This is the file README for the `gcal' distribution, version 1.00. This file informs about the features of Gcal, a program for printing calendars, in an abridged draft. Gcal displays a calendar for a month or a year, eternal holiday lists and fixed date warning lists, in many ways. The program correctly omits the dates that were skipped when the current Gregorian calendar replaced the earlier Julian calendar. Its main advantages over BSD-`cal' and `calendar' are: * Some special calendar sheet formats. * Variable number of year calendar sheet blocks. * Adjustable highlighting of holidays and actual day. * Variable starting day of week. * Output of current days of year, concatenated current days of month and year. * Output of fiscal years. * Output of lists or ranges of months or years. * Sorted output of eternal holiday lists, which are generated automatically. * Sorted output of fixed date warning lists in MANY ways. * Allows the use of date variables. * Fixed date warning messages can be stored in several files. * Default options can be stored in environment variable GCAL. * Options and commands stored in response files can be preloaded. * Uses either an external pager or a simple built-in pager. * Detailed Texinfo reference manual. * German, English and American version. * Supports various computer platforms. * Autoconf(igure) installation technology. * Supports both UN*X short style options and GNU long style options. System requirements: -------------------- Compiler : Any? [ANSI] C compiler (GCC, TCC, BCC, MSC, ZTC, WCC, XLC, []CC...) Computer : MS-DOS PC, OS/2 PC, Linux PC, Acorn, Atari ST, Amiga, Vax, most UN*X Workstations, perhaps some Mainframes RAM : Below 250 KByte(UN*X/OS2/MS-DOS) load size Graphics adapter : None Device driver : [n]ansi.sys/ansi-terminal recommended, but not essential Harddisk : None Limitations: ------------ The date must be after 0 and before 10000 (means year in range 1...9999). > The current Gregorian calendar year is actually about 26.3 seconds > longer than the solar year, which means that by 4316 the calendar > will be one day ahead of the sun. > Some sort of correction obviously MUST be made. I know that there will be an adjustment of some kind in 4316, but I am not sure what it is to be. So I don't respect this correction in Gcal yet ! Some planned features are not supported yet (see the file TODO). See the file NEWS for a summary of changes since version 0.28 or HISTORY for a complete summary of changes. See the file INSTALL and SYMBOLS for compilation and installation instructions. Some answers to frequently asked questions are given in the file INSTALL, please read it. A list of all known bugs can be found in the BUGS file, a list of internal limitations in the LIMITATIONS file. Inspect MANIFEST for a list of all files which are part of this distribution. If you use the GNU Autoconf technology, you can enable/disable several package options by calling the `configure' script with `--enable-FEATURE' `--disable-FEATURE' arguments. These arguments are: --enable-feature=DIGIT+DIGIT+... where DIGIT is 1...6 (1) --enable-cath Additional Catholic holidays. (2) --enable-debug Includes some debugging code. (3) --enable-easci Displaying using the extended ASCII character set. (4) --enable-ger German texts, holidays and calendar style. (5) --enable-ushdy U.S. specific holidays. (6) --enable-exit127 On help etc. terminate with exit status 127. --enable-greg-ref=YEAR Year of Gregorian reform, either 1582 or 1752. --disable-hls Never use highlighting sequences. --disable-pager Never use external or simple, internal pager feature. --disable-rc Never use fixed date warnings feature. --disable-term Never use libtermcap or libtermlib. Here are some sample calls of configure script: ./configure --enable-feature=1+5+6 (for American users) ./configure --enable-feature=1+6 --enable-ushdy (same as above) ./configure --enable-feature=1+4+6 (for German users) ./configure --enable-feature=1+3+4+6 (for German Linux users) ./configure --disable-term --enable-feature=... (work around Termcap bug) Some words on how Gcal will manage the Gregorian reformation: If you configure Gcal for English users, the year of Gregorian reformation is automatically set to 1752 and there is no need to use the `--enable-greg-ref=1752' option. But if you want to burn-in the alternative year the Gregorian reformation have occured, run `configure' in this way: ./configure --enable-greg-ref=1582 ... If you configure Gcal for German users, the year of Gregorian reformation is automatically set to 1582 and there is no need to use the `--enable-greg-ref=1582' option. But if you want to burn-in the alternative year the Gregorian reformation have occured, run `configure' in this way: ./configure --enable-ger --enable-greg-ref=1752 ... This program does not require Termcap, but takes advantage of it when it is available. You may want to get and install GNU Termcap first from /@prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/termcap-1.2.tar.gz, or better. Please send all comments and bug reports via electronic mail to: Thomas Esken or, if this fails, to bug-gnu-utils@prep.ai.mit.edu. Bug reports should ideally include: * The complete output of "gcal --version" (or the contents of gcal_def.h and the Makefile if you can't get `gcal' to compile) * The hardware and operating system (try "uname -a") * The compiler used to compile (if it is gcc, use "gcc -v") * A description of the bug behavior * The command line given to `gcal', that triggered the bug Gcal is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the `Free Software Foundation'; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version. A copy of this license is provided under the name COPYING. Specific copyright conditions are part of Gcal now, see the file COPYING2 for more information. The latest version of Gcal is always available by ftp in prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu, or in any of the prep mirror sites: - sources in gcal-*[.tar or .tar.Z or .tar.gz or .zip or .shar]. The latest MSDOS sources/executables are always available from SimTel, the Coast to Coast Software Repository (tm), (available by anonymous ftp from the primary mirror site OAK.Oakland.Edu and its mirrors): - SimTel/msdos/deskaccs/gcal-*.zip - SimTel/msdos/unixlike/gcal-*.zip Some ftp servers can automatically make a tar.Z from a tar file. If you are getting Gcal for the first time, you can ask for a tar.Z file instead of the much larger tar file. Many thanks to those who provided me with bug reports and feedback. See the files THANKS and HISTORY for more details.