number of simultaneously open (buff

[Phil Ronzone]

In article <45600001 at urbsdc> aglew at urbsdc.Urbana.Gould.COM writes:
>BSD 4.3 select uses an array, so that the size of an int is
>not a limit on the number of open file descriptors.

A most curious thing, folks. I responded to a query as to the maximum
open file descriptors per process in A/UX, and replied 32, along with a
description of WHY it is 32 (i.e., not just a random number). (The reason
was that the 4.1c/4.2 code base we were taking from at the time ignored
anything after the first 32-bit int in the array given to the select()
system call. So we picked 32, as we knew that 20 was just a little bit
on the insufficient side).

Anyway, although aglew above is a neutral reply, many of the direct mail
responses seemed to be of flavor "YOU *%^&#$@ IDIOT, ANY CRETIN KNOWS
THAT BSD 4.3 SELECT ALLOWS AN ARRAY OF INTEGERS .... YOU FOOL". And so on.

=== FUN PART ON ===
So, did I say something wrong or forget to use my mouthwash when I sent that
article? Or are there a number of near brain-dead flameoids who sleep
passively at their terminals, and stumble semi-coherently into nasty
replies when a random key word or two (SELECT, 32 FILE DESCRIPTORS, LIMIT, ..)
passes before their glazed eyes to satisfy their infinitesmal egos, without
pausing to realize that A/UX ain't BSD 4.3, and that maybe a signature line
mentioning A/UX System Architect may know something (I did have a signature
line on that one, didn't I???) etc. maybe they all hate System V? :-)
=== FUN PART OFF ===

Ah, I always wanted to do that. Anyway, that was WHY we set initial limits
of 32. Maybe it is not viewed important by some (many?) on the net, but
we'd like to explain WHY we did certain things on A/UX and engage in civilized
discourse. Actual use of four-letter words in replies, well, tsk tsk and
don't discourage us boys and girls!!! Or we'll stop reading comp.sys.aux! :-)

On other subjects (like rec.humor, here is the obligatory item) --

Thanks to all of those who replied on our request on what YOU'D like to
see Apple do on handling HFS filesystems under A/UX. The summary is:

21 replies to date.

Mount HFS filesystems (VNODE or equivalent) as UNIX filesystems ........ 19
Incoherent .............................................................  1
Mount HFS filesystems running under Mac OS via AppleShare under A/UX ...  1

The result of your replies was to change some up in the air "things to do"
thoughts into let's put this on the projecvt list. ALTHOUGH WE CAN'T PROMISE
ANYTHING BECAUSE PRIORITIES CHANGE AND SOMETHINGS THINGS BECOME UNFEASIBLE,
ANY THUS MAYBE WE'LL NEVER EVER DO IT ANYWAY, we have decided to try/look into
making HFS filesystems supported under A/UX by mounting them. We are serious
enough that if you have extensive VNODE kernel experience AND extensive HFS
and Mac OS knowledge, send me a resume.

We listened, and some of those 19 replies were very well thought out.
Thanks to you all.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- 
Philip K. Ronzone  A/UX System Architect
Apple Computer MS 27AJ 10500 N. DeAnza Blvd. Cupertino CA 95014
{amdahl,decwrl,sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual,unisoft}!apple!phil
"In A/UX Release 4.0, /bin will still be there ...." P. Zigbooli