MacWorld 1998 January/Macworld (1998-01).dmg/Updaters/BBEdit 4.5.1 Update/BBEdit 4.5.1 Release Notes

Text File | 1997-11-02 | 23KB | 524 lines

BBEdit 4.5.1 Release Notes
====== ===== ======= =====

November 2, 1997

This document contains important information regarding the online
documentation for BBEdit, as well as known conflicts with third-party
software. Please read it carefully before installing the Acrobat Reader
or making use of the electronic documents.

To quickly navigate to the different sections of this file, choose
one of the items from the "Mark" menu.

Obligatory Anti-Piracy Notice
---------- ----------- ------
BBEdit is protected by U.S. and international copyright law against
unauthorized redistribution and duplication. If you are using a non-
demo copy that you obtained by a means other than a legitimate site
license, product bundle, or direct purchase, then we encourage you to
write to the address below and order your own copy. The pricing is
reasonable, and options are available for discount and quantity
pricing.


Using Acrobat Reader
===== ======= ======
Acrobat Reader 2.1 requires the Adobe Type Manager (ATM) to run. If
you already have a full version of ATM prior to 3.8.3, running the
Installer will update it to version 3.8.3. If you do not have any
version of ATM, the Installer will provide a limited version of ATM
3.8.3 in the Adobe Acrobat 2.0 Fonts folder; this version will only
load while the Acrobat Reader is open. This replaces the "ATM LE" used
in earlier versions of the package.


BBEdit User Manuals
====== ==== =======
For your convenience, the BBEdit user manual is provided in three different
page layouts:

    -  "User Manual/USLtr.pdf" contains the manual in US Letter (8.5 x 11")
        format, suitable for printing on most printers.

    -  "User Manual/Screen.pdf" contains a version of the manual which is
        optimized for easy on-screen viewing.

    -  "User Manual/A4.pdf" contains the manual in A4 (210 x 297 mm) format,
        suitable for printing on printers supporting the A4 paper size.

Other Documentation and References
===== ============= === ==========
In addition to the manual files, there is a variety of additional supporting
information available:

    -  The "AppleScript Samples" folder contains several example scripts.
       BBEdit Find Diffs is a stand-alone script application which lets
       you drag and drop a pair of files to compare. There is also a folder
       containing a selection of sample scripts which can be put in the
       BBEdit Scripts folder, and additional examples which demonstrate how
       to perform common actions from a script editor.

    -  The "Bare Bones Guide to HTML", a summary of HTML tag syntax, is
       provided courtesy of Kevin Werbach <[e-mail]>.

    - "BBEdit Extension SDK" contains the current BBEdit Extension
       Developer's Kit, which is useful if you want to write extensions for
       BBEdit. Please note that the extension interfaces have been updated
       with this version; see the included documents for details.

    - "Technical Support Bulletins" contains informational files describing
       two commonly encountered problems, and the appropriate work-arounds or
       solutions.

Known Issues
===== ======

"Can't Purge a Locked Block" error
------ ----- - ------ ------ -----

If you receive this error message when trying to launch BBEdit, your
system has been infected with the MDEF-B virus (or a variant of it). To
correct this, run the Disinfectant utility to identify and repair any
infected files.


Object Support Library Problems
------ ------- ------- --------

There is a bug in certain versions of the Object Support Library, a
component of the OS used to support scriptable applications. This bug
potentially affects all scriptable applications, not just BBEdit. Inside
of BBEdit, the most common manifestation of this problem is an
"insufficient memory" error message that results when you choose "About
BBEdit..." Another frequently reported symptom is that BBEdit's
scripting dictionary is unavailable when using the "Open Dictionary..."
command from Apple's script editor (or other OSA script-authoring
environments).

Version 1.2 of the Object Support Library (OSL) corrects the underlying
fault. If necessary, the BBEdit installer will install OSL 1.2 when you
perform an Easy Install of BBEdit.

The updated OSL is included with MacOS 8. If you're using an earlier
version of the OS, you can obtain the latest OSL via anonymous FTP from
<ftp://ftp.scripting.com/apple/objectSupportLib.sit.hqx>.

VM 8.0 Fix
-- --- ---

We have identified a Mac OS 8.0 compatibility issue, which arises when
using Apple's virtual memory (VM). Although this issue was originally
confirmed to exist on 68040 systems, we have reason to believe that it
may also occur on PowerPC systems.

When using our products, the problem manifests itself as generalized
instability when running BBEdit (any version) under Mac OS 8.0 with
virtual memory turned on. BBEdit may sometimes crash when starting up,
but if it doesn't, other misbehaviors will present themselves, such as
errors or garbled text when copying, pasting, or scrolling text.

However, the effects of this compatibility issue are not specifically
related to BBEdit, and may affect other applications as well.

This compatibility issue will likely be addressed in a future release of
Mac OS. In the meantime, we have written a system extension which should
correct the problem. Open the "VM 8.0 Fix" folder, and drag the "VM 8.0
Fix" file on to your active System folder. Then restart your machine.

The VM 8.0 Fix extension does not patch any Mac OS routines, nor will it
load on any version of the Mac OS other than 8.0.0.

"Can't Undo" Alerts
------ ----- ------
A number of actions, most notably many extensions, are not undoable.
As a matter of course, BBEdit will pose an alert: "<action> is not
undoable. Do you still wish to proceed?" If these alerts annoy you,
you can turn them off. The appropriate option is in the Editor section
of the "Preferences" dialog. (The "Preferences..." command is found
under the Edit menu.)


Claris XTND Problems
------ ---- --------
BBEdit uses the Claris XTND translator system to allow the reading
and writing of various word-processor file formats. We have identified
several problems in the XTND system which can interfere with BBEdit's
operation, usually by causing a system crash, out-of-memory condition,
hang, or other aberrant behavior. As a result, XTND services are now
turned off by default; you can activate XTND by selecting it from
the Services section of the Preferences dialog.

The following situations can cause your system to crash while
launching BBEdit:

Excessive Memory Usage: In some situations, the XTND system makes
demands on the application that exceed the application's available
memory, and reacts badly when the application is unable to fill those
demands. We have observed excessive memory usage caused by the presence
of the Claris HTML translator, the MacLink Translator Bridge module,
and the WordPerfect 2.x translator files. Large numbers of XTND
translators can also be a contributing factor.

Damaged XTND translator or "XTND Translator List" file: In this
situation, one or more XTND translator modules, or the XTND file which
maintains a list of your available translators, have become corrupted,
possibly by a previous system crash. When starting up, the XTND system
will attempt to  read these damaged files, and will usually crash or
behave in an unpredictable fashion thereafter.

Mutual recursion in your system folder: This occurs when the Control
Panels and Extensions folders each contain an alias to the other. In
this situation, the XTND software gets stuck in an endless loop as it
follows these aliases back and forth, essentially "chasing its tail"
forever.

To disable external services for BBEdit, hold down the Shift key as you
launch BBEdit. (To do this, click once on the BBEdit application icon,
then hold down the Shift key and choose "Open" from the Finder's File
menu, or hit Command-Shift-O.) Continue holding down the Shift key until
BBEdit's menu bar appears. This action will disable all of the BBEdit
external services, including XTND translation. If you are able to launch
BBEdit successfully using this trick, it is a near certainty that one of
the situations outlined above is in force.

Your next course of action depends on your needs:

If you do not need XTND translation, go to the Services section of the
Preferences dialog, and un-check the box labelled "XTND Translation".
This will prevent BBEdit from activating the XTND system the next time
it launches (and so on, until you re-activate this setting), thus
avoiding the XTND problems altogether.

If you do need XTND translation, you can work around the problems in
the XTND system by addressing them in the order that they're listed.
Begin by removing the WordPerfect 2.0 translator, if you do not need it,
followed by the MacLink Translator Bridge, and the HTML translator. If
you do need any of these components, try increasing the preferred
memory partition size to 1500K (or to 2048K or more if you have many
translators installed).

If this does not solve your problem, next remove the "XTND Translator
List" file, which can be found in your Preferences folder. The XTND
system will reconstruct the translator list as necessary.

If you have a damaged translator, you should remove all of your
installed Claris translators, and add them back to your Claris
Translators folder one by one, launching BBEdit each time, until
the problem recurs.

Finally, check to see if your Extensions and Control Panels folders
contain aliases to each other. If they do, remove one or both of
the aliases to break the alias loop.


Desktop File Problems
------- ---- --------
On occasion, you may find that the Finder does not display the correct
icon for BBEdit documents, or that you cannot drag documents onto the
BBEdit application (or an alias to the application) to open them.

This behavior is not indicative of a problem with BBEdit; rather, it is
an indication that the database that the Finder uses to associate
applications, icons, and documents (known as the "Desktop file") has
become confused or corrupted.

When this happens, it is usually desirable to force the Finder to rebuild
the Desktop. To do this, reboot your machine, and immediately hold down
the Shift key until the message "Extensions Off" appears. As soon as
this message appears, release the Shift key, and hold down the Command
and Option keys. For each volume that mounts at startup, the Finder
will ask whether you wish to rebuild the Desktop. Click "OK", and the
Finder will do so.

Corruption in the Desktop file can also render BBEdit unable to locate
external services. If you have a service installed (say, the THINK
Project Manager), but BBEdit does not make the service available to you,
rebuilding your desktop will usually help. (This assumes that you've
already checked to make sure that the application you are trying to use
is of an appropriate version.)


External Services and Startup Performance
-------- -------- --- ------- -----------
The first time BBEdit starts up, it attempts to locate the application
associated with each external service. If the application isn't found,
BBEdit will keep trying to find it on subsequent occasions, until it
either finds the application, or until you turn off the corresponding
check-box in the "External Services" section of the Preferences dialog.

Since an unsuccessful search for an application takes time, you should
turn off the check boxes corresponding to any application you do not have
available. Doing so will decrease the time it takes BBEdit to start up.

You can also improve BBEdit's startup performance by removing unused
BBEdit tools from the "BBEdit Plug-Ins" folder.


Memory Usage
------ -----
BBEdit uses System temp memory to hold the files it opens, so you will
not need to increase the application's partition size to edit large
files. However, some operations, such as Copy and Paste on large blocks
of text, performing a multi-file search over many files and folders, or
using XTND translation to import and export files, requires that more
memory be made directly available to the application. If you often
perform tasks like these, we advise that you increase BBEdit's
recommended memory size allocation, as your needs dictate.


BBEdit and CodeWarrior
------ --- -----------
As of CodeWarrior 10, Metrowerks has added support for external text
editors to the CodeWarrior IDE. If you would like to use BBEdit instead
of the built-in Metrowerks editor, please read the relevant instructions
in the CodeWarrior user's manual and release notes.

BBEdit registers itself with the Metrowerks debugger, for the benefit of
users who may wish to use BBEdit to view source files that are under
test. If you prefer to always use the Metrowerks editor, you can edit
the Metrowerks debugger preferences file, as follows:

0.  if necessary, quit the Metrowerks debugger.

1.  using your favorite resource editor, open the MW Debug/MacOS 1.6
    application file.

2.  using your favorite resource editor, open the "MacOS Debugger Prefs"
    file. You can find this file in the "Metrowerks" folder, which in
    turn resides in the Preferences folder in your active system folder.

3.  Open the 'dOpt' resource, ID 128.

4.  Set the bit labeled "disable external editors".

5.  Quit the resource editor, saving changes as necessary.

After performing these steps, the Metrowerks debugger will always use
the CodeWarrior IDE editor when you choose the "Edit source file"
command from the debugger's File menu.

Just before BBEdit went to press, we became aware of the following bug
in the CodeWarrior IDE: when "Activate Browser" is turned on, the IDE
will not respond to the "Get Definition" scripting event. This means
that option-double-clicking on an identifier in a BBEdit window or using
the "Find Definition" menu command will have no effect under these
conditions.

THINK Project Manager
----- ------- -------
The THINK Project Manager, used in THINK C and Symantec C++ version 6.0
and 7.0 has a number of bugs and limitations which occasionally make
working with an external editor difficult. Should you have any specific
concerns regarding the TPM, please check to see that you are using the
latest version available. If you are, and the problem persists, then
please contact Symantec Technical Support.


The "Old MacTraps" File
--- ---- --------- ----
Versions 6.0 and later of THINK C and Symantec C++ contain a file called
"Old MacTraps". This file is located in the "Mac Libraries" folder. The
structure of this file is such that both the THINK Project Manager and
BBEdit will crash while attempting to open this project.

If you are performing a multi-file search of your Mac Libraries folder,
or of the folder containing the THINK Project Manager, BBEdit will
crash when it encounters the "Old MacTraps" file. To avoid this file,
remove it, or switch the "File Type" popup menu (in the Multi-File
Search options portion of the Find dialog) to "Text Files".


Printing with Substituted Fonts
-------- ---- ----------- -----
Because of idiosyncracies in various printer drivers, including both the
LaserWriter and StyleWriter drivers, there are some character spacing
anomalies when printing with a substituted monospaced font (i.e. Monaco).
To avoid these problems, print in a non-substituted, monospaced PostScript
font such as Courier. (With BBEdit, you can of course edit in one font,
and print in another.)


Fractional Spacing
---------- -------
BBEdit supports a "Fractional Spacing" option when printing. We
recommend that you use this option if you are printing in a small
(less than 9-point) font size.


FaxSTF "FaxPrint" Printer Driver
------ ---------- ------- ------
Version 2.2.3 of the "FaxPrint" printer driver, supplied with the FaxSTF
fax software package, has a bug in it which can cause all applications,
not just BBEdit, to malfunction. STF Technologies has been notified of
the problem. In the meantime, to avoid potential problems, choose another
printer driver, such as the ImageWriter or LaserWriter driver, except
when you are planning to fax documents directly from within BBEdit.

Later versions of the FaxSTF software, used under System 7.5.3, reportedly
cause problems when opening files. Contact STF Technologies for the latest
information on the availability of a fix.


LaserWriter "Preferences Damaged" Warning
----------- --------------------- -------
On occasion, version 8.2.2 of the LaserWriter driver will issue a
warning message about missing or damaged preferences. We have contacted
Apple regarding this issue, and they believe it to be due to a bug in
the LaserWriter driver. We have also had reports that the recently
released LaserWriter 8.3 driver may exhibit this same problem. If you
get this message, simply choose "Page Setup" or "Print" from the File
menu, and you should be able to continue without any difficulty.


NOW Utilities
--- ---------
Older versions of Super Boomerang have a bug which affects BBEdit;
in particular, you cannot type upper-case letters in the "Save As..."
dialog. This bug is fixed in version 4.0 and later of the NOW Utilities
package; contact Now Software for an update.

Now Save may cause BBEdit's "File" menu to become scrambled. If this
happens, turn off Now Save when running BBEdit.

Please also note that you will not be able to modify the command key
equivalents for BBEdit's menu items using Now Menus.

We have received reports of problems caused by Now Utilities 6.0, and
are currently investigating. Please check our Web site at
<http://web.barebones.com/support/support.html> for up-to-date information.


Standard File Hacks
-------- ---- -----
There are some third-party extensions which modify the standard "Open"
and "Save" dialogs (known colloquially as "Standard File"). In a couple
of known cases, some of these extensions have a bug which causes
correctly written applications to crash. Specifically:

    - "Click, there it is!", version 1.0.1. Version 1.0.4 or later have
       fixed this problem. Registered owners should contact the author
       for more information.

    -  Quickeys version 2.1 also appears to have a similar problem.
       Please contact CE Software for an update.

If either of these extensions is installed, BBEdit will most likely
crash when trying to bring up a Standard File dialog. (BBEdit's "Open"
and "Save" dialogs should work correctly, but other dialogs, such as
the File Types section of the preferences dialog, will not.)

In addition, problems have been reported in which the Standard File
Package crashes, or BBEdit takes an "emergency exit", when Peter
Lewis' "CDIconKiller" extension is in use.

Finally, we have received reports that StuffIt Shortcut will sometimes
cause BBEdit to crash when you choose "Open..." from the File menu.
We are working with Aladdin to identify and resolve this issue.


The BalloonWriter INIT
--- ------------- ----
Version 1.0.1 of Apple's "BalloonWriter" extension interferes with
the correct display and operation of BBEdit's dynamic menus. To avoid
this conflict, disable or remove BalloonWriter from your system.


Famous Last Words
====== ==== =====

Documentation Errors?
------------- -------
If you find an error in the documentation, please let us know. One of
the reasons we have gone to CD-ROM with electronic documentation is so
that we can make revisions to the manual and incorporate the improvements
in subsequent pressings of the CD, along with improvements to the software.


Contact Information
------- -----------
Should you have questions about BBEdit, please write or send e-mail to
us at one of the addresses below:

    Bare Bones Software, Inc.
    P.O. Box 1048
    Bedford, MA 01730-1048

    phone:  [phone]
    fax:    [phone]

    email:  [e-mail]
    Web:    http://web.barebones.com/

For technical support, bug reports, and other issues of an immediate
nature, we strongly encourage you to use electronic mail.

From time to time, we will release patches to correct problems in the
software, and/or add minor functionality. These patches are free, and
may be freely redistributed. We do not send out notification to our
customers, but we post announcements to the net and major information
services as a matter of course. Current versions of these patches will
be made available on our Web page, as well as our ftp site:

    ftp://ftp.barebones.com/

We will also provide technical support bulletins, as warranted by
circumstances, to address some commonly encountered problems. You can
also find a list of frequently asked questions about BBEdit on our
Web page with this URL:

    http://web.barebones.com/support/support.html

If you do have a problem with the software, please let us know. All
too often, customers do not report problems for one reason or another.
Remember that if we do not hear about a problem, we can't fix it.


Additional Acknowledgements
---------- ----------------
The regular-expression library used for 'grep' searching is based on
the 'regexp' package, written by Henry Spencer of the University of
Toronto. Pete Keleher provided a Mac-compatible version, from which
BBEdit's code is derived.

John Norstad of Northwestern University contributed the code that
BBEdit uses to resolve Internet URLs.


Thanks!
-------
Thank you for purchasing BBEdit. If you have any suggestions for
improvements, or any problems to report, do not be shy. Our experience
shows that feedback from our customers has consistently led to better
products and happier users.

Thanks also to the many people who, in one way or another, directly
contributed to the production and success of BBEdit. They're all listed
in the about box; choose "About BBEdit..." from the Apple menu to see
their names.

Finally, thanks to all of our customers, who have invested in our
product and our company, and, by doing so, have given us the ability to
keep producing and improving our software.


    Rich Siegel                         Patrick Woolsey
    Founder, President & CEO            Chief Operating Officer

    David W. Hill                       Dan Enos
    Vice President of Engineering       Chief Financial Officer

    Jon Hueras                          Sandra Schneible
    Principal Software Architect        Director of Marketing

    Jim Correia                         Christian Smith
    Software Engineer                   Senior Technical Support Specialist

    Melissa Gagnon                      Martin Burnuchian
    Operations Manager                  Operations Specialist

    Artemis Panagopoulos
    Customer Service Specialist

=end=