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+------------------------------
+GUIDELINES FOR ZSH DEVELOPMENT
+------------------------------
+
+Zsh is currently developed and maintained by the Zsh Development Group.
+This development takes place by mailing list.  Check the META-FAQ for the
+various zsh mailing lists and how to subscribe to them.  The development
+is very open and anyone is welcomed and encouraged to join and contribute.
+Because zsh is a very large package whose development can sometimes
+be very rapid, I kindly ask that people observe a few guidelines when
+contributing patches and feedback to the mailing list.  These guidelines
+are very simple and hopefully should make for a more orderly development
+of zsh.
+
+Patches
+-------
+
+* Send all patches to the mailing list rather than directly to me.
+
+* Send only context diffs "diff -c oldfile newfile" or unified diffs
+  "diff -u oldfile newfile".  They are much easier to read and
+  understand while also allowing the patch program to patch more
+  intelligently.  Please make sure the filenames in the diff header
+  are relative to the top-level directory of the zsh distribution; for
+  example, it should say "Src/init.c" rather than "init.c" or
+  "zsh/Src/init.c".
+
+* Please put only one bug fix or feature enhancement in a single patch and
+  only one patch per mail message.  This helps me to multiplex the many
+  (possibly conflicting) patches that I receive for zsh.  You shouldn't
+  needlessly split patches, but send them in the smallest LOGICAL unit.
+
+* If a patch depends on other patches, then please say so.  Also please
+  mention what version of zsh this patch is for.
+
+* Please test your patch and make sure it applies cleanly. It takes
+  considerably more time to manually merge a patch into the baseline code.
+
+* There is now a zsh patch archive.  To have your patches appear in the
+  archive, send them to the mailing list with a Subject: line starting
+  with "PATCH:".
+
+C coding style
+--------------
+
+* The primary language is ANSI C as defined by the 1989 standard, but the
+  code should always be compatible with late K&R era compilers ("The C
+  Programming Language" 1st edition, plus "void" and "enum").  There are
+  many hacks to avoid the need to actually restrict the code to K&R C --
+  check out the configure tests -- but always bear the compatibility
+  requirements in mind.  In particular, preprocessing directives must
+  have the "#" unindented, and string pasting is not available.
+
+* Conversely, there are preprocessor macros to provide safe access to some
+  language features not present in pure ANSI C, such as variable-length
+  arrays.  Always use the macros if you want to use these facilities.
+
+* Avoid writing code that generates warnings under gcc with the default
+  options set by the configure script.  For example, write
+  "if ((foo = bar))" rather than "if (foo = bar)".
+
+* Please try not using lines longer than 79 characters.
+
+* The indent/brace style is Kernighan and Ritchie with 4 characters
+  indentations (with leading tab characters replacing sequences of
+  8 spaces).  This means that the opening brace is the last character
+  in the line of the if/while/for/do statement and the closing brace
+  has its own line:
+
+      if (foo) {
+	  do that
+      }
+
+* Put only one simple statement on a line.  The body of an if/while/for/do
+  statement has its own line with 4 characters indentation even if there
+  are no braces.
+
+* Do not use space between the function name and the opening parenthesis.
+  Use space after if/for/while.  Use space after type casts.
+
+* Do not use (unsigned char) casts since some compilers do not handle
+  them properly.  Use the provided STOUC(X) macro instead.
+
+* If you use emacs 19.30 or newer you can put the following line to your
+  ~/.emacs file to make these formatting rules the default:
+
+    (add-hook 'c-mode-common-hook (function (lambda () (c-set-style "BSD"))))
+
+* Function declarations must look like this:
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  foo(char *s, char **p)
+  {
+      function body
+  }
+
+  There must be an empty line, a line with "/**/", a line with the
+  type of the function, and finally the name of the function with typed
+  arguments.  These lines must not be indented.  The script generating
+  function prototypes and the ansi2knr program depend on this format.
+  If the function is not used outside the file it is defined in, it
+  should be declared "static"; this keyword goes on the type line,
+  before the return type.
+
+* Global variable declarations must similarly be preceded by a
+  line containing only "/**/", for the prototype generation script.
+  The declaration itself should be all on one line (except for multi-line
+  initialisers).
+
+* Leave a blank line between the declarations and statements in a compound
+  statement, if both are present.  Use blank lines elsewhere to separate
+  groups of statements in the interests of clarity.  There should never
+  be two consecutive blank lines.
+
+Modules
+-------
+
+Modules are described by a file named `foo.mdd' for a module
+`foo'. This file is actually a shell script that will sourced when zsh 
+is build. To describe the module it can/should set the following shell 
+variables:
+
+  - moddeps         modules on which this module depends (default none)
+  - nozshdep        non-empty indicates no dependence on the `zsh' pseudo-module
+  - alwayslink      if non-empty, always link the module into the executable
+  - autobins        builtins defined by the module, for autoloading
+  - autoinfixconds  infix condition codes defined by the module, for
+                    autoloading (without the leading `-')
+  - autoprefixconds like autoinfixconds, but for prefix condition codes
+  - autoparams      parameters defined by the module, for autoloading
+  - objects         .o files making up this module (*must* be defined)
+  - proto           .pro files for this module (default generated from $objects)
+  - headers         extra headers for this module (default none)
+  - hdrdeps         extra headers on which the .mdh depends (default none)
+  - otherincs       extra headers that are included indirectly (default none)
+
+Be sure to put the values in quotes. For further enlightenment have a
+look at the `mkmakemod.sh' script in the Src directory of the
+distribution.
+
+Modules have to define four functions which will be called automatically
+by the zsh core. The first one, named `setup_foo' for a module named
+`foo', should set up any data needed in the module, at least any data
+other modules may be interested in. The second one, named `boot_foo',
+should register all builtins, conditional codes, and function wrappers
+(i.e. anything that will be visible to the user) and will be called
+after the `setup'-function. 
+The third one, named `cleanup_foo' for module `foo' is called when the
+user tries to unload a module and should de-register the builtins
+etc. The last function, `finish_foo' is called when the module is
+actually unloaded and should finalize all the data initialized in the 
+`setup'-function. Since the last two functions are only executed when
+the module is used as an dynamically loaded module you can surround
+it with `#ifdef MODULE' and `#endif'.
+In short, the `cleanup'-function should undo what the `boot'-function
+did, and the `finish'-function should undo what the `setup'-function
+did.
+All of these functions should return zero if they succeeded and
+non-zero otherwise.
+
+Builtins are described in a table, for example:
+
+  static struct builtin bintab[] = {
+    BUILTIN("example", 0, bin_example, 0, -1, 0, "flags", NULL),
+  };
+
+Here `BUILTIN(...)' is a macro that simplifies the description. Its
+arguments are:
+  - the name of the builtin as a string
+  - optional flags (see BINF_* in zsh.h)
+  - the C-function implementing the builtin
+  - the minimum number of arguments the builtin needs
+  - the maximum number of arguments the builtin can handle or -1 if
+    the builtin can get any number of arguments
+  - an integer that is passed to the handler function and can be used
+    to distinguish builtins if the same C-function is used to
+    implement multiple builtins
+  - the options the builtin accepts, given as a string containing the
+    option characters (the above example makes the builtin accept the
+    options `f', `l', `a', `g', and `s')
+  - and finally a optional string containing option characters that
+    will always be reported as set when calling the C-function (this,
+    too, can be used when using one C-function to implement multiple
+    builtins)
+
+The definition of the handler function looks like:
+
+  /**/
+  static int
+  bin_example(char *nam, char **args, char *ops, int func)
+  {
+    ...
+  }
+
+The special comment /**/ is used by the zsh Makefile to generate the
+`*.pro' files. The arguments of the function are the number under
+which this function was invoked (the name of the builtin, but for
+functions that implement more than one builtin this information is
+needed). The second argument is the array of arguments *excluding* the 
+options that were defined in the struct and which are handled by the
+calling code. These options are given as the third argument. It is an
+array of 256 characters in which the n'th element is non-zero if the
+option with ASCII-value n was set (i.e. you can easily test if an
+option was used by `if (ops['f'])' etc.). The last argument is the
+integer value from the table (the sixth argument to `BUILTIN(...)').
+The integer return value by the function is the value returned by the
+builtin in shell level.
+
+To register builtins in zsh and thereby making them visible to the
+user the function `addbuiltins()' is used:
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  boot_example(Module m)
+  {
+    int ret;
+
+    ret = addbuiltins(m->nam, bintab, sizeof(bintab)/sizeof(*bintab));
+    ...
+  }
+
+The arguments are the name of the module (taken from the argument in
+the example), the table of definitions and the number of entries in
+this table.
+The return value is 1 if everything went fine, 2 if at least one
+builtin couldn't be defined, and 0 if none of the builtin could be
+defined.
+
+To de-register builtins use the function `deletebuiltins()':
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  cleanup_example(Module m)
+  {
+    deletebuiltins(m->nam, bintab, sizeof(bintab)/sizeof(*bintab));
+    ...
+  }
+
+The arguments and the return value are the same as for `addbuiltins()'
+
+The definition of condition codes in modules is equally simple. First
+we need a table with the descriptions:
+
+  static struct conddef cotab[] = {
+    CONDDEF("len", 0, cond_p_len, 1, 2, 0),
+    CONDDEF("ex", CONDF_INFIX, cond_i_ex, 0, 0, 0),
+  };
+
+Again a macro is used, with the following arguments:
+
+  - the name of the condition code without the leading hyphen
+    (i.e. the example makes the condition codes `-len' and `-ex'
+    usable in `[[...]]' constructs)
+  - an optional flag which for now can only be CONDF_INFIX; if this is 
+    given, an infix operator is created (i.e. the above makes
+    `[[ -len str ]]' and `[[ s1 -ex s2 ]]' available)
+  - the C-function implementing the conditional
+  - for non-infix condition codes the next two arguments give the
+    minimum and maximum number of string the conditional can handle
+    (i.e. `-len' can get one or two strings); as with builtins giving
+    -1 as the maximum number means that the conditional accepts any
+    number of strings
+  - finally as the last argument an integer that is passed to the
+    handler function that can be used to distinguish different
+    condition codes if the same C-function implements more than one of 
+    them
+
+The definition for the function looks like:
+
+  /**/
+  static int
+  cond_p_len(char **a, int id)
+  {
+    ...
+  }
+
+The first argument is an array containing the strings (NULL-terminated
+like the array of arguments for builtins), the second argument is the
+integer value stored in the table (the last argument to `CONDDEF(...)').
+The value returned by the function should be non-zero if the condition 
+is true and zero otherwise.
+
+Note that no preprocessing is done on the strings. This means that
+no substitutions are performed on them and that they will be
+tokenized. There are three helper functions available:
+
+  - char *cond_str(args, num, raw)
+    The first argument is the array of strings the handler function
+    got as an argument and the second one is an index into this array.
+    The return value is the num'th string from the array with
+    substitutions performed. If the last argument is zero, the string
+    will also be untokenized.
+  - long cond_val(args, num)
+    The arguments are the same as for cond_str(). The return value is
+    the result of the mathematical evaluation of the num'th string
+    form the array.
+  - int cond_match(args, num, str)
+    Again, the first two arguments are the same as for the other
+    functions. The third argument is any string. The result of the
+    function is non-zero if the the num'th string from the array taken 
+    as a glob pattern matches the given string.
+
+Registering and de-resgitering condition codes with the shell is
+almost exactly the same as for builtins, using the functions
+`addconddefs()' and `deleteconddefs()' instead:
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  boot_example(Module m)
+  {
+    int ret;
+
+    ret = addconddefs(m->nam, cotab, sizeof(cotab)/sizeof(*cotab));
+    ...
+  }
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  cleanup_example(Module m)
+  {
+    deleteconddefs(m->nam, cotab, sizeof(cotab)/sizeof(*cotab));
+    ...
+  }
+
+Arguments and return values are the same as for the functions for
+builtins.
+
+For defining parameters, a module can call `createparam()' directly or 
+use a table to describe them, e.g.:
+
+  static struct paramdef patab[] = {
+    PARAMDEF("foo", PM_INTEGER, NULL, get_foo, set_foo, unset_foo),
+    INTPARAMDEF("exint", &intparam),
+    STRPARAMDEF("exstr", &strparam),
+    ARRPARAMDEF("exarr", &arrparam),
+  };
+
+There are four macros used:
+
+  - PARAMDEF() gets as arguments:
+    - the name of the parameter
+    - the parameter flags to set for it (from the PM_* flags defined
+      in zsh.h)
+    - optionally a pointer to a variable holding the value of the
+      parameter
+    - three functions that will be used to get the value of the
+      parameter, store a value in the parameter, and unset the
+      parameter
+  - the other macros provide simple ways to define the most common
+    types of parameters; they get the name of the parameter and a
+    pointer to a variable holding the value as arguments; they are
+    used to define integer-, scalar-, and array-parameters, so the
+    variables whose addresses are given should be of type `long',
+    `char *', and `char **', respectively
+
+For a description of how to write functions for getting or setting the 
+value of parameters, or how to write a function to unset a parameter,
+see the description of the following functions in the `params.c' file:
+
+  - `intvargetfn()' and `intvarsetfn()' for integer parameters
+  - `strvargetfn()' and `strvarsetfn()' for scalar parameters
+  - `arrvargetfn()' and `arrvarsetfn()' for array parameters
+  - `stdunsetfn()' for unsetting parameters
+
+Note that if one defines parameters using the last two macros (for
+scalars and arrays), the variable holding the value should be
+initialized to either `NULL' or to a a piece of memory created with
+`zalloc()'. But this memory should *not* be freed in the
+finish-function of the module because that will be taken care of by
+the `deleteparamdefs()' function described below.
+
+To register the parameters in the zsh core, the function
+`addparamdefs()' is called as in:
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  boot_example(Module m)
+  {
+    int ret;
+
+    ret = addparamdefs(m->nam, patab, sizeof(patab)/sizeof(*patab))
+    ...
+  }
+
+The arguments and the return value are as for the functions used to
+add builtins and condition codes and like these, it should be called
+in the boot-function of the module. To remove the parameters defined,
+the function `deleteparamdefs()' should be called, again with the same 
+arguments and the same return value as for the functions to remove
+builtins and condition codes:
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  cleanup_example(Module m)
+  {
+    deleteparamdefs(m->nam, patab, sizeof(patab)/sizeof(*patab));
+    ...
+  }
+
+Modules can also define function hooks. Other modules can then add
+functions to these hooks to make the first module call these functions
+instead of the default.
+
+Again, an array is used to define hooks:
+
+  static struct hookdef foohooks[] = {
+    HOOKDEF("foo", foofunc, 0),
+  };
+
+The first argument of the macro is the name of the hook. This name
+is used whenever the hook is used. The second argument is the default
+function for the hook or NULL if no default function exists. The
+last argument is used to define flags for the hook. Currently only one
+such flag is defined: `HOOKF_ALL'. If this flag is given and more than
+one function was added to the hook, all functions will be called
+(including the default function). Otherwise only the last function
+added will be called.
+
+The functions that can be used as default functions or that can be
+added to a hook have to be defined like:
+
+  /**/
+  static int
+  foofunc(Hookdef h, void *data)
+  {
+    ...
+  }
+
+The first argument is a pointer to the struct defining the hook. The
+second argument is an arbitrary pointer that is given to the function
+used to invoke hooks (see below).
+
+The functions to register and de-register hooks look like those for
+the other things that can be defined by modules:
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  boot_foo(Module m)
+  {
+    int ret;
+
+    ret = addhookdefs(m->nam, foohooks, sizeof(foohooks)/sizeof(*foohooks))
+    ...
+  }
+  ...
+  /**/
+  int
+  cleanup_foo(Module m)
+  {
+    deletehookdefs(m->nam, foohooks, sizeof(foohooks)/sizeof(*foohooks));
+    ...
+  }
+
+Modules that define hooks can invoke the function(s) registered for
+them by calling the function `runhook(name, data)'. The first argument 
+is the name of the hook and the second one is the pointer given to the 
+hook functions as their second argument. Hooks that have the `HOOKF_ALL' 
+flag call all function defined for them until one returns non-zero.
+The return value of `runhook()' is the return value of the last hook
+function called or zero if none was called.
+
+To add a function to a hook, the function `addhookfunc(name, func)' is 
+called with the name of the hook and a hook function as arguments.
+Deleting them is done by calling `deletehookfunc(name, func)' with the 
+same arguments as for the corresponding call to `addhookfunc()'.
+
+Alternative forms of the last three function are provided for hooks
+that are changed or called very often. These functions,
+`runhookdef(def, data)', `addhookdeffunc(def, func)', and
+`deletehookdeffunc(def, func)' get a pointer to the `hookdef'
+structure defining the hook instead of the name and otherwise behave
+like their counterparts.
+
+Modules can also define function hooks. Other modules can then add
+functions to these hooks to make the first module call these functions
+instead of the default.
+
+Again, an array is used to define hooks:
+
+  static struct hookdef foohooks[] = {
+    HOOKDEF("foo", foofunc, 0),
+  };
+
+The first argument of the macro is the name of the hook. This name
+is used whenever the hook is used. The second argument is the default
+function for the hook or NULL if no default function exists. The
+last argument is used to define flags for the hook. Currently only one
+such flag is defined: `HOOKF_ALL'. If this flag is given and more than
+one function was added to the hook, all functions will be called
+(including the default function). Otherwise only the last function
+added will be called.
+
+The functions that can be used as default functions or that can be
+added to a hook have to be defined like:
+
+  /**/
+  static int
+  foofunc(Hookdef h, void *data)
+  {
+    ...
+  }
+
+The first argument is a pointer to the struct defining the hook. The
+second argument is an arbitrary pointer that is given to the function
+used to invoke hooks (see below).
+
+The functions to register and de-register hooks look like those for
+the other things that can be defined by modules:
+
+  /**/
+  int
+  boot_foo(Module m)
+  {
+    int ret;
+
+    ret = addhookdefs(m->nam, foohooks, sizeof(foohooks)/sizeof(*foohooks))
+    ...
+  }
+  ...
+  /**/
+  int
+  cleanup_foo(Module m)
+  {
+    deletehookdefs(m->nam, foohooks, sizeof(foohooks)/sizeof(*foohooks));
+    ...
+  }
+
+Modules that define hooks can invoke the function(s) registered for
+them by calling the function `runhook(name, data)'. The first argument 
+is the name of the hook and the second one is the pointer given to the 
+hook functions as their second argument. Hooks that have the `HOOKF_ALL' 
+flag call all function defined for them until one returns non-zero.
+The return value of `runhook()' is the return value of the last hook
+function called or zero if none was called.
+
+To add a function to a hook, the function `addhookfunc(name, func)' is 
+called with the name of the hook and a hook function as arguments.
+Deleting them is done by calling `deletehookfunc(name, func)' with the 
+same arguments as for the corresponding call to `addhookfunc()'.
+
+Alternative forms of the last three function are provided for hooks
+that are changed or called very often. These functions,
+`runhookdef(def, data)', `addhookdeffunc(def, func)', and
+`deletehookdeffunc(def, func)' get a pointer to the `hookdef'
+structure defining the hook instead of the name and otherwise behave
+like their counterparts.
+
+Finally, modules can define wrapper functions. These functions are
+called whenever a shell function is to be executed.
+
+The definition is simple:
+
+  static struct funcwrap wrapper[] = {
+    WRAPDEF(ex_wrapper),
+  };
+
+The macro `WRAPDEF(...)' gets the C-function as its only argument.
+This function should be defined like:
+
+  /**/
+  static int
+  ex_wrapper(List list, FuncWrap w, char *name)
+  {
+    ...
+    runshfunc(list, w, name);
+    ...
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+The first two arguments should only be used to pass them to
+`runshfunc()' which will execute the shell function. The last argument 
+is the name of the function to be executed. The arguments passed to
+the function can be accessed vie the global variable `pparams' (a
+NULL-terminated array of strings).
+The return value of the wrapper function should be zero if it calls
+`runshfunc()' itself and non-zero otherwise. This can be used for
+wrapper functions that only need to run under certain conditions or
+that don't need to clean anything up after the shell function has
+finished:
+
+  /**/
+  static int
+  ex_wrapper(List list, FuncWrap w, char *name)
+  {
+    if (wrapper_need_to_run) {
+      ...
+      runshfunc(list, w, name);
+      ...
+      return 0;
+    }
+    return 1;
+  }
+
+Inside these wrapper functions the global variable `sfcontext' will be 
+set to a vlue indicating the circumstances under which the shell
+function was called. It can have any of the following values:
+
+  - SFC_DIRECT:   the function was invoked directly by the user
+  - SFC_SIGNAL:   the function was invoked as a signal handler
+  - SFC_HOOK:     the function was automatically invoked as one of the
+                  special functions known by the shell (like `chpwd')
+  - SFC_WIDGET:   the function was called from the zsh line editor as a
+                  user-defined widget
+  - SFC_COMPLETE: the function was called from the completion code
+                  (e.g. with `compctl -K func')
+
+If a module invokes a shell function (e.g. as a hook function), the
+value of this variable should only be changed temporarily and restored
+to its previous value after the shell function has finished.
+
+There is a problem when the user tries to unload a module that has
+defined wrappers from a shell function. In this case the module can't
+be unloaded immediately since the wrapper function is still on the
+call stack. The zsh code delays unloading modules until all wrappers
+from them have finished. To hide this from the user, the module's
+cleanup function is run immediatly so that all builtins, condition
+codes, and wrapper function defined by the module are
+de-registered. But if there is some module-global state that has to be 
+finalized (e.g. some memory that has to be freed) and that is used by
+the wrapper functions finalizing this data in the cleanup function
+won't work.
+This is why ther are two functions each for the initialization and
+finalization of modules. The `boot'- and `cleanup'-functions are run
+whenever the user calls `zmodload' or `zmodload -u' and should only
+register or de-register the module's interface that is visible to the
+user. Anything else should be done in the `setup'- and
+`finish'-functions. Otherwise modules that other modules depend upon
+may destroy their state too early and wrapper functions in the latter
+modules may stop working since the state they use is already destroyed.
+
+Documentation
+-------------
+
+* Edit only the .yo files.  All other formats (man pages, TeXinfo, HTML,
+  etc.) are automatically generated from the yodl source.
+
+* Always use the correct markup.  em() is used for emphasis, and bf()
+  for citations.  tt() marks text that is literal input to or output
+  from the shell.  var() marks metasyntactic variables.
+
+* In addition to appropriate markup, always use quotes (`') where
+  appropriate.  Specifically, use quotes to mark text that is not a part
+  of the actual text of the documentation (i.e., that it is being quoted).
+  In principle, all combinations of quotes and markup are possible,
+  because the purposes of the two devices are completely orthogonal.
+  For example,
+
+      Type `tt(xyzzy)' to let zsh know you have played tt(advent).
+      Saying `plugh' aloud doesn't have much effect, however.
+
+  In this case, "zsh" is normal text (a name), "advent" is a command name
+  ocurring in the main text, "plugh" is a normal word that is being quoted
+  (it's the user that says `plugh', not the documentation), and "xyzzy"
+  is some text to be typed literally that is being quoted.
+
+* For multiple-line pieces of text that should not be filled, there are
+  various models.
+  - If the text is pure example, i.e. with no metasyntactic variables etc.,
+    it should be included within `example(...)'.  The text will be
+    indented, will not be filled and will be put into a fixed width font.
+  - If the text includes mixed fonts, it should be included within
+    `indent(...)'.  The text is now filled unless `nofill(...)' is also
+    used, and explicit font-changing commands are required inside.
+  - If the text appears inside some other format, such as for example the
+    `item()' list structure, then the instruction `nofill(...)', which
+    simply turns off filling should be used; as with `indent(...)',
+    explicit font changing commands are required.  This can be used
+    without `indent()' when no identation is required, e.g. if the
+    accumulated indentation would otherwise be too long.
+  All the above should appear on their own, separated by newlines from the
+  surrounding text.  No extra newlines after the opening or before the
+  closing parenthesis are required.