Proposed announcement for 4.0.1

[Peter Stephenson <pws@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here is a draft announcement for 4.0.1 which will go to comp.unix.shell, in
the archive, and on the zsh-announce list --- if I can get that to work, is
anyone getting stuff back from that?  I didn't get back the FAQ this time
or a couple of times before that.

It's just thrown together from my own recollections, so is undoubtedly
biased.  Please suggest changes.

I will release 4.0.1 later this week unless anyone can come up with
significant unfinished business.  Someone better remind me to move the
contents of ChangeLog-Release and ChangeLog to Changelog-4.0 and create a
new one just before I do (which is hard because you don't know when that
is).



Version 4.0.1 of zsh, the Z-Shell, has been released.  Zsh is a command
interpreter for UNIX, Linux, Cygwin, and other UNIX relatives, whose design
is based on the Bourne and Korn shells familiar to UNIX users.  Zsh has
many enhanced features for interactive use.

This is a stable release, replacing both the previous stable series, 3.0,
and the beta series, 3.1.  There are a great many new and enhanced features
over 3.0.  Administrators with a large user base who are upgrading from 3.0
will probably want to test the shell's new behaviour before installing it
widely.

The principal new features since 3.0 are:
 - a new function-based completion system.  A large
   number of functions providing completion for a whole range
   of commands from a2ps to zstyle means that this will work out of the
   box, needing only a couple of commands to load the system.  The system
   supports a huge range of other features such as
   - partial file path completion 
   - spelling correction and approximate completion of any completable
     word
   - highly configurable expansion of shell arguments
   - completion list colouring [`colorising' for you lot over there]
   - selection of completion elements with the cursor, including full
     scrolling of lists (in optional module)
   - completion of words in the history list, a bit like Emacs' dynamic
     abbreviation expansion
   - `styles' feature for versatile configuration
   - `tags' feature for choosing completions preferentially, e.g.
     prefer directories to ordinary files, or prefer a certain filename
     pattern with a certain completion
   - `match' specifications, allowing user-specified control of
     comparisons between completion choices and the word typed so far, e.g.
     - variant forms:  NO_glob, noglob, _NOGLOB_ all from the keyword glob
     - partial-word matches with arbitrary anchors, e.g.
       z_t.c -> zle_tricky.c
       c.u.s -> comp.unix.shell
     - complete control over case-insensitive matching
     - can be defined globally or for individual completions
   - functions for special completion to bind to keys, e.g. most
     recently modified file matching a given name
 - the shell line editor has been enhanced in other ways:
   - it is now programmable via shell functions
   - these can access and manipulate the editor state via builtin
     commands and shell parameters
   - user-defined `widgets' behave as far as possible like other editor
     functions
   - enhancements to key bindings, much improved keymap customisation
   - example functions provided
 - many enhancements to pattern matching (`globbing'), including fuzzy
   and case-insensitive matching and extraction of parenthesised
   subexpressions (`backreferences')
 - ordering and selection of files based on criteria such as
   modification time, size, etc (enhancements to `glob qualifiers')
 - associative arrays, with enhanced parameter substitutions to
   make searches easy
 - floating point support and 64-bit integer support on 32-bit machines,
   including large (> 2GB) file access
 - dynamic loading of modules on machines that support it (virtually
   all modern operating systems that run zsh).  Various add-on modules
   are provided:
   - an FTP server which runs in the shell, with function suite
   - math functions
   - builtin interface to the `stat' system command
   - builtin versions of standard commands (mv, ln, etc.) for emergencies
   - internal state of hash tables etc.
   - access files as the contents of shell parameters
   - profile shell functions
   - a pseudo-terminal handler, for purposes like `expect'
   - interaction with termcap and terminfo
   There is also the ability to define autoloadable builtins, parameters,
   editor functions and condition codes.  Any module can be compiled
   directly into the shell whether or not dynamic loading is available;
   disposition of standard modules (manner of linking and loading) can be
   determined during configuration by editing the config.modules file
 - extra history options, for sharing history and removing unwanted
   history lines among other things
 - create new tied parameters like path and PATH, e.g. texinputs and
   TEXINPUTS
 - more functions including a set for manipulating the shell prompt
   as themes
 - many internal changes for speed and compactness.  Functions
   and scripts can be dumped as `wordcode' for faster loading.
 - behaviour more consistent and compatibile with other shells,
   particularly in the areas of parameters and traps
 - test suite for validating shell behaviour

If you have been using the 3.1 series, you will certainly want to upgrade
from 3.1.9; this should be painless.  Most of the changes reflect continued
development of the new completion system and internal improvements.


Here is some general information about the shell, including where to find
it.  If you are used to installing binary distributions of Linux etc.,
it is possible that an upgrade to the zsh package, which is supplied by
many major vendors, will become available from the vendor's own website.

------------------------
META-FAQ for the Z Shell
------------------------

The latest version of this META-FAQ can be found at any of the FTP sites
listed below.

Author
------

Zsh was originally written by Paul Falstad <pf@xxxxxxx>.
Zsh is now maintained by the members of the zsh-workers mailing
list <zsh-workers@xxxxxxxxxx>.  The development is currently
coordinated by Peter Stephenson <pws@xxxxxxx>.  The coordinator
can be contacted at <coordinator@xxxxxxx>, but matters relating to
the code should generally go to the mailing list.

Availability
------------

Zsh is available from the following anonymous FTP sites.  These mirror
sites are kept frequently up to date.  The sites marked with (H) may be
mirroring ftp.cs.elte.hu instead of the primary site.

      Primary site
            ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/
            http://www.zsh.org/pub/zsh/

      Australia
            ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/
            http://www.zsh.org/pub/zsh/
            ftp://ftp.ips.gov.au/pub/packages/zsh/  (H)

      Denmark
            ftp://sunsite.dk/pub/unix/shells/zsh/

      Finland
            ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/unix/shells/zsh/

      France
            ftp://ftp.cenatls.cena.dgac.fr/shells/zsh/

      Germany
            ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/unix/shells/zsh/  (H)
            ftp://ftp.gmd.de/packages/zsh/
            ftp://ftp.uni-trier.de/pub/unix/shell/zsh/

      Hungary
            ftp://ftp.cs.elte.hu/pub/zsh/
            http://www.cs.elte.hu/pub/zsh/
            ftp://ftp.kfki.hu/pub/packages/zsh/

      Israel
            ftp://ftp.math.technion.ac.il/pub/zsh/
            http://www.math.technion.ac.il/pub/zsh/

      Italy
            ftp://ftp.unina.it/pub/Unix/pkgs/shell/zsh/

      Japan
            ftp://ftp.nisiq.net/pub/shells/zsh/  (H)
            ftp://ftp.win.ne.jp/pub/shell/zsh/

      Norway
            ftp://ftp.uit.no/pub/unix/shells/zsh/

      Poland
            ftp://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/unix/shells/zsh/

      Romania
            ftp://ftp.roedu.net/pub/mirrors/ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/
            ftp://ftp.kappa.ro/pub/mirrors/ftp.zsh.org/pub/zsh/

      Slovenia
            ftp://ftp.siol.net/mirrors/zsh/

      Sweden
            ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/unix/zsh/

      UK
            ftp://ftp.net.lut.ac.uk/zsh/
            ftp://sunsite.org.uk/packages/zsh/

      USA
            ftp://uiarchive.uiuc.edu/pub/packages/shells/zsh/
            ftp://ftp.rge.com/pub/shells/zsh/
            ftp://foad.org/pub/zsh/
            http://foad.org/zsh/

Mailing Lists
-------------

Zsh has 3 mailing lists:

      <zsh-announce@xxxxxxxxxx>
            Announcements about releases, major changes in the shell and the
            monthly posting of the Zsh FAQ.  (moderated)

      <zsh-users@xxxxxxxxxx>
            User discussions.

      <zsh-workers@xxxxxxxxxx>
            Hacking, development, bug reports and patches.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail
to the associated administrative address for the mailing list.

      <zsh-announce-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxx>
      <zsh-users-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxx>
      <zsh-workers-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxx>

      <zsh-announce-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxx>
      <zsh-users-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxx>
      <zsh-workers-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxx>

YOU ONLY NEED TO JOIN ONE OF THE MAILING LISTS AS THEY ARE NESTED.
All submissions to zsh-announce are automatically forwarded to
zsh-users.  All submissions to zsh-users are automatically
forwarded to zsh-workers.

If you have problems subscribing/unsubscribing to any of the mailing
lists, send mail to <listmaster@xxxxxxx>.  The mailing lists are
maintained by Karsten Thygesen <karthy@xxxxxxxxxx>.

The mailing lists are archived; the archives can be accessed via the
administrative addresses listed above.  There is also a hypertext
archive, maintained by Geoff Wing <gcw@xxxxxxx>, available at
http://www.zsh.org/mla/.

The Zsh FAQ
-----------

Zsh has a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), maintained by
Peter Stephenson <pws@xxxxxxx>.  It is regularly posted to the
newsgroup comp.unix.shell and the zsh-announce mailing list.
The latest version can be found at any of the Zsh FTP sites, or at
http://www.zsh.org/FAQ/.  The contact address for FAQ-related matters
is <faqmaster@xxxxxxx>.

The Zsh Web Page
----------------

Zsh has a web page which is located at http://www.zsh.org/.  This is
maintained by Karsten Thygesen <karthy@xxxxxxx>, of SunSITE Denmark.
The contact address for web-related matters is <webmaster@xxxxxxx>.


The Zsh Userguide
-----------------

A userguide is currently in preparation.  It is intended to complement the
manual, with explanations and hints on issues where the manual can be
cabbalistic, hierographic, or downright mystifying (for example, the word
`hierographic' does not exist).  It can be viewed in its current state at
http://sunsite.dk/zsh/Guide/.  At the time of writing, chapters
dealing with startup files and their contents and the new completion system
were essentially complete.