dce@Solbourne.COM (David Elliott) (05/26/89)
In article <8557@chinet.chi.il.us> les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) writes: >And I'm amazed that no one has suggested using perl instead, since Sometimes it isn't appropriate to use commands that aren't standard in commercial Unix systems. I am working on a project right now that has to run on SunOS 4.0 as distributed. I can't assume that the customer will have perl, GNU awk, or even nawk, even though any of these would make my project significantly easier. When Sun decides to make these standard (soon for nawk, who knows for the others), then I'll be able to use them. I was on a project last year where I couldn't use sh functions (I've used them since 1985, but they still aren't in the BSD sh) or awk (some Xenix systems don't have awk, it seems), though I found it interesting that the company I was working with felt that they could assume that sendmail existed on all of the systems. Certainly, if you're going to write software that works on a specific set of systems that you can control the contents of, use perl, GNU awk, and anything else you can get your hands on to do a better job. Just remember that these things aren't universal. -- David Elliott dce@Solbourne.COM ...!{boulder,nbires,sun}!stan!dce
chpf127@ut-emx.UUCP (John W. Eaton) (05/27/89)
In article dce@Solbourne.COM (David Elliott) writes: > > Sometimes it isn't appropriate to use commands that aren't standard in > commercial Unix systems. Agreed. > I am working on a project right now that has to run on SunOS 4.0 as > distributed. I can't assume that the customer will have perl, GNU > awk, or even nawk, even though any of these would make my project > significantly easier. When Sun decides to make these standard (soon > for nawk, who knows for the others), then I'll be able to use them. Well, I don't get it. If GNU awk would make things easier, why not distribute it with your product? You don't have to wait for Sun to do it for you. > Certainly, if you're going to write software that works on a specific > set of systems that you can control the contents of, use perl, GNU > awk, and anything else you can get your hands on to do a better job. Didn't you just say that your target was a specific system/OS? GNU awk is not universal, but it is *free*. Just distribute it. > -- > David Elliott dce@Solbourne.COM > ...!{boulder,nbires,sun}!stan!dce -- John Eaton chpf127@emx.utexas.edu Department of Chemical Engineering The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 78712
dce@Solbourne.COM (David Elliott) (05/27/89)
In article <13432@ut-emx.UUCP> chpf127@ut-emx.UUCP (John W. Eaton) writes: >In article dce@Solbourne.COM (David Elliott) writes: >> I am working on a project right now that has to run on SunOS 4.0 as >> distributed. I can't assume that the customer will have perl, GNU >> awk, or even nawk, even though any of these would make my project >> significantly easier. When Sun decides to make these standard (soon >> for nawk, who knows for the others), then I'll be able to use them. > >Well, I don't get it. If GNU awk would make things easier, why not >distribute it with your product? You don't have to wait for Sun to do >it for you. I said SunOS 4.0, not SunOS 4.0 on a Sun 4/110 or SunOS 4.0 on a Sun 3/50. To distribute any binary with my product would require me to ship two copies, three if I need to handle a Sun 386 someday. Since we make a Sun4-compatible system, shipping a Sun 4 version would be fairly easily (of course, I would have to stick my copy of GNU awk down in /usr/lib/<myprojectdirectory>), but that doesn't work for the other systems. >> Certainly, if you're going to write software that works on a specific >> set of systems that you can control the contents of, use perl, GNU >> awk, and anything else you can get your hands on to do a better job. > >Didn't you just say that your target was a specific system/OS? GNU >awk is not universal, but it is *free*. Just distribute it. No, I said it was for a specific OS. What I meant was that if I have control over all of the machines (specific machines, not class of machines), I can be sure to have everything I need. Finally, "just distribute it" is not always a reasonable answer. For the Department of Chemical Engineering, it may be a simple choice. For Solbourne Computer, Inc., it's not that simple. Distributing more software, especially in an age where there are still computer systems that have disks not quite big enough to handle a full Unix and still have adequate user space, takes some thought and action. Just because something is free doesn't mean it's easy to add to a product. -- David Elliott dce@Solbourne.COM ...!{boulder,nbires,sun}!stan!dce