Porting coreutils

Now that we're well into the Easter change interdiction period, I passed a pleasant day shaking down my coreutils patches for Super-UX and setting them in some sort of order. The only application that needed any serious attention was stat and that only required changes to work around the fantastically quirky implementation of statfs() under S-UX.

Catch My Breath

Although I neglected to mention it while it was actually running — I was worried that if I praised it before it was over, I might jinx things — I really enjoyed Catch My Breath by Marty Ross, broadcast last week on BBC7.

The story, which progresses along gothic lines, follows Kate and Colleen, two escapees from a prison outward bounds course, as they cut across the highlands in an attempt to get to Glasgow. After getting caught in a storm, they encounter local laird Adam Strachen, who invites them to stay the night at his baronial manor. Collen is very taken with their charismatic host, but Kate has her doubts. As events progress and more of Adam's character comes to light, their opinions become increasingly polarised and the tenuous nature of their situation becomes increasingly apparent.

The dramatisation was very nicely done, with cracking performances from the actors. The main characters, in particular, have a lot to carry: Colleen has to convince as a hard-case who falls in love with the wrong man; Kate has change from a bookish girl to a self-confident and fearless woman; while Adam has to be a charming seducer, a dark brooding lord of the manor and, at times, a crazed monster.

All in all, it's Well worth a listen, if at all possible. If it's not possible, which it probably isn't, I guess you'll just have to wait for it to come round again when BBC7 repeat it. Poor you.