Yello!				              -*-indented-text-*-

Here's a new version of the utilities.

Newest, hottest, latest:

  * SA IS DONE (the code seems to work, anyways).  Please bang on it
  and see if you can make it break.  New flag: --separate-times.
  Check the docs.  THIS WILL NOT WORK WITH YOUR EXISTING USRACCT AND
  SAVACCT FILES, since there are just too many formats out there to
  futz with.  If you're going to be replacing your system stuff with
  these anyways, you don't need compatible usracct and savacct files.

  * removed extra, unnecessary header files.  Directory should be a
  little cleaner now.  Also relocated some information into a new
  header file called "files.h".  If your machine isn't getting
  configured right, please change the defines there.

  * new configuration script "makecnst" that finds the acct.h file on
  your system and automatically finds out if any of the struct acct
  fields are of type comp_t.  This should correct some problems.

  * there are still some subtle problems with mktime.c, but you
  probably won't notice them for this limited kind of use.  I'm
  working on it...

  * ANYBODY WANT TO DO MAN PAGES AND CHECK THE DOCUMENTATION?

  * I've been thinking that some of the long option names in sa are a
  little too long.  Any suggestions would be welcome.

Usual things to know:

  * DON'T PANIC if you don't get the right values for AC_MEM, AC_IO,
  and the like.  I haven't patched the configure.in file to
  automatically check for the return type of these items yet.

  * have a look at the documentation in accounting.texi -- it should
  compile fine with makeinfo and the latest version of tex.  Most
  problems and explanations are found there.

  * the intro to the documentation is a joke.  Any factual information
  about history of the original accounting utilities is welcome.

  * if you run into a bug, please send a "good" bug report -- a
  message that contains detailed instructions that allow me to
  reproduce the bug.

  * if you can make a patch for a particular problem, great!  But if
  you modify more than 10 lines, I need to worry about disclaimers.
  Let's try this route: if you find a bug and report it, I'll try to
  fix the problem first.  If I can't, I'll take a patch.  Plus, I want
  to save you work on your end.

  * straightforward testing: "./configure; make check" and check the
  output files in /tmp (should show times and etc.).  If anybody can
  think of better configuration scripts, please mail me with ideas.
  For sa, there's no testing script.

  * PLEASE SUGGEST FEATURES THAT YOU WANT!  I realize that the
  standard options aren't great, so I'm looking for suggestions to
  make the output more digestible.  Would anyone be interested in
  scripts/options to produce graphic output (postscript, xplot,
  gnuplot, etc.)?

It's good to know that people are willing to donate their time and
effort to getting the GNU Accounting Utilities up and working on many
machines.  Thanks a lot for the help!

-Noel

Noel Cragg \\ 283 North Main Street \\ Oberlin OH 44074-1119 \\ 216/774-3140
                 noel@cs.oberlin.edu \\ noel@gnu.ai.mit.edu
