70 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
Article: 21 of comp.unix.wizards
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Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu comp.arch:21095 comp.unix.wizards:21
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Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!rpi!ispd-newsserver!ism.isc.com!ico!rcd
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From: rcd@ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn)
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Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.unix.wizards
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Subject: future globs (was "UNIX mindset...")
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Message-ID: <1991Jan22.003350.5342@ico.isc.com>
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Date: 22 Jan 91 00:33:50 GMT
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References: <1991Jan13.113349.21937@ims.alaska.edu> <11305@lanl.gov> <1991Jan21.145936.7076@phri.nyu.edu>
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Followup-To: comp.unix.wizards
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Organization: Interactive Systems Corporation, Boulder, CO
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Lines: 54
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roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes, in response to the glob wars:
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> Given the move towards kernel bloat, I fear that one alternative we
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> might see some day is moving file name globbing into the kernel. "Let's
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> let namei do it; namei does everything!" Blech.
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Plus, namei is undoubtedly the single most hacked-over piece of code in the
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entire kernel! It was already battered ten years ago.
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Nowadays, it's more complicated than that. First, we'll need a System V
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kernel globbing interface and a BSD globbing interface. There will be new
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system calls for this--setglbent() and getglbent() for Sys V, setfilename-
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globbing() and getfilenameglobbing() for BSD. Of course, they'll have
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different arguments, and BSD will modify namei-globbing only for the
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current process, while SysV will modify it for an entire glob-group (a
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new conceptual grouping of processes).
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Then, V.4 will have to provide for both mechanisms. The selection of
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globbing will be based on the file system types, a kernel examination of
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the process's PATH variable, and the endian-ness of the processor in use.
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Next, we'll need POSIX globbing, which will be almost like both but not
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entirely compatible with either, with switches to enable more-nearly-BSD-
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like and more-nearly-SysV-like behavior.
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AIX will provide its own extended globbing mechanism, promising support for
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BSD and POSIX globbing in a future release, anticipating OSF/3 globbing,
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and also providing for eventual user-specified globbing via callback from
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namei() to user code. The first release will fail to glob a single '*'
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correctly, although it will be 26% faster than any other globbing as
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measured on DhryGlob 0.0.3.
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A little-known patent on file name wild card expansion will be discovered
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to have been granted to a now-bankrupt Oregon software company, in an
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obscure paragraph of a patent originally intended for selecting add-ons to
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hamburgers in a fast-food point-of-sale terminal. The patent will have
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been sold to a California paper company which consists only of lawyers,
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and which will immediately start filing look-and-feel lawsuits to any
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vendor which won't pay a royalty of $0.005 per globbed name.
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In response, FSF will issue a dire warning about the consequences of
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proprietary globbing. Buttons saying "Keep Your Lawyers off My Globs"
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will appear at the June 1991 USENIX. An extended globbing mechanism will
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be built into the next release of emacs.
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OSF will announce that it has studied existing globbing mechanisms and
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found them to be inadequate. Thus, it will issue an RFT for distributed,
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open, architecture-neutral globbing mechanisms which also protect vendors'
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proprietary investments in unexpanded file names. The globbing technology
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will be selected by an entirely open and fair evaluation process from all
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submissions received, provided only that the submitter is a large multi-
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national OSF corporate member with annual revenues exceeding $10^9.
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--
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Dick Dunn rcd@ico.isc.com -or- ico!rcd Boulder, CO (303)449-2870
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...Mr. Natural says, "Use the right tool for the job."
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