Porting UNIX Applications to the Mac

[Richard Kuhns]

I'm rather surprised that no one has mentioned the AT&T 3b1 during this
discussion.  I realise that there are large differences between the
User Agent on the 3b1 and the Desktop on the Mac, but they look to be
related (disclaimer: I don't have any first-hand experience with the Mac).

Currently, it's possible to set up any single command on the 3b1 with the
User Agent & it's support of windows, using shform(1) if you want to do it
via a shell script, or menu(3t) & message(3t) if you want to handle it
via C code.  Using shform(1), for example, it's easy to set up a form
which requests all the info needed to run a grep (filename[s], pattern,
any additional options), which a shell script simply gives to grep.

In general, then, all you'd need is a program ala shform, which reads a
file containing a description of the desired user interface, interacts
with the user using the appropriate graphics interface, and returns the
results of said interactions in a form which a shell script can handle.

Any 3b1 gurus/developers care to comment?

Further disclaimer:  I have no relationship with AT&T other than being a
reasonably satisfied user of some of their computers, and no relationship
with Apple at all.
-- 
Rich Kuhns		{ihnp4, decvax, etc...}!pur-ee!pur-phy!mrstve!rjk