12 messages in org.freebsd.freebsd-bugsRe: bin/4154: wish /bin/sleep handled...| From | Sent On | Attachments |
|---|---|---|
| den...@home.com | Jul 23, 1997 10:18 pm | |
| Jason Thorpe | Jul 23, 1997 11:09 pm | |
| Tim Liddelow | Jul 23, 1997 11:41 pm | |
| Jordan K. Hubbard | Jul 24, 1997 2:06 am | |
| Jordan K. Hubbard | Jul 24, 1997 2:11 am | |
| Bruce Evans | Jul 24, 1997 5:25 am | |
| Jason Thorpe | Jul 24, 1997 9:43 am | |
| Tim Liddelow | Jul 24, 1997 5:00 pm | |
| Sergei S. Laskavy | Jul 25, 1997 1:28 am | |
| Jason Thorpe | Jul 25, 1997 7:54 am | |
| FreeBSD Technical Reader | Jul 26, 1997 12:28 pm | |
| FreeBSD Technical Reader | Jul 26, 1997 12:29 pm |
| Subject: | Re: bin/4154: wish /bin/sleep handled fractions of a second. | |
|---|---|---|
| From: | Tim Liddelow (TLid...@cybec.com.au) | |
| Date: | Jul 24, 1997 5:00:01 pm | |
| List: | org.freebsd.freebsd-bugs | |
Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:
Erm, you're sorta missing the point. This is not about upwards compatibility - this is about taking a BSD script and later trying to port it to, say, Solaris. Portability cuts both ways, and there's no advantage to be gained by turning BSD into a roach motel, where code can get in but, once "BSD-ized", never leave again.
In this particular case, if you have a script which says something like:
foo sleep 0.8 bar sleep 0.9 baz
And you bring it to a non-BSD system, it will not sleep _at all_ since the other system sees "sleep 0", and that could be bad depending on what bar and baz do. This is exactly the kind of interoperability problem that POSIX was intended to try and solve. Let's not fight it.
I do see your point. As an avid FreeBSD user and hacker, I want to see compatibility and I push this in my travels. What I should have said is that perhaps if you want or need extra features you need to somehow push standards bodies (pipe dream?) or write a portable shell work-around.
Cheers Tim.
Jordan