🚀 go-pugleaf

People,
       I'll start with three questions:

1.  Do you all know which development environments are currently used for
KA9Q implementations ?

2.  Would a move to "proper" ANSI C source code break any existing
implementations ?

3.  Would a move to "proper" ANSI C source code be a good idea ?


Background:

The current KA9Q source code was written some time ago to support a lot
of compilers, and as a result, is not ANSI C compliant.  Using ANSI C
with all the cross checking available has some significant advantages,
but would changing the source of KA9Q to ANSI C break any existing
implementations ?

The KA9Q source contains conditionals, I see conditionals for AMIGA,
AZTEC, LATTICE & MAC in addition to the compilers I know for DOS and
OS/2.  I don't know if these platform have ANSI C compilers and whether
the AZTEC/LATTICE compilers still exist.

While porting KA9Q to OS/2 (relatively straightforward), Gordon Beck also
converted KA9Q to ANSI C standards.  His version (called v2.17, but
strictly unofficial from a Demon support perspective) has a few extra
features available (archie, gopher) and is known to work under DOS
(Borland and MSC v6) and OS/2 (Borland and IBM C++).

In other words, the hard work of ANSI conversion has been done as a
"private venture", but there's no point in making it standard if it's
going to break things for current developers basing their efforts on the
Demon source code.

Niel
-- 
Dr C Niel Kempson
Snowy Owl Systems Limited
E-mail: kempson@snowyowl.co.uk (Internet)