CAVEATS

This file, plexil/CAVEATS, lists known bugs and issues in this version
of PLEXIL.

Build: 

 * If the GNU autotools installed on your system are a different
   version from the ones used to build this release, you may encounter
   errors running 'make'. The following commands can replace the bad
   files with compatible ones from your local installation:

  cd $PLEXIL_HOME/src
  aclocal --force
  libtoolize --force --copy
  autoreconf --force --install

   You should be able to re-run 'configure' and 'make' successfully at
   this point.

   See the "Advanced builds" section in the README file for
   instructions on how to use the 'configure' script to select the
   particular subsystems and applications you need.

 * If CMake is used in place of the GNU autotools, CMake 3.6 or newer
   is required.

 * The Plexil example plans and applications (found in
   plexil-4/examples) are NOT compiled by default.  Plans (.ple or
   .plp files) must be compiled manually (with plexilc) to produce
   .plx files.  The application directories (examples/sample-app and
   examples/robosim) must be built by typing 'make'.

Custom builds:

 * Building from a git clone now requires the GNU 'gperf' perfect hash
   utility.  The tarball download comes with the gperf-generated code
   already generated.

 * The default installation location for PLEXIL libraries and
   executables under the GNU autotools is /usr/local.  The
   installation locations can be specified with the '--prefix=',
   '--bindir=', '--libdir=', and '--includedir=' options to
   'configure'.  We suggest installing these files in the PLEXIL
   installation directory itself. E.g.:

 cd $PLEXIL_HOME/src
 ./configure --prefix=$PLEXIL_HOME [... more options ...]

 * Likewise, CMake defaults to /usr/local as its installation prefix.
   Use the '-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/another/directory' option on the
   'cmake' command line to install to a different location.

 * In-tree CMake builds are possible, but are not recommended.

 * By default, the GNU autotools build both dynamic and static
   libraries. This consumes time and disk space. Unless your
   application specifically requires both, we recommend that you build
   only the libraries you need. This is done by supplying the
   '--disable-static' or '--disable-dynamic' option to 'configure'.

 * CMake defaults to building dynamic libraries. To build static
   libraries, specify the '-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF' option on the
   'cmake' command line.

PLEXIL executive and interfaces:

 * The IPC subsystem is not yet working on FreeBSD (as of PLEXIL
   4.0.1). Unfortunately, this means many of the example applications
   cannot be used on FreeBSD.

Standard Plexil language:

 * Node timepoints cannot be assigned to variables.

Plexil Viewer: 

 * Support for the PLEXIL Viewer has been lacking in recent years.  As
   a result a number of bugs and glitches have not been fixed.  We
   hope to have resources to spend on it soon, and welcome fixes and
   enhancements from the PLEXIL community.  Note that PLEXIL is still
   in strong use in its command line form.

 * The viewer may not quit from the Plexil Viewer Console window,
   using the Viewer/Exit selection or the red Apple window button.
   These cause the application to hang, and you must kill its
   process, e.g. enter 'ps -eaf | grep java' and then 'kill -9 <pid>'
   where <pid> is the process number.

Plexil compiler ('plexilc'): 

 * File extensions included in the '-o' option are ignored: Extended
   and Core Plexil files are always written with the ".epx" and ".plx"
   extensions, respectively.