Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!nic.csu.net!csun!kithrup!sef
From: sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: POSIX bashing (Was Re: Retaining file permissions)
Keywords: chmod, sed, awk... and good old *cat*!
Message-ID: <1991Mar07.073936.12552@kithrup.COM>
Date: 7 Mar 91 07:39:36 GMT
References: <1991Feb28.205734.26484@athena.mit.edu> <21795@yunexus.YorkU.CA> <3419@unisoft.UUCP>
Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd.
Lines: 30

In article <3419@unisoft.UUCP> greywolf@unisoft.UUCP (The Grey Wolf) writes:
>but I think POSIX purposely decided to look more like System V and
>ignore all the interesting bits that made BSD better.  

In a sense, yes, they did.

>Why, I'm not sure.

Because there was this thing called the 'SVID':  the System V Interface
Definition.  This was the `base document' that POSIX started with; it
provided a *lot* of the groundwork.  On the other hand, POSIX has *not* been
ignoring the BSD stuff; try reading the POSIX 1003.1 document, sometime, and
see what's there (job control, symbolic links, etc.).  The people at CSRG
have, I've been told, been very successful at influencing certain people
(such as the government) to require some of the options (such as job
control, ENAMETOOLONG, etc.).

>It's truly a pity that System V has more marketing clout; BSD is just SO
>much more usable.

In what way?  On kithrup, I have job control, command-line editing (I use
ksh), networking (still useful even though kithrup is the only machine it
can connect to 8-)), and a few other nifty-keen things.  I ... know of some
other useful things coming out, but I can't comment on them.

-- 
Sean Eric Fagan  | "I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it;
sef@kithrup.COM  |  I had a bellyache at the time."
-----------------+           -- The Turtle (Stephen King, _It_)
Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others.