Path: utzoo!utgpu!cunews!cognos!alzabo!tigris!glee From: glee@tigris.uucp (Godfrey Lee) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: What's Wrong with ARP!!!! Message-ID: <1990Dec26.183920.21431@tigris.uucp> Date: 26 Dec 90 18:39:20 GMT References: <2312@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> Reply-To: glee@tigris.UUCP (Godfrey Lee) Organization: Godfrey Lee Lines: 50 In article SteveX@omx.UUCP (Steve Tibbett) writes: >>In article <2312@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) writes: [discussions on replacement commands, whether they should be same name or not] >>If I called it something other than >>MOUNT, it would njust mean that a lot of folks would rename it to MOUNT, > 1: When I update my C: directory with a new set of C: commands, > your mount would be a special case that I'd have to copy back > on after every update (or I'd just have to call it something else) Well, that is why people invented the PATH concept, if you are adventurous, you put the ARP commands ahead of C: (or make it C:), if you are not, put them after. If you are methodical, split ARP commands into two sets, the set that you have tested, put them in front of the regular commands, the set that you might not trust, put them after (or not at all). The trick is to arrange that any updates you need to do, either to the official set or the ARP set, you can do it without disrupting the other. > 2: There is no way of knowing that your MOUNT will have all the > functionality of all future MOUNT's. That is problematic regardless. If you get used to using the alternate command, then you not only have to notice that the official one changed and you should use it, you also have to re-train your fingers to type a different command. It is still easier, once you discover which one is better to use, you just switch them in the PATH (once). In general, if someone names a command the same as the official one, and you use it, you are in effect trusting that it will have the same functionality, and probably that it will get updated along with the official command. >If the user takes LPMount and calls it MOUNT, then he's asking for his >own trouble, not being given it by you. The converse of that is that if someone copies the alternate set over the official set, then he's asking for his own trouble. On balance, I definitely prefer that the replacement commands (same functionality, perhaps with extensions, definitely same syntax) be named the same as the official commands. Of course, all commands should be able to tell you who they are (version, author), so you can find out which one you are executing. -- Godfrey Lee cunews!tigris!glee or glee@tigris.ocunix.on.ca