tps@sdchem.UUCP (Tom Stockfisch) (08/04/86)
In article <5733@sun.uucp> guy@sun.UUCP writes: >> >Read the code, not the manual page! >> This may come as a great surprise to you, but some of us don't HAVE source >> code :-( >This may come as a great surprise to you, but I'm at least as aware of that >as you. However, the person in question was talking about 4.3BSD, which >means they almost certainly had source code... > Guy Harris Biggest surprise: of the more than 100 users on our system, only *4* are allowed to look at UNIX software. Are only local gurus supposed to use library functions? --Tom Stockfisch, UCSD Chemistry
guy@sun.UUCP (08/07/86)
> Biggest surprise: of the more than 100 users on our system, only *4* are > allowed to look at UNIX software. The person in question worked at Bellcore, not UCSD, so UCSD's policies may or may not be relevant. > Are only local gurus supposed to use library functions? No. I never said that, and I'm getting tired of people inferring that I believe that. It *is*, however, the case that with many (if not most) UNIX systems, anybody who *isn't* a local guru may end up getting caught by the crappy UNIX documentation. If you have source, you should check it if you have any suspicion whatsoever that the UNIX documentation may not be correct. If you don't have source, either find somebody who does or test the function yourself (if practical) before using it. Asking the vendor may or may not do any good; they may just read you the documentation. -- Guy Harris {ihnp4, decvax, seismo, decwrl, ...}!sun!guy guy@sun.com (or guy@sun.arpa)