SVR3.0 vs BSD4.3

[Root Boy Jim]

   From: Doug Gwyn  <gwyn at brl-smoke.arpa>

   >   "script" for recording terminal session

   "Script" screws up the application running under it sometimes.  It
   could be implemented almost trivially with STREAMS.  Somebody should
   do so.

Interesting. Please elaborate.

   >   one complete KWIC index for all manuals

   That might be handy, but UNIX System V is intended to be distributed
   as a set of packages, many of them optional, so it is hard to see
   how to prepare such a merged index that would be maximally useful.

Index everything, with caveats that certain packages may not be there.
Then, at least we know what we're missing. Free Advertising :-)

   >   a user can be in multiple groups

   Probably coming in a future release.  I hope they fixed the Berkeley
   bug that kept me from logging in when the system administrator added
   me to my ninth group!

Ouch! I've been bit by this as well. Another bogus limit!

   >  support for multiple command interpreters with #! as first line of script

   This is totally unnecessary; if all scripts are executed by a Bourne
   shell, it is easy to simulate the #! feature, in fact to generalize
   on it.  Nevertheless I think AT&T may be adding this kludge to the
   kernel exec code in a future release, alas.

Given that there are and will be multiple shells on a given system,
I think this is critical. It is far better than requiring each shell
to look at the first line and decide if it's for `me', the `other' shell,
or some lesser known processor. In short, it is A Good Thing for an
interpreted script to be able to communicate who it wants to be
interpreted by. Besides, who needs all those redundant shell processes
cluttering up the system on simple scripts.

Unfortunately, the current implementation is rather limited; only one
`extra' argument, and `$0' is forced in there as well. This should be
expanded upon and generalized. `More +2' is cute, but I can't think
of many other uses the way it is now.

   >   context diffs from diff

   This could be added easily enough, and I considered adding it to my
   System V emulation package but decided it wasn't particularly useful.

True, but they are useful for patch files. What they really need to do is
add diff -r and get rid of dircmp.

	(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell	<rbj at icst-cmr.arpa>
	National Bureau of Standards
	Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688
Hey, wait a minute!!  I want a divorce!!..  you're not Clint Eastwood!!