Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!apple!well!gors
From: gors@well.UUCP (Gordon Stewart)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt
Subject: AIX Peculiarities
Message-ID: <13000@well.UUCP>
Date: 4 Aug 89 05:31:27 GMT
Reply-To: gors@well.UUCP (Gordon Stewart)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 34


I received an e-mail message from an IBMer asking me to mention a couple
of examples of AIX's peculiar commands --
those that deviate from Sys V by having non-standard names, or by having
(horror of horrors!) multi-character options! A clear violation
of the Sys V Standards ("improvements", if you ask IBM) ....

I would respond via e-mail, but my reply bounced. Check your address!

Two examples off the top of my head --

'print'   (whatever happened to 'pr'?) has several multi-char options,
	including 'dd' (drop dead) and 'ca' (for 'cancel')

'tctl'	takes options 'rewind' 'retension' 'reset' etc....

Trust me when I say that these aren't the only ones!

Such "improvements" we can all live without!! It's still not "user-
friendly"! Assume, for a change, that even naive users have a modicum
of intelligence, and can figger out command options (or run 'man') --
but what happens when the new user writes a nifty shell program, moves
it to the /usr/local/bin directory, and finds that when he/she types
the command, he/she gets a "file not found" message -- still gotta do a
rehash! That's the sort of thing that could stand improvement --
instead of pissing in the drink to improve the flavor!

Michael Sierchio

"The opinions expressed herein aren't necessarily"
-- 
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(Doolan) | (Meyer) | (Sierchio) | (Stewart)