Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2199 21:03:50 -0600
From: Karl Fogel <kfogel@floss.cyclic.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu
Subject: M-x search-backward-in-time broken...
X-Windows: you'll envy the dead.

In GNU Emacs 51.70.4 (i9986-unknown-linux-gnu, X toolkit) of Sat Feb  20 2199 on floss
configured using `configure  --with-x-toolkit=yes'

        The `search-backward-in-time' function appears to be broken in
Emacs 51.70.

        Unfortunately, I can never seem to start the debugger early
enough to catch the error as it happens.  However I have traced the
problem through source by eye, and it looks like `time-forward' can't
handle negative arguments anymore.  This is consistent with other
symptoms: for example, `undo' (which since 51.25 has worked by passing
a negative arg to `time-forward') is also broken.  However, `do' still
works -- it seems that `time-forward' continues to handle positive
arguments just fine.

        No one here-and-now can figure out how to fix the problem,
because the code for `time-forward' is so hairy.  We're using M-x
report-future-emacs-bug to request that you folks include more
comments when you write it (sometime in 2198 as I recall).

        Thanks!

-Karl Fogel   <kfogel@red-bean.com>


P.S. You'll be pleased to know that since (time-forward N) still works
     for N >= 0, we've used it to pre-emptively update configure.ac.
     Emacs now configures and builds on every platform that will ever
     be made.  It wasn't easy, but at least that's one problem out of
     the way for good.  If you'd like the patch, just ask.

