update the manual dates

[Roland Pesch]

Hi, Stan!  Nice to hear from you.

I don't think I actually invented the "edition" tag--I thought it was
RMS, but I might be repressing memories of my sins.

I do recall the rationale, at any rate: the "edition" number refers
to revisions of the manual, while the "Version" number refers to
versions of the software.  The notion was that at some points in its
history, the manual was revised more frequently than the software; at
other points, less frequently.

I have been uneasy for a while about the ed/vn numbers being so
_similar_, though.  I think it would be more useful to either:
    
  * Drop the edition number altogether while updating the date, as
    Marty Leisner appears to suggest in the message you quote; or 

  * Subordinate the edition number to the version number, and keep it
    to a small integer [no fractional part].  That is, with every new
    software release, reset the edition number to 1 (or to some other
    origin, such as 0, if you want to be cute), and increment it only
    in the now-probably-rare case when the manual changes without a
    software rev.  That would lead to "Vn 4.xx, Edition y" (with y
    usually 1, or whatever is your index origin).

/Roland
    
   Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 16:58:28 -0800
   From: Stan Shebs <shebs@cygnus.com>
   CC: gdb@cygnus.com, roland@wrs.com

      Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 15:55:58 PST
      From: "Marty Leisner" <leisner@sdsp.mc.xerox.com>

   (I've redirected to gdb, since gdb-testers is mainly for snapshot
   announcements.)

      Surely this is not accurate:
      This file describes GDB, the GNU symbolic debugger.

	 This is Edition 4.12, January 1994, for GDB Version 4.16

      Get the date current (I think the date is more important
      than version numbers...also drop Edition...(and just have
      version) (IMHO)

   Strictly speaking, the manual hasn't changed significantly since the
   upgrade around 4.12, although there have been a number of minor
   additions.

   I note that while GCC's manual doesn't have an "edition" different
   from the compiler version, the Emacs manual near my desk is the
   "Ninth Edition, for Emacs 19".  One could make an argument that
   the GDB manual should be more like the Emacs manual, since they're
   both interactive tools, but the "4.12" *is* confusing...

   I've cc'ed Roland Pesch, who I believe applied the Edition moniker,
   to see if he has a specific rationale for this nomenclature.

							   Stan