Joshua Channing Gargus <schwa at cc.gatech.edu> wrote:

	ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/SOR/users/piumarta/squeak
	
I did.  Do you know what it says?

Right after parent directory, there it is in glaring red:

	CURRENT_STABLE_RELEASE_IS_2.7

It contains a 2.8pre3 for Solaris 2.5.1, the same one I have mentioned
whose INSTALL file is extremely hostile to the idea of NOT putting things
in /usr/local.  It also contains a 3.0prepre2 for Solaris 2.5.1.

Why is the Sparc/Solaris VM being developed for Solaris 2.5.1
when Solaris 2.8 has been out for so long?  Will it work under 2.8?

I just noticed what looks like a 2.8pre4 sources file, which of course
casts even more doubt on 2.8pre3 for Solaris 2.5.1.

It may well be that the 2.8pre4 VM is as good as it gets and plenty good
enough, but no-one has said so, certainly no Squeak Web page that I have
yet been able to locate.

I love Squeak, I am using it in a class for the second time, I am ever
so grateful to the people who put Squeak together and port it (IBM NZ
didn't even return my phone call when I wanted to ask about using VA),
but it really shouldn't be this hard to find out exactly which VM to pick
up so I can run Squeak 2.8 "final" on SPARC/Solaris 2.8.

I was really thrilled with the 2.7 release for UNIX.  Just unpack, get a
directory with all the files I needed in one place, and go.  No 'inisqueak'.
No deeply nested directories.  Files I could move around *if* I wanted
without breaking symbolic links.   (Told you 2.8pre3 binary release was
hostile to putting things in places ordinary mortals can put them.)

What I want for a UNIX binary release is
 *one* directory containing executable, images, changes, README, and
 perhaps a man page.  (Oh yes, and an edition of LaLonde revised for
 Squeak.  I'm not going to get any of this, so might as well dream.)

 I'd like it so that the changes and image files can be made readonly,
 so that if you just fire up with what you've got, Squeak loads things,
 notices they're read-only, and pops up a little message saying
	"The image and changes files are read-only; if you want to
	 save your changes before editing you will have to use Save As."
 and does it again if you try Save.  That should also work on MacOS,
 where files can be locked.

My complaints are the complaints of a frustrated lover, not a critic.