Re: warn when core functions are shadowed

[Dupuis]

Jaroslav Hajek-2 wrote:
> 
> hi all,
> 
> attached is a patch that enables Octave to issue a warning when core
> library or built-in functions are shadowed by user functions after
> addpath ().
> This may help users avoid unexpected failures (and subsequent false
> bug reports) caused by name clashes from their own functions or
> functions from packages (primarily old versions of packages that
> sometimes contains functions subsequently implemented or moved to
> core. This has bitten me more than once.)
> 
> So now we'll see warnings like this:
> 
> warning: function ./accumarray.m shadows a core library function
> warning: function /home/hajek/octave/nth_element.m shadows a built-in
> function
> 
> Enabling the warning also for files from "." was a bit tricky, because
> the "." directory was being treated in a complicated way, added
> multiple times.
> I modified things a bit, hope I didn't screw anything up.
> 
> Currently the warning is hard-wired. Should it be configurable?
> Note that to test the patch you need to install the built binary,
> because run-octave adds the system path through command line params.
> 
> Comments? OK to push?
> 
> 
To me it's a good thing. For instance, you may have an old implementation of
a once missing function lying in your personal path, which prevents the
actual implementation from being used. Tracking such issues may be tedious. 

Regards

Pascal
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