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From: mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Stdio flaws?
Message-ID: <798@mcgill-vision.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 7-Jun-87 04:31:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: mcgill-v.798
Posted: Sun Jun  7 04:31:55 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jun-87 11:26:29 EDT
References: <345@phoenix.PRINCETON.EDU> <19977@sun.uucp>
Organization: McGill University, Montreal
Lines: 30

In article <19977@sun.uucp>, guy%gorodish@Sun.COM (Guy Harris) writes:
>> For some unknown reason, fflush(3) only flushes output buffers, not
>> input buffers.
(The reason is "that's how it's written." :-)

> Purging an input buffer is a completely separate operation; I agree
> that it might be a good thing if standard I/O permitted you to do
> this, but it is emphatically NOT the operation that "fflush" should
> do.

That's why fdumpbuf() is one of the things I've added to stdio. Only
occasionally useful, but when you want it there's basically nothing
else that will do....

> The fact that many systems do not support "ftruncate" should explain
> why the standard I/O library *can't* help you here.  If you don't
> have a name for a file, there *is* no portable way to truncate it to
> zero length!

Is there a portable way to truncate it to zero length if you *do* have
a name for it?  Creating for write won't cut it because of helpful
systems like VMS that try to be nice by providing version numbers, and
creating just creates a new version....

> The standard I/O library is not capable of performing miracles....
(It isn't?  Bummer. :-)

					der Mouse

				(mouse@mcgill-vision.uucp)