out of it.  You have to 'j' or 'Gj' all the way
	back to the beginning and then CR.

5. Write two simple shell-scripts where one calls the other:
	   SCRIPT1.ksh:
		junk_var=surprise
		echo junk_var from script1 = $junk_var
		script2

	   SCRIPT2.ksh:
		echo junk_var from script2 = $junk_var

	Don't export ANYTHING.  Execute script1...well, can YOU
	guess what script2 outputs for junk_var?  It's NOT a null
	string as it's supposed to be.  I wonder if this has anything
	to do with BUG #1.

6. Cpio won't return the files requested from an input file when given
   wild card characters.
   Example: Let all pascal files be fileN.pas under c:/dir1/dir2
   Now make the cpio file:
	find / -type f -newer agefile -print | cpio -o > cpio.arc

   Now try to get just the *.pas files (won't work):
	cpio -it "*.pas" < cpio.arc

Well, let's hear it from you fellow MKS users.  Sorry about the
length but at least they're all in one place.  Flames Away!!!

					J. R. Jones
					att!angate!bill!jjones