File "type"

[Chris Torek]

In article <1990Sep27.145844.28546 at siia.mv.com> drd at siia.mv.com (David Dick)
writes:
[in response to `the BSD file program database is contained inside the BSD
file program']
>... a hard-coded database ... [is] quite contrary to the original
>idea of editable control files in UNIX.  (Of course, how many other
>things are there in BSD UNIX that are contrary to the original idea
>of UNIX? :-)

Sounds like revisionist history to me :-)

The 4.[0123]BSD `file' program is a direct descendent of the original
research Unix `file' program.  It was somewhere along the USG/USDL tree
that the System V `file' program acquired an external database.

CSRG have an external-database `file', but in some ways it has turned
out not to work as well.  We are still running a locally-hacked version
of the 4.3BSD `file' here.
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 405 2750)
Domain:	chris at cs.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris