Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cs.utexas.edu!longway!std-unix
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu
Newsgroups: comp.std.unix
Subject: Re: A "public domain" set of include files.
Message-ID: <263@longway.TIC.COM>
Date: 16 Nov 88 05:29:43 GMT
References: <255@longway.TIC.COM>
Sender: std-unix@longway.TIC.COM
Reply-To: henry@zoo.toronto.edu
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Approved: jsq@longway.tic.com (Moderator, John S. Quarterman)

From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu

>... one of the things I would like to see, is a list of the 'necessary'
>files in these directories, and perhaps, public domain (or freeware) versions
>of these files...

There is a fundamental problem with this, in that those files can and often
do contain implementation-dependent information.  For example, <stdio.h>
must contain definitions of the getc and putc macros, which are intimately
tied to the implementation details of the rest of stdio.  For another
example, it's hard to imagine a portable version of <stdarg.h>, since its
whole purpose is to cover up implementation details.

>... Thus, people developing software (PD or otherwise), which
>in some way or another, uses these definitions, can know what to expect...

This is precisely what documentation, including standards, is supposed to
tell you.  (Admittedly, it doesn't always do this very well.)

                                     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                 uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu


Volume-Number: Volume 15, Number 30