Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!agate!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hpcvca!charles
From: charles@hpcvca.HP.COM (Charles Brown)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Enviroment (was Re: Yea, but can an Amiga Shell do this....)
Message-ID: <5660009@hpcvca.HP.COM>
Date: 23 Aug 88 01:07:02 GMT
References: <8808192105.AA16960@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, Oregon
Lines: 45

>:How does this allow a child to have an environment different from its
>:parent?  Specifically
>:
>:		grandparent
>:		|	|
>:	  parent1	parent2
>:	    |		|
>:	child1		child2

>	It doesn't, but nobody ever said the UNIX enviroment paradigm was the
> proper way to go.
>				-Matt

I change my paradigm when I see that the new one is clearly superior
to the old one.  This kind of change should not be made for trivial
reasons, because it breaks lots of software.  It is already more
painful to port Unix software to the Amiga than it really needs to be
because of small differences which are not any better, just different.
One example is the file name system.  Using ":" too indicate root is
in no way superior to "/".  Using "//" to indicate previous directory
is in no way superior to "../".  Yet these differences make
transporting software (and brainware) more difficult.  In fact,
Amigados has a clear inferiority in that it cannot refer to current
directory which Unix does with ".".  So why was AmigaDos done this
way?  Well, just because...

If Amiga is going to change the paradigm for envariables, how about
something that IS superior?  Define a global default set of
envariables (like ENV:).  Each parent can define any number of
envariables which will then be inherited by its children.  If the
child accesses an envariable the parent did not define, it gets the
global default.  If the child modifies and envariable, the new value
will then be passed on to the grandchild.  The child is prevented from
modifying (to the parent) any envariables defined by the parent.
However, the child can still use envariables to pass info back to the
parent (or anyone else) by modifying or creating a global envariable.

The more AmigaDos deviates from other operating systems (especially
when it does not provide significant advantage in the deviation) the
more the Amiga will be ignored by commercial software developers, and
the more the Amiga will become "just a niche computer".
--
	Charles Brown		charles%hpcvca@hplabs.hp.com
	My employer is not responsible for my opinions.
	However, my employer is responsible for my paycheck.  :-)