Survex 1.1.16 development snapshot uploaded

[Wookey]

+++ David Loeffler [2011-05-16 10:07 +0100]:
> Here's a minor irritation, though. I didn't have any data handy to
> test the new version with, so I downloaded the (very ancient) sample
> data tarball from the survex web page. 

Can you give a link to that? I can't actually find it online to
reproduce. (even though I know what you are referring to, and probably
have copies lying obout somewhere).

> Running cavern on it gave a
> bunch of error messages relating to misformatted dates, e.g.:
> 
> caves/041/arge/rondos.svx:8: Invalid month
> caves/144/arge/144horiz.svx:8: Invalid day of the month

I expect this is to do with the new pre-1970 date functionality being
turned on by default. Or maybe the date is just really old...

> and the run concluded with the infuriating message:
> 
> There were 0 warning(s) and 25 non-fatal error(s) - no output files produced.
> 
> It's fair enough if the current version is a bit more fascist about
> dates than 1.0 versions were; but if the errors weren't fatal, why
> weren't any output files produced? 

This is because the normal reason for non-fatal errors is(was?) incorrect
survey references so that joins between surveys are missing. It was
deemed better to not output files so that people would actually go and
check things and fix them until they got an error-free run.

Aguably that's still true for dodgy date references, but it's not very
helpful if you are just trying to run an example. I guess the example
should be updated is the first thing to do. 

> How do I force it to ignore the
> non-fatal errors and write a 3d file anyway? 

I don't think there is an option for that. There is one to go the
other way:  -w, --warnings-are-errors	   turn warnings into errors

an option to allow output even with errors does seem useful.

I suggest you file a bug on trac. We should all get used to using
that system so that things don't get forgotten:
http://trac.survex.com/

Similarly some Wiki entries would benefit everyone.

Wookey
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