ARPAVAX:mckusick (08/02/82)
Due to a number of requests for information about the conversion requirements to access the new flexable length directories that will be coming out on 4.2bsd, I am sending out a library of functions that simulate the new flexable length directory names on top of the old directory structure. It allows programs to be converted to the new directory access interface, so that they need only be relinked when 4.2bsd becomes available. The documentation and sources are being sent out on netnews net.sources. If you want this library and do not have access to net.sources, send me mail and I will arrange to forward it to you. Kirk McKusick mckusick@berkeley ucbvax!mckusick.
smb (08/03/82)
Those directory routines sure were fascinating... Anyway, I have two comments, one technical and one legal: a) Seekdir should probably return its argument value or -1, the way all other seek calls in the system do. (Yes, I know you shouldn't need it.) b) I *BEG* the Regents of the University of California to waive their copyright and put those routines into the public domain; they're *essential* to writing portable code. There is already enough trouble with different versions of UNIX; this incompatibility is a major one without such simulator routines. (If broadcasting the code is intended as such a waiver, I still would prefer that it be made explicit; commercial firms are not likely to take chances on something like that.) --Steve Bellovin unc!duke!smb smb.unc@udel-relay