Re: mdk-1.0 and snprintf()

As a followup to my previous note about the use of the nonstandard
snprintf() function in mdk-1.0, I just found that the rsync
distribution from, e.g.,

	ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync/rsync-2.5.5.tar.gz

contains an implementation of snprintf(), whose comment header begins

/*
 * Copyright Patrick Powell 1995
 * This code is based on code written by Patrick Powell ([email protected])
 * It may be used for any purpose as long as this notice remains intact
 * on all source code distributions
 */

As an experiment, I copied that file into the mdk-1.0/lib directory,
added it to the library with

	make snprintf.o
	ar r libreplace.a snprintf.o
	ranlib libreplace.a

then in the top-level directory, overrode the long LIBS setting by
inserting a reference to libreplace.a at the start:

	make LIBS='-L/local/build/mdk-1.0/lib -lreplace -lhistory \
		-lreadline -lncurses  -L/usr/local/lib -lguile -lm \
		-L/usr/local/lib -lgmodule -lglib -L/usr/local/lib \
		-L/usr/local/lib -lgtk -lgdk -lgmodule -lglib -lintl \
		-lXext -lXext -lX11 -ldnet_stub -lm' check

All of the validation tests then passed.

It should thus be a simple matter in future mdk releases to
incorporate this implementation of snprintf().

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- Nelson H. F. Beebe                    Tel: +1 801 581 5254                  -
- Center for Scientific Computing       FAX: +1 801 585 1640, +1 801 581 4148 -
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