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From: kvc@scgvaxd.UUCP (Kevin Carosso)
Newsgroups: net.unix
Subject: Re: VMS text files and cu
Message-ID: <175@scgvaxd.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Apr-84 20:53:22 EST
Article-I.D.: scgvaxd.175
Posted: Thu Apr 19 20:53:22 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 23-Apr-84 07:07:47 EST
References: <2030@usceast.UUCP> <293@hlhop.UUCP> <293@astrovax.UUCP> <250@intelca.UUCP>
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA
Lines: 28


   > actually, I believe that VMS text files are REALLY different, not just
   > adding a CR to a LF, but rather are usually what is called variable
   > length records, where there is NO CR,LF at all, but rather the first
   > two characters of a "record" contain a count of the number of
   > characters in the record.  It is then the function of the utility trying

I think you are very confused.  Yes, it's true that VMS treats text files
internally as variable length records with record terminator attributes
(normally CR) but this has NOTHING to do with sending files with cu.  VMS sees
cu as nothing more than a user typing (albeit a little faster than most
humans can type) a file at a terminal.  In this sense, VMS treats CR as the
line (or record, if you like) delimiter.  That's because most terminals issue
CR when you hit the big key labelled "RETURN".  In cooked mode, the UNIX
terminal driver ALSO has to convert CR into something meaningful internally, in
this case LF.  If "cu" had been written with a little more generality in mind,
it would send to the remote system exactly what that remote system would
see if it were a human sending data down the line: a CR.   Let's not be so
hasty to pass things off as operating system problems when they aren't.
It really is "cu" that needs mucking.  Remember that making it send CR will
still work with UNIX systems but allow other systems to work as well.  It
seems to me that any change that increases the generality and usefulness of
a tool without compromising the current functionality of that tool is a change
for the better.  It's UNIX anyway, who cares if your source code is different
from anyone else's source code? :-)

	/Kevin Carosso             allegra!scgvaxd!engvax!kvc
	 Hughes Aircraft Co.