+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-3.1 since
+the release of bash-3.0. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1. New Features in Bash
+
+a. Bash now understands LC_TIME as a special variable so that time display
+ tracks the current locale.
+
+b. BASH_ARGC, BASH_ARGV, BASH_SOURCE, and BASH_LINENO are no longer created
+ as `invisible' variables and may not be unset.
+
+c. In POSIX mode, if `xpg_echo' option is enabled, the `echo' builtin doesn't
+ try to interpret any options at all, as POSIX requires.
+
+d. The `bg' builtin now accepts multiple arguments, as POSIX seems to specify.
+
+e. Fixed vi-mode word completion and glob expansion to perform tilde
+ expansion.
+
+f. The `**' mathematic exponentiation operator is now right-associative.
+
+g. The `ulimit' builtin has new options: -i (max number of pending signals),
+ -q (max size of POSIX message queues), and -x (max number of file locks).
+
+h. A bare `%' once again expands to the current job when used as a job
+ specifier.
+
+i. The `+=' assignment operator (append to the value of a string or array) is
+ now supported for assignment statements and arguments to builtin commands
+ that accept assignment statements.
+
+j. BASH_COMMAND now preserves its value when a DEBUG trap is executed.
+
+k. The `gnu_errfmt' option is enabled automatically if the shell is running
+ in an emacs terminal window.
+
+l. New configuration option: --single-help-strings. Causes long help text
+ to be written as a single string; intended to ease translation.
+
+m. The COMP_WORDBREAKS variable now causes the list of word break characters
+ to be emptied when the variable is unset.
+
+n. An unquoted expansion of $* when $IFS is empty now causes the positional
+ parameters to be concatenated if the expansion doesn't undergo word
+ splitting.
+
+o. Bash now inherits $_ from the environment if it appears there at startup.
+
+p. New shell option: nocasematch. If non-zero, shell pattern matching ignores
+ case when used by `case' and `[[' commands.
+
+q. The `printf' builtin takes a new option: -v var. That causes the output
+ to be placed into var instead of on stdout.
+
+r. By default, the shell no longer reports processes dying from SIGPIPE.
+
+s. Bash now sets the extern variable `environ' to the export environment it
+ creates, so C library functions that call getenv() (and can't use the
+ shell-provided replacement) get current values of environment variables.
+
+t. A new configuration option, `--enable-strict-posix-default', which will
+ build bash to be POSIX conforming by default.
+
+u. If compiled for strict POSIX conformance, LINES and COLUMNS may now
+ override the true terminal size.
+
+2. New Features in Readline
+
+a. The key sequence sent by the keypad `delete' key is now automatically
+ bound to delete-char.
+
+b. A negative argument to menu-complete now cycles backward through the
+ completion list.
+
+c. A new bindable readline variable: bind-tty-special-chars. If non-zero,
+ readline will bind the terminal special characters to their readline
+ equivalents when it's called (on by default).
+
+d. New bindable command: vi-rubout. Saves deleted text for possible
+ reinsertion, as with any vi-mode `text modification' command; `X' is bound
+ to this in vi command mode.
+
+e. A new external application-controllable variable that allows the LINES
+ and COLUMNS environment variables to set the window size regardless of
+ what the kernel returns: rl_prefer_env_winsize
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-3.0 since
+the release of bash-2.05b. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1. New Features in Bash
+
+a. ANSI string expansion now implements the \x{hexdigits} escape.
+
+b. There is a new loadable `strftime' builtin.
+
+c. New variable, COMP_WORDBREAKS, which controls the readline completer's
+ idea of word break characters.
+
+d. The `type' builtin no longer reports on aliases unless alias expansion
+ will actually be performed.
+
+e. HISTCONTROL is now a colon-separated list of values, which permits
+ more extensibility and backwards compatibility.
+
+f. HISTCONTROL may now include the `erasedups' option, which causes all lines
+ matching a line being added to be removed from the history list.
+
+g. `configure' has a new `--enable-multibyte' argument that permits multibyte
+ character support to be disabled even on systems that support it.
+
+h. New variables to support the bash debugger: BASH_ARGC, BASH_ARGV,
+ BASH_SOURCE, BASH_LINENO, BASH_SUBSHELL, BASH_EXECUTION_STRING,
+ BASH_COMMAND
+
+i. FUNCNAME has been changed to support the debugger: it's now an array
+ variable.
+
+j. for, case, select, arithmetic commands now keep line number information
+ for the debugger.
+
+k. There is a new `RETURN' trap executed when a function or sourced script
+ returns (not inherited child processes; inherited by command substitution
+ if function tracing is enabled and the debugger is active).
+
+l. New invocation option: --debugger. Enables debugging and turns on new
+ `extdebug' shell option.
+
+m. New `functrace' and `errtrace' options to `set -o' cause DEBUG and ERR
+ traps, respectively, to be inherited by shell functions. Equivalent to
+ `set -T' and `set -E' respectively. The `functrace' option also controls
+ whether or not the DEBUG trap is inherited by sourced scripts.
+
+n. The DEBUG trap is run before binding the variable and running the action
+ list in a `for' command, binding the selection variable and running the
+ query in a `select' command, and before attempting a match in a `case'
+ command.
+
+o. New `--enable-debugger' option to `configure' to compile in the debugger
+ support code.
+
+p. `declare -F' now prints out extra line number and source file information
+ if the `extdebug' option is set.
+
+q. If `extdebug' is enabled, a non-zero return value from a DEBUG trap causes
+ the next command to be skipped, and a return value of 2 while in a
+ function or sourced script forces a `return'.
+
+r. New `caller' builtin to provide a call stack for the bash debugger.
+
+s. The DEBUG trap is run just before the first command in a function body is
+ executed, for the debugger.
+
+t. `for', `select', and `case' command heads are printed when `set -x' is
+ enabled.
+
+u. There is a new {x..y} brace expansion, which is shorthand for {x.x+1,
+ x+2,...,y}. x and y can be integers or single characters; the sequence
+ may ascend or descend; the increment is always 1.
+
+v. New ksh93-like ${!array[@]} expansion, expands to all the keys (indices)
+ of array.
+
+w. New `force_fignore' shopt option; if enabled, suffixes specified by
+ FIGNORE cause words to be ignored when performing word completion even
+ if they're the only possibilities.
+
+x. New `gnu_errfmt' shopt option; if enabled, error messages follow the `gnu
+ style' (filename:lineno:message) format.
+
+y. New `-o bashdefault' option to complete and compgen; if set, causes the
+ whole set of bash completions to be performed if the compspec doesn't
+ result in a match.
+
+z. New `-o plusdirs' option to complete and compgen; if set, causes directory
+ name completion to be performed and the results added to the rest of the
+ possible completions.
+
+aa. `kill' is available as a builtin even when the shell is built without
+ job control.
+
+bb. New HISTTIMEFORMAT variable; value is a format string to pass to
+ strftime(3). If set and not null, the `history' builtin prints out
+ timestamp information according to the specified format when displaying
+ history entries. If set, bash tells the history library to write out
+ timestamp information when the history file is written.
+
+cc. The [[ ... ]] command has a new binary `=~' operator that performs
+ extended regular expression (egrep-like) matching.
+
+dd. `configure' has a new `--enable-cond-regexp' option (enabled by default)
+ to enable the =~ operator and regexp matching in [[ ... ]].
+
+ee. Subexpressions matched by the =~ operator are placed in the new
+ BASH_REMATCH array variable.
+
+ff. New `failglob' option that causes an expansion error when pathname
+ expansion fails to produce a match.
+
+gg. New `set -o pipefail' option that causes a pipeline to return a failure
+ status if any of the processes in the pipeline fail, not just the last
+ one.
+
+hh. printf builtin understands two new escape sequences: \" and \?.
+
+ii. `echo -e' understands two new escape sequences: \" and \?.
+
+jj. The GNU `gettext' package and libintl have been integrated; the shell's
+ messages can be translated into different languages.
+
+kk. The `\W' prompt expansion now abbreviates $HOME as `~', like `\w'.
+
+ll. The error message printed when bash cannot open a shell script supplied
+ as argument 1 now includes the name of the shell, to better identify
+ the error as coming from bash.
+
+mm. The parameter pattern removal and substitution expansions are now much
+ faster and more efficient when using multibyte characters.
+
+nn. The `jobs', `kill', and `wait' builtins now accept job control notation
+ even if job control is not enabled.
+
+oo. The historical behavior of `trap' that allows a missing `action' argument
+ to cause each specified signal's handling to be reset to its default is
+ now only supported when `trap' is given a single non-option argument.
+
+2. New Features in Readline
+
+a. History expansion has a new `a' modifier equivalent to the `g' modifier
+ for compatibility with the BSD csh.
+
+b. History expansion has a new `G' modifier equivalent to the BSD csh `g'
+ modifier, which performs a substitution once per word.
+
+c. All non-incremental search operations may now undo the operation of
+ replacing the current line with the history line.
+
+d. The text inserted by an `a' command in vi mode can be reinserted with
+ `.'.
+
+e. New bindable variable, `show-all-if-unmodified'. If set, the readline
+ completer will list possible completions immediately if there is more
+ than one completion and partial completion cannot be performed.
+
+f. There is a new application-callable `free_history_entry()' function.
+
+g. History list entries now contain timestamp information; the history file
+ functions know how to read and write timestamp information associated
+ with each entry.
+
+h. Four new key binding functions have been added:
+
+ rl_bind_key_if_unbound()
+ rl_bind_key_if_unbound_in_map()
+ rl_bind_keyseq_if_unbound()
+ rl_bind_keyseq_if_unbound_in_map()
+
+i. New application variable, rl_completion_quote_character, set to any
+ quote character readline finds before it calls the application completion
+ function.
+
+j. New application variable, rl_completion_suppress_quote, settable by an
+ application completion function. If set to non-zero, readline does not
+ attempt to append a closing quote to a completed word.
+
+k. New application variable, rl_completion_found_quote, set to a non-zero
+ value if readline determines that the word to be completed is quoted.
+ Set before readline calls any application completion function.
+
+l. New function hook, rl_completion_word_break_hook, called when readline
+ needs to break a line into words when completion is attempted. Allows
+ the word break characters to vary based on position in the line.
+
+m. New bindable command: unix-filename-rubout. Does the same thing as
+ unix-word-rubout, but adds `/' to the set of word delimiters.
+
+n. When listing completions, directories have a `/' appended if the
+ `mark-directories' option has been enabled.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.05b since
+the release of bash-2.05a. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1. New Features in Bash
+
+a. If set, TMOUT is the default timeout for the `read' builtin.
+
+b. `type' has two new options: `-f' suppresses shell function lookup, and
+ `-P' forces a $PATH search.
+
+c. New code to handle multibyte characters.
+
+d. `select' was changed to be more ksh-compatible, in that the menu is
+ reprinted each time through the loop only if REPLY is set to NULL.
+ The previous behavior is available as a compile-time option.
+
+e. `complete -d' and `complete -o dirnames' now force a slash to be
+ appended to names which are symlinks to directories.
+
+f. There is now a bindable edit-and-execute-command readline command,
+ like the vi-mode `v' command, bound to C-xC-e in emacs mode.
+
+g. Added support for ksh93-like [:word:] character class in pattern matching.
+
+h. The $'...' quoting construct now expands \cX to Control-X.
+
+i. A new \D{...} prompt expansion; passes the `...' to strftime and inserts
+ the result into the expanded prompt.
+
+j. The shell now performs arithmetic in the largest integer size the
+ machine supports (intmax_t), instead of long.
+
+k. If a numeric argument is supplied to one of the bash globbing completion
+ functions, a `*' is appended to the word before expansion is attempted.
+
+l. The bash globbing completion functions now allow completions to be listed
+ with double tabs or if `show-all-if-ambiguous' is set.
+
+m. New `-o nospace' option for `complete' and `compgen' builtins; suppresses
+ readline's appending a space to the completed word.
+
+n. New `here-string' redirection operator: <<< word.
+
+o. When displaying variables, function attributes and definitions are shown
+ separately, allowing them to be re-used as input (attempting to re-use
+ the old output would result in syntax errors).
+
+p. There is a new configuration option `--enable-mem-scramble', controls
+ bash malloc behavior of writing garbage characters into memory at
+ allocation and free time.
+
+q. The `complete' and `compgen' builtins now have a new `-s/-A service'
+ option to complete on names from /etc/services.
+
+r. `read' has a new `-u fd' option to read from a specified file descriptor.
+
+s. Fix the completion code so that expansion errors in a directory name
+ don't cause a longjmp back to the command loop.
+
+t. Fixed word completion inside command substitution to work a little more
+ intuitively.
+
+u. The `printf' %q format specifier now uses $'...' quoting to print the
+ argument if it contains non-printing characters.
+
+v. The `declare' and `typeset' builtins have a new `-t' option. When applied
+ to functions, it causes the DEBUG trap to be inherited by the named
+ function. Currently has no effect on variables.
+
+w. The DEBUG trap is now run *before* simple commands, ((...)) commands,
+ [[...]] conditional commands, and for ((...)) loops.
+
+x. The expansion of $LINENO inside a shell function is only relative to the
+ function start if the shell is interactive -- if the shell is running a
+ script, $LINENO expands to the line number in the script. This is as
+ POSIX-2001 requires.
+
+y. The bash debugger in examples/bashdb has been modified to work with the
+ new DEBUG trap semantics, the command set has been made more gdb-like,
+ and the changes to $LINENO make debugging functions work better. Code
+ from Gary Vaughan.
+
+z. New [n]<&word- and [n]>&word- redirections from ksh93 -- move fds (dup
+ and close).
+
+aa. There is a new `-l' invocation option, equivalent to `--login'.
+
+bb. The `hash' builtin has a new `-l' option to list contents in a reusable
+ format, and a `-d' option to remove a name from the hash table.
+
+cc. There is now support for placing the long help text into separate files
+ installed into ${datadir}/bash. Not enabled by default; can be turned
+ on with `--enable-separate-helpfiles' option to configure.
+
+dd. All builtins that take operands accept a `--' pseudo-option, except
+ `echo'.
+
+ee. The `echo' builtin now accepts \0xxx (zero to three octal digits following
+ the `0') in addition to \xxx (one to three octal digits) for SUSv3/XPG6/
+ POSIX.1-2001 compliance.
+
+
+2. New Features in Readline
+
+a. Support for key `subsequences': allows, e.g., ESC and ESC-a to both
+ be bound to readline functions. Now the arrow keys may be used in vi
+ insert mode.
+
+b. When listing completions, and the number of lines displayed is more than
+ the screen length, readline uses an internal pager to display the results.
+ This is controlled by the `page-completions' variable (default on).
+
+c. New code to handle editing and displaying multibyte characters.
+
+d. The behavior introduced in bash-2.05a of deciding whether or not to
+ append a slash to a completed name that is a symlink to a directory has
+ been made optional, controlled by the `mark-symlinked-directories'
+ variable (default is the 2.05a behavior).
+
+e. The `insert-comment' command now acts as a toggle if given a numeric
+ argument: if the first characters on the line don't specify a
+ comment, insert one; if they do, delete the comment text
+
+f. New application-settable completion variable:
+ rl_completion_mark_symlink_dirs, allows an application's completion
+ function to temporarily override the user's preference for appending
+ slashes to names which are symlinks to directories.
+
+g. New function available to application completion functions:
+ rl_completion_mode, to tell how the completion function was invoked
+ and decide which argument to supply to rl_complete_internal (to list
+ completions, etc.).
+
+h. Readline now has an overwrite mode, toggled by the `overwrite-mode'
+ bindable command, which could be bound to `Insert'.
+
+i. New application-settable completion variable:
+ rl_completion_suppress_append, inhibits appending of
+ rl_completion_append_character to completed words.
+
+j. New key bindings when reading an incremental search string: ^W yanks
+ the currently-matched word out of the current line into the search
+ string; ^Y yanks the rest of the current line into the search string,
+ DEL or ^H deletes characters from the search string.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.05a since
+the release of bash-2.05. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1. New Features in Bash
+
+a. Added support for DESTDIR installation root prefix, so you can do a
+ `make install DESTDIR=bash-root' and do easier binary packaging.
+
+b. Added support for builtin printf "'" flag character as per latest POSIX
+ drafts.
+
+c. Support for POSIX.2 printf(1) length specifiers `j', `t', and `z' (from
+ ISO C99).
+
+d. New autoconf macro, RL_LIB_READLINE_VERSION, for use by other applications
+ (bash doesn't use very much of what it returns).
+
+e. `set [-+]o nolog' is recognized as required by the latest POSIX drafts,
+ but ignored.
+
+f. New read-only `shopt' option: login_shell. Set to non-zero value if the
+ shell is a login shell.
+
+g. New `\A' prompt string escape sequence; expands to time in 24 HH:MM format.
+
+h. New `-A group/-g' option to complete and compgen; does group name
+ completion.
+
+i. New `-t' option to `hash' to list hash values for each filename argument.
+
+j. New [-+]O invocation option to set and unset `shopt' options at startup.
+
+k. configure's `--with-installed-readline' option now takes an optional
+ `=PATH' suffix to set the root of the tree where readline is installed
+ to PATH.
+
+l. The ksh-like `ERR' trap has been added. The `ERR' trap will be run
+ whenever the shell would have exited if the -e option were enabled.
+ It is not inherited by shell functions.
+
+m. `readonly', `export', and `declare' now print variables which have been
+ given attributes but not set by assigning a value as just a command and
+ a variable name (like `export foo') when listing, as the latest POSIX
+ drafts require.
+
+n. `bashbug' now requires that the subject be changed from the default.
+
+o. configure has a new `--enable-largefile' option, like other GNU utilities.
+
+p. `for' loops now allow empty word lists after `in', like the latest POSIX
+ drafts require.
+
+q. The builtin `ulimit' now takes two new non-numeric arguments: `hard',
+ meaning the current hard limit, and `soft', meaning the current soft
+ limit, in addition to `unlimited'
+
+r. `ulimit' now prints the option letter associated with a particular
+ resource when printing more than one limit.
+
+s. `ulimit' prints `hard' or `soft' when a value is not `unlimited' but is
+ one of RLIM_SAVED_MAX or RLIM_SAVED_CUR, respectively.
+
+t. The `printf' builtin now handles the %a and %A conversions if they're
+ implemented by printf(3).
+
+u. The `printf' builtin now handles the %F conversion (just about like %f).
+
+v. The `printf' builtin now handles the %n conversion like printf(3). The
+ corresponding argument is the name of a shell variable to which the
+ value is assigned.
+
+2. New Features in Readline
+
+a. Added extern declaration for rl_get_termcap to readline.h, making it a
+ public function (it was always there, just not in readline.h).
+
+b. New #defines in readline.h: RL_READLINE_VERSION, currently 0x0402,
+ RL_VERSION_MAJOR, currently 4, and RL_VERSION_MINOR, currently 2.
+
+c. New readline variable: rl_readline_version, mirrors RL_READLINE_VERSION.
+
+d. New bindable boolean readline variable: match-hidden-files. Controls
+ completion of files beginning with a `.' (on Unix). Enabled by default.
+
+e. The history expansion code now allows any character to terminate a
+ `:first-' modifier, like csh.
+
+f. New bindable variable `history-preserve-point'. If set, the history
+ code attempts to place the user at the same location on each history
+ line retrived with previous-history or next-history.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.05 since
+the release of bash-2.04. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1. New Features in Bash
+
+a. Added a new `--init-file' invocation argument as a synonym for `--rcfile',
+ per the new GNU coding standards.
+
+b. The /dev/tcp and /dev/udp redirections now accept service names as well as
+ port numbers.
+
+c. `complete' and `compgen' now take a `-o value' option, which controls some
+ of the aspects of that compspec. Valid values are:
+
+ default - perform bash default completion if programmable
+ completion produces no matches
+ dirnames - perform directory name completion if programmable
+ completion produces no matches
+ filenames - tell readline that the compspec produces filenames,
+ so it can do things like append slashes to
+ directory names and suppress trailing spaces
+
+d. A new loadable builtin, realpath, which canonicalizes and expands symlinks
+ in pathname arguments.
+
+e. When `set' is called without options, it prints function defintions in a
+ way that allows them to be reused as input. This affects `declare' and
+ `declare -p' as well. This only happens when the shell is not in POSIX
+ mode, since POSIX.2 forbids this behavior.
+
+f. Bash-2.05 once again honors the current locale setting when processing
+ ranges within pattern matching bracket expressions (e.g., [A-Z]).
+
+2. New Features in Readline
+
+a. The blink timeout for paren matching is now settable by applications,
+ via the rl_set_paren_blink_timeout() function.
+
+b. _rl_executing_macro has been renamed to rl_executing_macro, which means
+ it's now part of the public interface.
+
+c. Readline has a new variable, rl_readline_state, which is a bitmap that
+ encapsulates the current state of the library; intended for use by
+ callbacks and hook functions.
+
+d. New application-callable function rl_set_prompt(const char *prompt):
+ expands its prompt string argument and sets rl_prompt to the result.
+
+e. New application-callable function rl_set_screen_size(int rows, int cols):
+ public method for applications to set readline's idea of the screen
+ dimensions.
+
+f. New function, rl_get_screen_size (int *rows, int *columns), returns
+ readline's idea of the screen dimensions.
+
+g. The timeout in rl_gather_tyi (readline keyboard input polling function)
+ is now settable via a function (rl_set_keyboard_input_timeout()).
+
+h. Renamed the max_input_history variable to history_max_entries; the old
+ variable is maintained for backwards compatibility.
+
+i. The list of characters that separate words for the history tokenizer is
+ now settable with a variable: history_word_delimiters. The default
+ value is as before.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.04 since
+the release of bash-2.03. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1. New Features in Bash
+
+a. The history builtin has a `-d offset' option to delete the history entry
+ at position `offset'.
+
+b. The prompt expansion code has two new escape sequences: \j, the number of
+ active jobs; and \l, the basename of the shell's tty device name.
+
+c. The `bind' builtin has a new `-x' option to bind key sequences to shell
+ commands.
+
+d. There is a new shell option, no_empty_command_completion, which, when
+ enabled, disables command completion when TAB is typed on an empty line.
+
+e. The `help' builtin has a `-s' option to just print a builtin's usage
+ synopsis.
+
+f. There are several new arithmetic operators: id++, id-- (variable
+ post-increment/decrement), ++id, --id (variable pre-increment/decrement),
+ expr1 , expr2 (comma operator).
+
+g. There is a new ksh-93 style arithmetic for command:
+ for ((expr1 ; expr2; expr3 )); do list; done
+
+h. The `read' builtin has a number of new options:
+ -t timeout only wait timeout seconds for input
+ -n nchars only read nchars from input instead of a full line
+ -d delim read until delim rather than newline
+ -s don't echo input chars as they are read
+
+i. The redirection code now handles several filenames specially:
+ /dev/fd/N, /dev/stdin, /dev/stdout, and /dev/stderr, whether or
+ not they are present in the file system.
+
+j. The redirection code now recognizes pathnames of the form
+ /dev/tcp/host/port and /dev/udp/host/port, and tries to open a socket
+ of the appropriate type to the specified port on the specified host.
+
+k. The ksh-93 ${!prefix*} expansion, which expands to the names of all
+ shell variables with prefix PREFIX, has been implemented.
+
+l. There is a new dynamic variable, FUNCNAME, which expands to the name of
+ a currently-executing function. Assignments to FUNCNAME have no effect.
+
+m. The GROUPS variable is no longer readonly; assignments to it are silently
+ discarded. This means it can be unset.
+
+n. A new programmable completion facility, with two new builtin commands:
+ complete and compgen.
+
+o. configure has a new option, `--enable-progcomp', to compile in the
+ programmable completion features (enabled by default).
+
+p. `shopt' has a new option, `progcomp', to enable and disable programmable
+ completion at runtime.
+
+q. Unsetting HOSTFILE now clears the list of hostnames used for completion.
+
+r. configure has a new option, `--enable-bash-malloc', replacing the old
+ `--with-gnu-malloc' (which is still present for backwards compatibility).
+
+s. There is a new manual page describing rbash, the restricted shell.
+
+t. `bashbug' has new `--help' and `--version' options.
+
+u. `shopt' has a new `xpg_echo' option, which controls the behavior of
+ `echo' with respect to backslash-escaped characters at runtime.
+
+v. If NON_INTERACTIVE_LOGIN_SHELLS is defined, all login shells read the
+ startup files, even if they are not interactive.
+
+w. The LC_NUMERIC variable is now treated specially, and used to set the
+ LC_NUMERIC locale category for number formatting, e.g., when `printf'
+ displays floating-point numbers.
+
+2. New features in Readline
+
+a. Parentheses matching is now always compiled into readline, and enabled
+ or disabled when the value of the `blink-matching-paren' variable is
+ changed.
+
+b. MS-DOS systems now use ~/_inputrc as the last-ditch inputrc filename.
+
+c. MS-DOS systems now use ~/_history as the default history file.
+
+d. history-search-{forward,backward} now leave the point at the end of the
+ line when the string to search for is empty, like
+ {reverse,forward}-search-history.
+
+e. history-search-{forward,backward} now leave the last history line found
+ in the readline buffer if the second or subsequent search fails.
+
+f. New function for use by applications: rl_on_new_line_with_prompt, used
+ when an application displays the prompt itself before calling readline().
+
+g. New variable for use by applications: rl_already_prompted. An application
+ that displays the prompt itself before calling readline() must set this to
+ a non-zero value.
+
+h. A new variable, rl_gnu_readline_p, always 1. The intent is that an
+ application can verify whether or not it is linked with the `real'
+ readline library or some substitute.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.03 since
+the release of bash-2.02. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1. New Features in Bash
+
+a. New `shopt' option, `restricted_shell', indicating whether or not the
+ shell was started in restricted mode, for use in startup files.
+
+b. Filename generation is now performed on the words between ( and ) in
+ array assignments (which it probably should have done all along).
+
+c. OLDPWD is now auto-exported, as POSIX.2 seems to require.
+
+d. ENV and BASH_ENV are read-only variables in a restricted shell.
+
+e. A change was made to the startup file code so that any shell begun with
+ the `--login' option, even non-interactive shells, will source the login
+ shell startup files.
+
+2. New Features in Readline
+
+a. Many changes to the signal handling:
+ o Readline now catches SIGQUIT and cleans up the tty before returning;
+ o A new variable, rl_catch_signals, is available to application writers
+ to indicate to readline whether or not it should install its own
+ signal handlers for SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGQUIT, SIGALRM, SIGTSTP,
+ SIGTTIN, and SIGTTOU;
+ o A new variable, rl_catch_sigwinch, is available to application
+ writers to indicate to readline whether or not it should install its
+ own signal handler for SIGWINCH, which will chain to the calling
+ applications's SIGWINCH handler, if one is installed;
+ o There is a new function, rl_free_line_state, for application signal
+ handlers to call to free up the state associated with the current
+ line after receiving a signal;
+ o There is a new function, rl_cleanup_after_signal, to clean up the
+ display and terminal state after receiving a signal;
+ o There is a new function, rl_reset_after_signal, to reinitialize the
+ terminal and display state after an application signal handler
+ returns and readline continues
+
+b. There is a new function, rl_resize_terminal, to reset readline's idea of
+ the screen size after a SIGWINCH.
+
+c. New public functions: rl_save_prompt and rl_restore_prompt. These were
+ previously private functions with a `_' prefix.
+
+d. New function hook: rl_pre_input_hook, called just before readline starts
+ reading input, after initialization.
+
+e. New function hook: rl_display_matches_hook, called when readline would
+ display the list of completion matches. The new function
+ rl_display_match_list is what readline uses internally, and is available
+ for use by application functions called via this hook.
+
+f. New bindable function, delete-char-or-list, like tcsh.
+
+g. A new variable, rl_erase_empty_line, which, if set by an application using
+ readline, will cause readline to erase, prompt and all, lines on which the
+ only thing typed was a newline.
+
+h. New bindable variable: `isearch-terminators'.
+
+i. New bindable function: `forward-backward-delete-char' (unbound by default).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.02 since
+the release of bash-2.01.1. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1. New Features in Bash
+
+a. A new version of malloc, based on the older GNU malloc, that has many
+ changes, is more page-based, is more conservative with memory usage,
+ and does not `orphan' large blocks when they are freed.
+
+b. A new version of gmalloc, based on the old GLIBC malloc, with many
+ changes and range checking included by default.
+
+c. A new implementation of fnmatch(3) that includes full POSIX.2 Basic
+ Regular Expression matching, including character classes, collating
+ symbols, equivalence classes, and support for case-insensitive pattern
+ matching.
+
+d. ksh-88 egrep-style extended pattern matching ([@+*?!](patlist)) has been
+ implemented, controlled by a new `shopt' option, `extglob'.
+
+e. There is a new ksh-like `[[' compound command, which implements
+ extended `test' functionality.
+
+f. There is a new `printf' builtin, implemented according to the POSIX.2
+ specification.
+
+g. There is a new feature for command substitution: $(< filename) now expands
+ to the contents of `filename', with any trailing newlines removed
+ (equivalent to $(cat filename)).
+
+h. There are new tilde prefixes which expand to directories from the
+ directory stack.
+
+i. There is a new `**' arithmetic operator to do exponentiation.
+
+j. There are new configuration options to control how bash is linked:
+ `--enable-profiling', to allow bash to be profiled with gprof, and
+ `--enable-static-link', to allow bash to be linked statically.
+
+k. There is a new configuration option, `--enable-cond-command', which
+ controls whether or not the `[[' command is included. It is on by
+ default.
+
+l. There is a new configuration option, `--enable-extended-glob', which
+ controls whether or not the ksh extended globbing feature is included.
+ It is enabled by default.
+
+m. There is a new configuration #define in config.h.top that, when enabled,
+ will cause all login shells to source /etc/profile and one of the user-
+ specific login shell startup files, whether or not the shell is
+ interactive.
+
+n. There is a new invocation option, `--dump-po-strings', to dump
+ a shell script's translatable strings ($"...") in GNU `po' format.
+
+o. There is a new `shopt' option, `nocaseglob', to enable case-insensitive
+ pattern matching when globbing filenames and using the `case' construct.
+
+p. There is a new `shopt' option, `huponexit', which, when enabled, causes
+ the shell to send SIGHUP to all jobs when an interactive login shell
+ exits.
+
+q. `bind' has a new `-u' option, which takes a readline function name as an
+ argument and unbinds all key sequences bound to that function in a
+ specified keymap.
+
+r. `disown' now has `-a' and `-r' options, to limit operation to all jobs
+ and running jobs, respectively.
+
+s. The `shopt' `-p' option now causes output to be displayed in a reusable
+ format.
+
+t. `test' has a new `-N' option, which returns true if the filename argument
+ has been modified since it was last accessed.
+
+u. `umask' now has a `-p' option to print output in a reusable format.
+
+v. A new escape sequence, `\xNNN', has been added to the `echo -e' and $'...'
+ translation code. It expands to the character whose ascii code is NNN
+ in hexadecimal.
+
+w. The prompt string expansion code has a new `\r' escape sequence.
+
+x. The shell may now be cross-compiled for the CYGWIN32 environment on
+ a Unix machine.
+
+2. New Features in Readline
+
+a. There is now an option for `iterative' yank-last-arg handline, so a user
+ can keep entering `M-.', yanking the last argument of successive history
+ lines.
+
+b. New variable, `print-completions-horizontally', which causes completion
+ matches to be displayed across the screen (like `ls -x') rather than up
+ and down the screen (like `ls').
+
+c. New variable, `completion-ignore-case', which causes filename completion
+ and matching to be performed case-insensitively.
+
+d. There is a new bindable command, `magic-space', which causes history
+ expansion to be performed on the current readline buffer and a space to
+ be inserted into the result.
+
+e. There is a new bindable command, `menu-complete', which enables tcsh-like
+ menu completion (successive executions of menu-complete insert a single
+ completion match, cycling through the list of possible completions).
+
+f. There is a new bindable command, `paste-from-clipboard', for use on Win32
+ systems, to insert the text from the Win32 clipboard into the editing
+ buffer.
+
+g. The key sequence translation code now understands printf-style backslash
+ escape sequences, including \NNN octal escapes. These escape sequences
+ may be used in key sequence definitions or macro values.
+
+h. An `$include' inputrc file parser directive has been added.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.01 since
the release of bash-2.0. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the
place to look for complete descriptions.
projects / platform / upstream / bash.git / blobdiff