Xref: utzoo comp.os.vms:9168 comp.unix.wizards:11543 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!munnari!mimir!hugin!augean!sirius!eco!nt!levels!ccdn From: ccdn@levels.sait.edu.au (DAVID NEWALL) Newsgroups: comp.os.vms,comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: Record-access libraries (Was: Re: VMS vs. UNIX file soapbox) Summary: what price progress? Message-ID: <443@levels.sait.edu.au> Date: 5 Oct 88 14:45:52 GMT References: <68855@sun.uucp> <207@cvbnet2.uucp> <3717@encore.uucp> <864@yunexus.UUCP> Organization: Sth Australian Inst of Technology Lines: 40 In article <864@yunexus.UUCP>, oz@yunexus.UUCP (Ozan Yigit) writes: > RMS Record access you say ?? this concept is especially revolting for our > purist(!) byte-stream-with-a-nl (usually 512 bytes or shorter for idiotic > programs :-) perspective. Alas, we merrily keep faking that our byte > stream is in fact a collection of average size lines (records for less > religious :-) and rush to our soapboxes at the suggestion that something > as ugly as RMS can actually be useful. (*because* of its support of "more > general database access tecniques".) I know little about VMS; not nothing, because the Institute (where I work) uses VMS as it's priniciple operating system. On the other hand, before I joined the Institute, `it' knew little about Unix; Unix is a new thing here. Something that has surprised me a few times, is how often RMS seems to get in the way of what you are doing. For example, there was a tar tape written on some Unix machine, from which some files were to be extracted. Easy to do if you have pd-tar running on VMS, but we didn't. (This actually happened before I started working for the Institute, and so my understanding of the problem is vaugue at best). The thought was that the tar file could be extracted from the tape and kermitted to the Unix box. (We had just got the Unix machines, you must understand, and hadn't yet got sophisticated things like tape drives or ethernet cards). I don't quite understand why that didn't work, but I recall people mumbling about "RMS" and "File Type" or "Record Format". Or then there was the time I suggested backing up our Unix machines across ethernet, onto the VAX tape drive. The answer then was similarly something about "FILES-11", "too difficult". Please excuse my quite obvious ignorance of VMS; I use it very little. This is not intended as a criticism of VMS. I am just surprised at the apparent stumbling blocks one can encounter using RMS. The power provided seems to have cost in terms of flexibility. David Newall Phone: +61 8 343 3160 Unix Systems Programmer Fax: +61 8 349 6939 Academic Computing Service E-mail: ccdn@levels.sait.oz.au SA Institute of Technology Post: The Levels, South Australia, 5095