Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!mjl
From: mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: AmigaDos vs Unix wildcards/pathnames
Message-ID: <11241@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: 16 Mar 89 07:30:00 GMT
References: <11135@ut-emx.UUCP> <6235@cbmvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: mjl@emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun)
Organization: UTexas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
Lines: 66

[eat what?]

In article <6235@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes:
>in article <11135@ut-emx.UUCP>, mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun) says:
>
	[stuff deleted]
>
>> 1> copy (*.c|*.h) t:    (what's wrong with `cp *.c *.h t:' ??)
>
>That's a detail of the AmigaDOS copy program, not the wild card system.

Agreed.  Somewhere between my brain and fingers my thoughts turned to
mush on this one.  For the record:  Amigados wildcards appear more
powerful than Unix wildcards.

However, I still don't think I should have to resort to the above
command line to accomplish this very simple task.  To quote a few
"obvious" truths :

  o Simple tasks should be accomplished with ease.
  o More complex tasks may be accomplished with more difficulty, though
     simplicity is preferable.
  and so on..

Since the required task (say copy two unrelated files to t:) is
extremely simple, I shouldn't have to contort my fingers to get it
done.  If it is too much to ask that copy be modified to allow
multiple arguments for filenames (rename also), why not supply a
separate 'mv' and 'cp' command for those of us who really like the
Unix syntax?

There are alternate methods of specifying file-lists without
resorting to multi-args, such as using commas to delimit files.
Although this is an excellent idea, there is a lot of precedent to
using spaces, and I like this syntax.  It's also a lot easier when
you need to put a front end on a utility because the writer didn't
provide for multiple file names (simple arguments in that case).

To sum up, I still see the following things as being important:

 o '*' accepted as a universal wildcard

 o a library exist for expansion of wildcards by utilities

 o 'copy' and 'rename' extended to allow multiargs, or perhaps provide
   'cp' and 'mv' commands (in addition) instead.  Adding an 'mv' utility
   might be best because 'rename' can do fun things with groups of
   files if there are only 2 args.

 o  Unix relative pathnames accepted anywhere AmigaDos pathnames are.
    (Maybe some real incompatibilities here, I'm unsure)
    This last thing would be nice, but probably not essential.

Certainly some of this is taken care of by ARP.  I really can't
understand why Commodore isn't trying to acquire ARP, or at least
duplicate it.

>Dave Haynie  "The 32 Bit Guy"     Commodore-Amiga  "The Crew That Never Rests"
>   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: D-DAVE H     BIX: hazy
>              Amiga -- It's not just a job, it's an obsession

Maurice LeBrun		      |   "So then I says to Borg, `You know,
Institute for Fusion Studies  |  as long as we're under siege, one of us
University of Texas at Austin |    oughta moon these Saxon dogs.'"
Internet:                     |
  mjl@fusion.ph.utexas.edu    |                   (Far Side)