REBOL 3 Alpha Test Introduction
| REBOL 3 Related | ||
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R3 Downloads (alpha) R3 Chat Feed (mobile) Try REBOL 3 on the Web | ||
Here's how to get started testing REBOL 3.
Contents
System Requirements
Download and Run
Documentation
That Pesky Console
Join the R3 DevBase Forum
Where to get Source Code?
How to Report a Bug (or make a request)
Start Here
REBOL is now faster and more powerful. New datatypes, new natives, new ideas, and Unicode. Plus, we've managed to pack all that into a tiny footprint, staying true to our REBOL ideals.
If you're an experienced reboler, we invite you to try out the R3 alpha and have fun. R3 works quite well. We've written many scripts that do useful things, and even run this new REBOL.com wiki engine. But, it's not perfect yet.
Keep a watch for:
- Crashes and hangs
If you find one, figure out the smallest code fragment that causes it and report it in [CureCode]]. - Odd behavior
Anything strange about operation, naming, or arguments. We need to know about these. - Missing functions
We want to support the most common functions "right out of the box". - Changes from R2
There are a few. Some are intentional, others are not. But, tell us about them, and we'll be sure to either document them or fix them.
System Requirements
To test R3, you will need:
- To use one of the currently supported test platforms See the downloads page.
- At least 1 MB of disk space and 10 MB of main memory. (We just had to say that.)
- Direct access to the Internet (via a gateway or NAT, no proxy support is yet available.)
- A web browser.
Download and Run
So, now you can download the latest release from the R3 Downloads page.
There is no installation. Just run it. See notes on that page.
You will see a banner and some helpful hints such as:
Chat - open DevBase developer forum/BBS Docs - open DocBase document wiki (web) Bugs - open CureCode bug database (web) Demo - run demo launcher (from rebol.com) Help - show built-in help information Upgrade - check for newer releases Changes - what's new about this version (web)
To check for updates, you can type upgrade at the prompt. (We can't call it update, because that's a port function.)
Documentation
Documentation for REBOL 3 is found:
- Within REBOL 3 itself. Type help and read about it.
- In the REBOL 3 Documentation, the official document wiki.
- In REBOL DocBase, the experimental development wiki.
Notice that from the R3 console you can get docs fast with:
>> ? function >> ?/doc function >> docs
The second two will open the web browser to the correct location.
That Pesky Console
The R3 console is nothing special. It's bare bones. This is just a temporary situation for alpha test.
On MS Windows the console is a standard shell window. As of version R3 A99, we enable the shell window options for "quick edit" to enable cut and paste, the scroll wheel, and other features. For prior versions, you will need to right click on the console window caption area and enable that mode. See: Note about Windows Console for more.
On all other platforms, the console is implemented with a very simple line editor, similar to the GNU ReadLine()... but using our own tiny implementation of it. If you want to enhance it, the source code is in the R3 Host-Kit. But remember: keep it small, and it must work on all operating systems... even BSD boxes.
Join the R3 DevBase Forum
We use R3 to chat about R3. From the console, type chat. This will open DevBase, the R3 chat forum. You will need to setup an account, but it's easy.
>> chat
Fetching chat...
Script: "DevBase Command Line Interface" Version: 0.4.22 Date: 16-Dec-2009/0:00
--- Note: login initiated
--- Note: fetching user list
--- Note: checking for new messages
--- Note: updating messages: 6727
--- Note: there are new messages
6727 message records
Alerts:
141 ! Enter 140 for chat about chat. 140 Carl 13-Jan-2009
Top headings:
2 H Server admin 0 admin 5d ago
4 H User messages 0 Oldes 4d ago
5 H General 0 pekr 25-Dec
14 H R3 0 Henrik 7h ago
15 H R2 0 RobertS 8-Jan
16 H Tools 0 Carl 13-Jan
17 H Websites 0 Henrik 5d ago
> 18 H Community 0 btiffin 1-Jan
Hint: n = new messages, who = users online, ? = help, ?? = list commands.
The system is currently only a text, but it has many advanced commands. Eventually a GUI will be provided (once we have one.)
The most common commands are:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| 1234 | view message 1234 (or topic 1234) |
| ? | for help |
| ?? | lists all commands |
| n | show new messages |
| nf | list new files |
| top | show top level topic |
| who | to see who's around |
| web | open the web interface to chat |
| .. | go to the parent topic (up) |
| pu | post privately to a user |
| f | search all messages |
| fh | search topic headers |
Within a topic:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| l | list message titles |
| lm | list message contents |
| lr | list all related messages (a thread) |
| lb | list messages into web browser (for printing, etc.) |
| p | post a message in current topic |
| pp | post a private message (to a user) |
After reading a message:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| r | reply to a message |
| g | goto the link listed in the message (links are URLs, message ids like #1234, or but ids like bug#432) |
Where to get Source Code?
Source code files for various parts of R3 are distributed using DevBase (above).
Anyone can download files, but to upload changes, you need an editor-level ranking within DevBase (50 or higher).
Here's an example of how to download all current mezzanine source files:
carl:R3>> 26 R3/Mezzanines: Last 32 messages... ...(clipped)... carl:R3/Mezzanines>> ls mezz-banner.r mezz-control.r mezz-debug.r mezz-file.r mezz-func.r mezz-help.r mezz-intrinsics.r mezz-load.r mezz-main.r mezz-math.r mezz-ports.r mezz-series.r mezz-tail.r mezz-types.r mezz-init.r mezz-secure.r carl:R3/Mezzanines>> get * --- Note: downloading: 03865 --- Note: wrote file: work/r3/mezzanines/mezz-banner.r --- Note: downloading: 04505 --- Note: wrote file: work/r3/mezzanines/mezz-control.r --- Note: downloading: 06070 --- Note: wrote file: work/r3/mezzanines/mezz-debug.r --- Note: downloading: 05798 --- Note: wrote file: work/r3/mezzanines/mezz-file.r --- Note: downloading: 05190 ...
Here are the relevant commands:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| nf | list new files (all topics) |
| ls | list files for current topic |
| lf | list file details for current topic |
| get | download files for current topic (e.g. get ) |
| od | open local directory (at current topic location) |
| edit | open file in your favorite editor |
| diff | show differences between files |
| submit | upload a file change (for review) |
| sync | download all files and all changes into your local DevBase file cache (if you expect to be offline or just want to backup the archive). |
There are various admin functions as well. Use the ?? command to see the full list.
How to Report a Bug (or make a request)
To report a bug, type bugs at the console. It will open a web browser into CureCode where you can review bugs and enhancement tickets, search for existing issues, and enter new tickets.
Before posting a bug, be sure to search for it -- in case it's already been reported. The community needs you to do your own research on it. We all appreciate it.