Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!ukc!warwick!cudcv
From: cudcv@warwick.ac.uk (Rob McMahon)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm
Subject: elm 2.1PL1 - general comments
Message-ID: <79@titania.warwick.ac.uk>
Date: 20 Dec 88 13:37:27 GMT
Reply-To: cudcv@warwick.ac.uk (Rob McMahon)
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Lines: 29

Just a couple of miscellaneous comments.  These are just minor niggles, please
don't take this as criticism, just areas I think could stand some improvement.

One of the first questions asked by Configure is `should the program use
"uuname" rather than trying to read the L.sys file'.  This is pretty
disconcerting when you don't run UUCP, and have neither `uuname', nor an
`L.sys' file ...

There is no way to specify an alternate compiler (e.g. gcc) or flags (e.g. -g)
from the top level, CC and CFLAGS are not passed to the lower level Makefiles.
Also it would be nice if the `-I../hdrs' were separated from the `-O' (say
have a COPTS variable which could be -g or -O or `-O -fstrength-reduce' ...).

Using `MAKE=make' and `${MAKE}' in the top-level Makefile instead of just
`make' allows `make -n' to be more helpful on many systems.  (The subsidury
makes get run with the -n flag.)

Having the default save filename be `=sender', and having elm come back with
`MAILDIR not defined.  Can't expand '='' when you try to accept it is not
encouraging to the first time user.  I've had one person who was completely
put off elm by this.  MAILDIR should have a sensible default ($HOME ?).  Also
if the message is from e.g. `R.J.McMahon', the default will be `=r', couldn't
this be `=r.j.mcmahon' ?

Rob
-- 
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Rob McMahon, Computing Services, Warwick University, Coventry CV4 7AL, England