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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!israel
From: israel@umcp-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng,net.nlang
Subject: Re: expert-friendly: are long names a waste of time?
Message-ID: <3976@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-Nov-83 17:24:50 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3976
Posted: Mon Nov 21 17:24:50 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Nov-83 03:23:05 EST
References: <4063@amd70.UUCP>, <141@cae780.UUCP> <6125@watmath.UUCP>
Organization: Univ. of Maryland, Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 39


	From: idallen@watmath.UUCP
	
	Of course, the idea of "chmod mode file file file mode file
	file file" can't work, since UNIX files can look just like
	modes.  Even if they didn't look like modes, the argument order
	problem is still there.  Is it
	
	    chmod mode file file mode file file
	       or
	    chmod file file mode file file mode   ?

Of course it can work!  After all, are the two above cases ambiguous
from a human point of view?  All you need is a recognition procedure
for a validly constructed mode definition, and also a couple of
heuristics to use, such as:

1) if it starts with something that could be a mode, it is in
   mode-first format.

2) if it ends with a mode, then it's in mode-last format.

3) if its in both formats, or neither, then error.

4) if a mode is also the name of a file in the current directory, and
   could be either a mode or a file (in other words, not in either the
   first or last position), then ambiguity; print out a message and do
   something (continue or exit).

Note that #4 is a new problem (not currently in 'chmod' now) brought
about by the extended paramter parsing.  This is equivalent to the
problem 'rm' (and other processes) have of files beginning with
dashes (i.e. 'rm -f' meaning (to the user) 'rm ./-f').
-- 

^-^ Bruce ^-^

University of Maryland, Computer Science
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