Favorite operating systems query (UNIX vs VMS flaming!!!)
Garry Wiegand
garry at batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU
Fri Jul 11 12:06:19 AEST 1986
In a recent article levy at ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) wrote:
>Hardly pointing out the specific problem! Better something like this (under
>System V):
>
>$ who -bogus
>who: illegal option -- o
>Usage: who [-rbtpludAasHTq] [am i] [utmp_like_file]
>
>r run level
>b boot time
>t time changes
>...
My goodness! I never *ever* saw a Unix program actually use English words and
list out the options! What won't they think of next!!!! (As for me, I've always
rather enjoyed those clever little "Usage: oink -azmnblooglefungaaa" lines.)
More seriously, there pros and cons to this approach - if I just fumble-fingered,
and the program has a gazillion options, I DON'T want to wait while they all
scroll by.
PS - On my system (4.3 BSD), typing "who -bogus" yields:
who: cannot open utmp
This excellent message is *much more* in the tradition of the Unix.
--
garry wiegand (garry%cadif-oak at cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu)
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