--- a/README.Windows
+++ b/README.Windows
@@ -121,16 +121,26 @@
     g. close gnuplot and start the Octave installation.
 
 13. Get the Octave sources, either from a current snapshot
-    distribution or from CVS:
+    distribution or from CVS.
+
+    You should check the web page http://www.octave.org/download.html
+    or look for the file RECOMMENDED-IS-N.NN.NN in the ftp download
+    directory to see what version is currently recommended (N.NN.NN
+    will be an actual version number, like 2.1.50).  If more recent
+    versions may be available they should be considered experimental.
+
+    The CVS sources are only recommended for people who want be
+    involved in Octave's development process and who don't mind
+    running into the occasional show-stopping bug.
 
     Snapshot:
 
       a. Download a copy of the current version of Octave from
          ftp://ftp.octave.org.  You may use the command line ftp
          client in Cygwin or a web browser.  You are looking for the
-         most recent version in the pub/octave/bleeding-edge
+         most recent recommended version in the pub/octave/bleeding-edge
          directory.  At the time of this writing, it was
-         octave-2.1.46.tar.gz.  Save this file to your Cygwin home
+         octave-2.1.50.tar.gz.  Save this file to your Cygwin home
          directory.  This directory will usually be called something
          like c:\cygwin\home\jwe from Windows (the precise location
          depends on where you chose to install Cygwin).
@@ -144,15 +154,15 @@
 
       b. Unpack the source files using the command:
 
-           tar zxf octave-2.1.46.tar.gz
+           tar zxf octave-2.1.50.tar.gz
 
          in the Cygwin shell.  This command will create a subdirectory
-         called octave-2.1.46 in your home directory.
+         called octave-2.1.50 in your home directory.
 
       c. Change your current working directory to the top-level Octave
          source directory:
 
-           cd octave-2.1.46
+           cd octave-2.1.50
 
          then continue with step 14 below.
 
@@ -241,4 +251,4 @@
 University of Wisconsin-Madison
 Department of Chemical Engineering
 
-Wed Apr 30 17:15:32 2003
+Sun Jan 11 12:19:47 2004

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/miscellaneous/dir.m
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+## Copyright (C) 2004 John W. Eaton
+##
+## This file is part of Octave.
+##
+## Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+## under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+## the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
+## any later version.
+##
+## Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+## WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+## General Public License for more details.
+##
+## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+## along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the Free
+## Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
+## 02111-1307, USA.
+
+## -*- texinfo -*-
+## @deftypefn {Function File} {} dir (@var{directory})
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {[@var{list}] =} dir (@var{directory})
+## Display file listing for directory @var{directory}.  If a return
+## value is requested, return a structure array with the fields
+##
+## @example
+## @group
+## name
+## bytes
+## date
+## isdir
+## statinfo
+## @end group
+## @end example
+##
+## @noindent
+## in which @code{statinfo} is the structure returned from @code{stat}.
+##
+## If @var{directory} is not a directory, return information about the
+## named file.
+## @var{filename}.
+## @end deftypefn
+## @seealso{stat}
+
+## Author: jwe
+
+## XXX FIXME XXX -- this is quite slow for large directories, so perhaps
+## it should be converted to C++.
+
+function retval = dir (file)
+
+  if (nargin == 1)
+    if (isstr (file))
+      flst = glob (file);
+      nf = length (flst);
+      if (nf == 0)
+	if (nargout > 0)
+	  ## XXX FIXME XXX -- need a way to create an empty (0x1)
+	  ## structure array.
+	  retval = [];
+	else
+	  warning ("dir: nonexistent file \"%s\"", file);
+	endif
+      else
+	nt = 0;
+	len = zeros (nf, 1);
+	finfo = cell (nf, 1);
+	## Collect results.
+	for i = nf:-1:1
+	  fn = flst{i};
+	  if (isstr (fn))
+	    [st, err, msg] = lstat (fn);
+	    if (err < 0)
+	      warning ("dir: nonexistent file \"%s\"", fn);
+	    else
+	      if (st.modestr(1) == "d")
+		lst = readdir (fn);
+		n = length (lst);
+		for j = n:-1:1
+		  tfn = lst{j};
+		  ## The lstat call seems to be the bottleneck for large
+		  ## directories.
+		  [st, err, msg] = lstat (strcat (fn, "/", tfn));
+		  if (err < 0)
+		    warning ("dir: stat failed for %s (%s)", tfn, msg);
+		  else
+		    info(j).name = tfn;
+		    ## Generating the pretty time string also takes a
+		    ## significant amount of time for large directories.
+		    info(j).date = strftime ("%d-%b-%Y %T",
+					     localtime (st.mtime));
+		    info(j).bytes = st.size;
+		    info(j).isdir = st.modestr(1) == "d";
+		    info(j).statinfo = st;
+		  endif
+		endfor
+	      else
+		info.name = fn;
+		info.date = strftime ("%d-%b-%Y %T", localtime (st.mtime));
+		info.bytes = st.size;
+		info.isdir = st.modestr(1) == "d";
+		info.statinfo = st;
+	      endif
+	      nt += (len(i) = length (info));
+	      finfo{i} = info;
+	    endif
+	  else
+	    error ("dir: expecting filename argument to be a string");
+	  endif
+	endfor
+	## Condense results to a single struct array.
+	## XXX FIXME XXX -- need a way to create an empty (0x) struct
+	## array in case the file is nonexistent.
+	if (nt == 0)
+	  file_list = [];
+	else
+	  off = 1;
+	  for i = 1:nf
+	    tlen = len(i);
+	    file_list(off:off+tlen-1) = finfo{i};
+	    off += tlen;
+	  endfor
+	endif
+	if (nargout > 0)
+	  if (length (file_list) > 0)
+	    retval = file_list;
+	  else
+	    retval = [];
+	  endif
+	else
+	  ## XXX FIXME XXX -- need a way to neatly list these in columns.
+	  for i = 1:nt
+	    printf ("  %s\n", file_list(i).name);
+	  endfor
+	endif
+      endif
+    else
+      error ("dir: expecting directory or filename to be a string");
+    endif
+  else
+    usage ("dir (file)");
+  endif
+
+endfunction