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From: fetter@cos.com (Bob Fetter)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Globbing
Message-ID: <43994@cos.com>
Date: 28 Feb 91 04:14:40 GMT
References: <1991Feb18.152347.28521@dgbt.doc.ca> <474@bria> <19217@cbmvax.commodore.com> <5573:Feb2307:19:4491@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <19336@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Reply-To: fetter@cos.UUCP (Bob Fetter)
Distribution: na
Organization: Corporation for Open Systems, McLean, VA
Lines: 47


  This "shell vs cmd" globbing discussion is getting boring.  I mean,
it's been established that Unix is 'wired' to shell globbing.  And,
there are several environments (Multics, VMS, AmigaDos, Stratus VOS,
etc etc etc...) which handle globbing in the executable.

  It's too late for Unix to consider executable globbing.  Inertia of
existing code seems to nail this down.

  It doesn't seem to be reasonable in today's environment to expect a
"new" operating environment to put/mandate globbing into executables:
there is just too much Unix software out there that will break if/when
it is "ported" to anything new.

  Me, I think it is appropriate to have executables perform globbing.
It eliminates the bull$hit of quoting and keeps semantics from being
drowned in syntax.

  Still, isn't there a reasonable ground for discussion here:

	What if we (the software community) were to start to provide
	software that would **recognize and handle** globbing inside
	executables -->if it is made visible to the executable<--

  Ok, so what is this?  Well, if the shell does globbing, ok, fine.
If somebody decides to code

	execl("my_copy","my_copy","*.c","dest_dir/",NULL);

then why not have 'my_copy' understand globbing?

  The "noise" regarding having to put special logic in each executable
has been beaten to death in this newsgroup.  This problem has been
solved, and it was solved 2 decades ago.  But, I digress.

  Were software to be written in this manner, wouldn't this make the
entire debate happening here moot?  Those folks who advocate having
executables handle globbing are free (like the folks who wrote find)
to put it in.

  Unix != consistency.  Just like I've learned POSIX != portability.
But, then, most *real* progress seems to have sprung from anarchy.
So, this may not really be A Bad Thing(tm).

  Just my $.02.

  -Bob-