etc/future-bug

   1 Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2199 21:03:50 -0600
   2 From: Karl Fogel <kfogel@floss.cyclic.com>
   3 To: bug-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu
   4 Subject: M-x search-backward-in-time broken...
   5 X-Windows: you'll envy the dead.
   6
   7 In GNU Emacs 51.70.4 (i9986-unknown-linux-gnu, X toolkit) of Sat Feb  20 2199 on floss
   8 configured using `configure  --with-x-toolkit=yes'
   9
  10         The `search-backward-in-time' function appears to be broken in
  11 Emacs 51.70.
  12
  13         Unfortunately, I can never seem to start the debugger early
  14 enough to catch the error as it happens.  However I have traced the
  15 problem through source by eye, and it looks like `time-forward' can't
  16 handle negative arguments anymore.  This is consistent with other
  17 symptoms: for example, `undo' (which since 51.25 has worked by passing
  18 a negative arg to `time-forward') is also broken.  However, `do' still
  19 works -- it seems that `time-forward' continues to handle positive
  20 arguments just fine.
  21
  22         No one here-and-now can figure out how to fix the problem,
  23 because the code for `time-forward' is so hairy.  We're using M-x
  24 report-future-emacs-bug to request that you folks include more
  25 comments when you write it (sometime in 2198 as I recall).
  26
  27         Thanks!
  28
  29 -Karl Fogel   <kfogel@red-bean.com>
  30
  31
  32 P.S. You'll be pleased to know that since (time-forward N) still works
  33      for N >= 0, we've used it to pre-emptively update configure.ac.
  34      Emacs now configures and builds on every platform that will ever
  35      be made.  It wasn't easy, but at least that's one problem out of
  36      the way for good.  If you'd like the patch, just ask.
  37