Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!mcdchg!chinet!les
From: les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell
Subject: Re: How to do <cmd> file | hold file (now cp)
Message-ID: <1990Sep11.040043.14727@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 11 Sep 90 04:00:43 GMT
References: <12272:Sep916:37:0290@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <HKS5I=B@xds1.ferranti.com> <15472:Sep1015:27:3190@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX
Lines: 16

In article <15472:Sep1015:27:3190@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes:

>Of course the editor should use write-over, as it's conceptually
>modifying the *same* file. cp is putting a *different* file into the
>name previously used for the original.

Ah, but cp should only replace the *contents of the file*.  The other
semantics associated with a file (i.e the contents of the inode) are
associated with the name, which is not being changed.

A program that associates the same name with a different inode or different
inode attributes might be a useful thing, but it shouldn't be called cp
(at least not in something that claims to be unix).

Les Mikesell
  les@chinet.chi.il.us