Xref: utzoo gnu.misc.discuss:409 comp.sys.mac:41318 comp.sys.mac.programmer:10069 comp.emacs:7103 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!apple.com!chewy From: chewy@apple.com (Paul Snively) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.emacs Subject: Re: alt.macgnu Message-ID: <4971@internal.Apple.COM> Date: 31 Oct 89 16:52:44 GMT Sender: usenet@Apple.COM Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. Lines: 46 References:<87@toaster.SFSU.EDU> <1150@mipos3.intel.com>, <10131@cadnetix.COM> In article wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu (William M. Bumgarner) writes: > I would like to see FSF software running on mac... but under MacMach, not > the Mac OS. I wouldn't worry too much about this; no FSF software that I know of runs under the Mac OS, as (thank God) the Mac OS isn't a UNIX variant. Most of it DOES run under MPW, though, since MPW deliberately resembles UNIX. In article wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu (William M. Bumgarner) writes: > Hopefully, MacMach will help break down the wall between the system software > and the programmer that Apple has forced on all of us ("we will tell you > what you NEED to know and no more"). MacMach can't help but bring the programmer closer to the system software; it's just UNIX, after all (albeit a much nicer UNIX architecture than most). And the reality of the situation is that Apple doesn't enforce a wall between the system software and the programmer; we attempt to provide an understanding that there are a wide variety of things that, while they may work with our CURRENT hardware and system software, are by no means guaranteed to continue to do so, and therefore we a) discourage their use in situations where the developer already knows how to do these evil things, and b) don't tell developers who DON'T know how to do these evil thngs how to do them. Most of us in MacDTS at least make an attempt to explain why you shouldn't do certain things, like tail-patching traps. If we're guilty of anything, perhaps it's of assuming that when we say "don't do this," the developer will understand why s/he shouldn't by osmosis or something. On the other hand, oftentimes our jobs would be much easier if some people would read Inside Macintosh and the Tech Notes before undertaking something that we've either already explained how to do, or explained why doing it is a bad idea. __________________________________________________________________________ Just because I work for Apple Computer, Inc. doesn't mean that they believe what I believe or vice-versa. __________________________________________________________________________ C++ -- The language in which only friends can access your private members. __________________________________________________________________________