phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (09/13/90)
Suppose I am writing something in which I need to do "foo". I could write something to do "foo" myself, but perhaps "foo" has already been done and it is generally available across unix platforms. Is there a way of finding out if a generally available "foo" exists without bothering a guru? Of course if there was a list of "generally available things" I could look in it and see if foo is in there. I could also read this list sequentially and learn them all, too. Keep in mind that my term for "foo" and the generally known term for "foo" might not match. The matchup might need to be done by semantics rather than by name. I guess this is the age old problem of reverse man pages (here is what I want to do, what is its name). My current "foo" is "how do resolve a pathname that contains one or more symbolic links into a pathname that has none (absolute path)?". But I hate having to ask each question every time. --Phil Howard, KA9WGN-- | Individual CHOICE is fundamental to a free society <phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> | no matter what the particular issue is all about.
gt0178a@prism.gatech.EDU (BURNS,JIM) (09/14/90)
in article <22000012@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu says: > My current "foo" is "how do resolve a pathname that contains one or more > symbolic links into a pathname that has none (absolute path)?". But I hate > having to ask each question every time. t=`cd /usr/include;/bin/pwd`;echo $t yields "/usr/.include" on my system. /bin/pwd avoids using the builtin. As for public sources, check comp.unix.sources for the monthly posting of archived useful utilities, most of which can be ftp'ed from uunet.uu.net. -- BURNS,JIM Georgia Institute of Technology, Box 30178, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt0178a Internet: gt0178a@prism.gatech.edu