Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 01:46:03 -0500 (EST)
From: "Mike A. Harris" <mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca>
Reply-To: "Mike A. Harris" <mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca>
To: "Jonathan E. Brickman" <brickman AT cjnetworks DOT com>
cc: opendos AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net
Subject: Re: [opendos] FSSTND
In-Reply-To: <199703121418.IAA18119@topeka.cjnetworks.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970313014433.692B-100000@capslock.com>
Organization: Total disorganization.
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Sender: owner-opendos AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net
Precedence: bulk

On Wed, 12 Mar 1997, Jonathan E. Brickman wrote:

> > DOS doesn't have symlinks yet.  Also, if we're going to have a
> > standard, a symlink is kindof pointless.  symlinks could be used
> > for legacy apps, which mostly would work under the new system
> > anyway.  Most DOS apps don't have their directories hard coded
> > into them.
> 
> Yes.  Hardcoded directory names is one of the things I find
> most pointless and counterproductive about Unix.
> 
> Now, symlinks would be nice, but I'll settle for "mount".
> I want to be able to mount all of my drives under one
> hierarchy as well as A through Z.

Symlinks and mountable installable filesystems are being talked
about, and will probably be in the works once the sources are
released.  They are on the wishlist anyways.

I actually prefer the hardcoded directories.  That way I know
that any given file is in the same spot on all 5 Linux machines
that I use on a daily basis.  My own, several college computers,
etc.  In contrast, by not having standard directories in DOS, one
is left blind on a new machine.  Have you ever tried to find
PKUNZIP on someone's machine?  Mine is in C:\UTILS which is in my
path at ALL times.  Other people either don't know where it is,
or don't know what it is.

I've written a little story humorizing a scenario not unlike the
one I've just given.  I'm going to be posting it to the group
sometime soon, maybe tonight.
 

Mike A. Harris        |             http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris
Computer Consultant   |                  Coming soon: dynamic-IP-freedom...
My dynamic address: http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris/ip-address.html
mailto:mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca

WABI: A commercial Windows emulator for Linux. http://www.caldera.com