Hello Bob!

17 Jan 03 13:41, Bob Jones wrote to All 16-bit (DOS) Max users:

 BJ> Since I plan to take the code forward with support for long file
 BJ> names, etc., would anyone object to removing the 16-bit (DOS and OS/2)
 BJ> compiled versions from future development?  The new future targets in
 BJ> this case would be Win32, OS/2 (32-bit), Unix based (Linux, FreeBSD,
 BJ> maybe NeXT Step / Open Step / Mac OS/X), and possibly a 32-bit DOS
 BJ> extender (if someone is willing to help in this area).

Excuse me if this a stupid question, as I'm not a C programmer... What is
the codependency between 32-bit targets and LFN support?

=No= DOS port would certainly leave me out.  I have a mix of DOS, OS2, and
Win32 nodes on a Netware 3.x LAN and depend on interoperability between. 
In fact, Scott left me behind at 3.x when he dropped the common IPC
directory scheme between DOS and OS2 flavors.  My POTS node is DOS, and I
still actually have a few daily callers...so I have stuck to 2.x to retain
"Who's on" and internode chat capabilities from my OS2 box, while
local or telnetted in.  I tried, but could never get the named pipes scheme
supported between the DOS and Netware combo.

A DOS32 port would work provided the extender support equals that of
Squish. My guess is that there is a reason (beyond laziness) that Scott did
DOS32 Squish, but no MAX386 (or MAX386P for that matter).  The only thing I
recall him publicly stating was that there would be no point due to the
amount blocking and thunking present during device I/O, and that
performance might actually be degraded.  Sounded more like hypothesis than
experience at the time he said it, though.  This may not be a valid concern
for your *nix targets, but probably still holds true to some extent for the
rest.

I do maintain a parallel Max3 setup for troubleshooting and to support
batchified maintenance utils which require 3.x-formatted files as input,
but don't use it for any production interactive use.  I would need the
common IPC support and my beloved hot-flash menus back to make Max3 my
primary version. I've already been to Linux and back (for the time being),
and avoid using LFN features when supported to maintain
cross-platform/multi-application compabitility and simplify commandline
interaction and batch.

So feel free to assign my input the near-zero weight it deserves based on
your primary objectives.  I'm happy to see =something= moving forward again
even if it ends up leaving me even further behind in the dust.  I'll
applaud until you disappear over the horizon and I can't see you any more.
;)

.\\ike

--- GoldED 2.50+