README for bpe 2.01.00

I picked up a copy of the bpe source from Ralphe Neill's web site
(after quite a bit of searching- the 1.3 version is still the easiest
to find ;) and decided to convert it to autoconf/automake, rather than 
the hardcoded list of OS types which it previously used.  It's been
tested on Linux, Solaris, SunOS 4, FreeBSD, NEXTSTEP, and MacOS X.

Other than changes related to the change to autoconf, there are no
major functional difference between 2.01.00 and the 2.00.08 release
upon which it is based.  I have attached the original README below.

Ralphe has been great to work with, and I have obtained his permission 
to release bpe 2.01.00 under the BSD License on sourceforge.net.  As
far as I am concerned, this project still belongs to Ralphe.

Many thanks to:
   Ralphe Neill, bpe's current maintainer, for all of his work to date.
   Garance Drosehn, for all of his assistance and patches for getting
                    this working on FreeBSD, NEXTSTEP, and MacOS X.
   All the other folks who helped me to test the autoconf code out on
   other plaforms.

-- Josh Wilmes
   josh@hitchhiker.org   
   March 20, 2000

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README for bpe 2.00.08

Bpe is a relatively-simple and easy-to-use, screen-oriented,
curses-based binary editor. There are no variables that are non-unique
beyond 7 characters, no function names that are non-unique beyond 6
characters and only a minimal implementation of curses(3x) is required.

Version 2.00.08 is the current release version which followed a number
of 1.4n.nn BETA(ish) releases that, in turn, added features to and fixed
more than a few bugs and problems with 1.3 - in fact, only the general
layout of the editing-screen display and some of the commands will be
even vaguely familiar to users of the original versions. However, the
name "bpe" has been retained because the original version, which, to the
best of my knowledge, has not been further-developed elsewhere, had a
good screen layout and a couple of really-good ideas.

The first version that was available generally (and which is, I believe,
still distributed with Linux) was lacking in many areas but I compiled
and used it because I needed a binary editor to run under an early SYSV
release which couldn't handle any of the other editors around without
major modification.

The most-obvious bugs were fixed first along with some of the major
shortcomings but creeping-featurism soon reared its head. However, that
original compatibility with older systems was maintained at least until
2.00.01 after which version all development work was carried out on a
Sun workstation. I have endeavoured to maintain that compatibility but I
no longer have a system on which to test it.

Bpe is "freeware" and is supplied "as is" with no promises or warranty
other than the fact that it has been tested exhaustively and that there
are no KNOWN bugs or other problems that could corrupt data in an
unintended manner.

Copyright is retained by the author(s) but you are free to modify the
code or port it to other *NIX systems. However, please do NOT distribute
modified versions. Instead, send your additions/changes to me so that
they can be incorporated into the "official" version.

The original version of bpe had support for MS-DOS, Amiga-DOS and some
support for VMS. It was all removed from version 1.4n because it was
getting to be a maintenance nightmare (i.e. I know nothing about MS-DOS
or AMIGA-DOS and would prefer to forget that I ever knew anything about
VMS). If anybody wants to port bpe to those "operating systems" - go
ahead, but don't expect me to maintain it.

Please send any bug-reports, queries or suggestions on bpe 2.00.nn to
ran@sub.net.au

Ralphe Neill,
Melbourne, Australia
Dec-11-1999