[Rd] 8 char labels in read.spss

[Knut Krueger]

I was wondering why it is possible to read long labels from the CVS 
files but not from the SPSS files.
I did not have much time to search for the code but I found:

in foreign_0.8-10 source file var.h.in

> /* Definition of the max length of a short string value, generally
>    eight characters.  */
> #define MAX_SHORT_STRING ((SIZEOF_DOUBLE)>=8 ? ((SIZEOF_DOUBLE)+1)/2*2 
> : 8)
> #define MIN_LONG_STRING (MAX_SHORT_STRING+1)
>
> /* FYI: It is a bad situation if sizeof(R_flt64) < MAX_SHORT_STRING:
>    then short string missing values can be truncated in system files
>    because there's only room for as many characters as can fit in a
>    R_flt64. */
> #if MAX_SHORT_STRING > 8
> #error MAX_SHORT_STRING must be less than 8.
> #endif

I am am right then there was a restriction in the year 2000 because the 
files are from the year 2000.

Now there are some questions:
Did I found the right code?
is it possible that anybody could recompile this with long value names
or where is the best manual for a quick start in compiling packages.


I found a couple of weeks before a tread where anybody wrote a complete 
way for building packages.
He described all problems of him and there were a lot of hints for the 
first steps, but I am not able to find it again - I don't know the 
search terms which I used before :-(


with regards
Knut