Bash-4.1 distribution source

NEWS

@@ -1,3 +1,120 @@
+This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-4.1 since
+the release of bash-4.0.  As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
+the place to look for complete descriptions.
+
+1.  New Features in Bash
+
+a.  Here-documents within $(...) command substitutions may once more be
+    delimited by the closing right paren, instead of requiring a newline.
+
+b.  Bash's file status checks (executable, readable, etc.) now take file
+    system ACLs into account on file systems that support them.
+
+c.  Bash now passes environment variables with names that are not valid
+    shell variable names through into the environment passed to child
+    processes.
+
+d.  The `execute-unix-command' readline function now attempts to clear and
+    reuse the current line rather than move to a new one after the command
+    executes.
+
+e.  `printf -v' can now assign values to array indices.
+
+f.  New `complete -E' and `compopt -E' options that work on the "empty"
+    completion: completion attempted on an empty command line.
+
+g.  New complete/compgen/compopt -D option to define a `default' completion:
+    a completion to be invoked on command for which no completion has been
+    defined.  If this function returns 124, programmable completion is
+    attempted again, allowing a user to dynamically build a set of completions
+    as completion is attempted by having the default completion function
+    install individual completion functions each time it is invoked.
+
+h.  When displaying associative arrays, subscripts are now quoted.
+
+i.  Changes to dabbrev-expand to make it more `emacs-like': no space appended
+    after matches, completions are not sorted, and most recent history entries
+    are presented first.
+
+j.  The [[ and (( commands are now subject to the setting of `set -e' and the
+    ERR trap.
+
+k.  The source/. builtin now removes NUL bytes from the file before attempting
+    to parse commands.
+
+l.  There is a new configuration option (in config-top.h) that forces bash to
+    forward all history entries to syslog.
+
+m.  A new variable $BASHOPTS to export shell options settable using `shopt' to
+    child processes.
+
+n.  There is a new confgure option that forces the extglob option to be
+    enabled by default.
+
+o.  New variable $BASH_XTRACEFD; when set to an integer bash will write xtrace
+    output to that file descriptor.
+
+p.  If the optional left-hand-side of a redirection is of the form {var}, the
+    shell assigns the file descriptor used to $var or uses $var as the file
+    descriptor to move or close, depending on the redirection operator.
+
+q.  The < and > operators to the [[ conditional command now do string
+    comparison according to the current locale if the compatibility level
+    is greater than 40.
+
+r.  Programmable completion now uses the completion for `b' instead of `a'
+    when completion is attempted on a line like: a $(b c.
+
+s.  Force extglob on temporarily when parsing the pattern argument to
+    the == and != operators to the [[ command, for compatibility.
+
+t.  Changed the behavior of interrupting the wait builtin when a SIGCHLD is
+    received and a trap on SIGCHLD is set to be Posix-mode only.
+
+u.  The read builtin has a new `-N nchars' option, which reads exactly NCHARS
+    characters, ignoring delimiters like newline.
+
+v.  The mapfile/readarray builtin no longer stores the commands it invokes via
+    callbacks in the history list.
+
+w.  There is a new `compat40' shopt option.
+
+2.  New Features in Readline
+
+a.  New bindable function: menu-complete-backward.
+
+b.  In the vi insertion keymap, C-n is now bound to menu-complete by default,
+    and C-p to menu-complete-backward.
+
+c.  When in vi command mode, repeatedly hitting ESC now does nothing, even
+    when ESC introduces a bound key sequence.  This is closer to how
+    historical vi behaves.
+
+d.  New bindable function: skip-csi-sequence.  Can be used as a default to
+    consume key sequences generated by keys like Home and End without having
+    to bind all keys.
+
+e.  New application-settable function: rl_filename_rewrite_hook.  Can be used
+    to rewite or modify filenames read from the file system before they are
+    compared to the word to be completed.
+
+f.  New bindable variable: skip-completed-text, active when completing in the
+    middle of a word.  If enabled, it means that characters in the completion
+    that match characters in the remainder of the word are "skipped" rather
+    than inserted into the line.
+
+g.  The pre-readline-6.0 version of menu completion is available as
+    "old-menu-complete" for users who do not like the readline-6.0 version.
+
+h.  New bindable variable: echo-control-characters.  If enabled, and the
+    tty ECHOCTL bit is set, controls the echoing of characters corresponding
+    to keyboard-generated signals.
+
+i.  New bindable variable: enable-meta-key.  Controls whether or not readline
+    sends the smm/rmm sequences if the terminal indicates it has a meta key
+    that enables eight-bit characters.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-4.0 since
 the release of bash-3.2.  As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is
 the place to look for complete descriptions.
@@ -1410,3 +1527,9 @@ e.  There are new library functions and variables available to application
 
 f.  The NEWLINE character (^J) is now treated as a search terminator by the
     incremental search functions.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
+are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
+notice and this notice are preserved.  This file is offered as-is,
+without any warranty.