Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!spool.mu.edu!uunet!indetech!cirrus!dhesi From: dhesi@cirrus.com (Rahul Dhesi) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.nfs Subject: Re: Ctrl-Z with PCNFS ftp and unix2dos Message-ID: <1991Jun27.184914.496@cirrus.com> Date: 27 Jun 91 18:49:14 GMT Article-I.D.: cirrus.1991Jun27.184914.496 References: <1134@dcsc.dla.mil> Sender: news@cirrus.com Distribution: usa Organization: Cirrus Logic Inc. Lines: 24 In <1134@dcsc.dla.mil> drezac@dcsc.dla.mil (Duane L. Rezac) writes: >Should PC-NFS add the Ctrl-Z to the end of the file in ascii mode? No MS-DOS application should arbitrarily add a control-Z to the end of a file. This control-Z quirk exists in outdated software because back in the early eighties CP/M, and then MS-DOS 1.0, required it. These operating systems kept track of the file size only to the nearest 128-byte block, so the control-Z was needed to figure out where a text file ended. (There was no way of telling exactly where a binary file ended.) MS-DOS 2.0 introduced a new set of system calls derived from UNIX, and applications that used them did not need the control-Z, but some of them were modified from old versions and retained the control-Z requirement. Today, now that MS-DOS 4.01 is standard and 5.0 has just arrived, the control-Z phenomenon is an anachronism. If any of your applications still require it, it would be a good idea to upgrade them or replace them with newer ones. -- Rahul Dhesi UUCP: oliveb!cirrusl!dhesi