[unix-pc.general] Funny thing happened to me ... Beware of "$_" and the shell

thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (06/01/89)

Richard Foulk writes, in regards to ksh:

"Looks like another good reason to stick with csh.  !$ is easier to type
and it displays the substitution so you know what's going on."

I disagree.  The use of ``$_'' and other goodies of the shell is intended
(my opinion) for use primarily in shell scripts.

Using ksh interactively (in emacs mode) it's trivial to recall the previous
line(s) and alter one (or several) parameters.

I have been informed (by a person who shall remain anonymous here) that the
csh does work on the UNIXPC.

But everything I've seen and heard clearly points to ksh being the superior
shell; that's even why AT&T makes the sources available for less than the
binary distribution ... to encourage wider use and distribution. (And the
source costs $3,000 in case you're interested).

While we're on the subject of ksh, can anyone definitively correlate the
3.51's distribution ksh with reality?  "Reality" being published documentation
about the Korn Shell.

For example, on an HP-UX system, if I type ^V I get "Version 06/03/86a".

The "KORNSHELL Command and Programming Language" (AT&T and Prentice-Hall)
describes the version dated "11/16/88" although the book also references the
older version "06/03/86".

On the UNIXPC using the stock ksh, the version is "ksh/sh:msg.c  1.2" and the
version from The STORE! returns "Version 06/03/86"!

The file of the UNIXPC stock ksh is dated 1-Jan-1970 and The STORE!'s is dated
5-Jun-1986 (as recorded in the cpio "+IN" archive).

Anyone know HOW the "stock" ksh relates to the 'real' version numbers?  Is the
"stock" ksh a bogus one (even though it works nicely) or what?  Both the stock
ksh and The STORE!'s ksh are exactly the same size: 90088 bytes.

I *WISH* cretins wouldn't muck with files' dates and times.  :-(

Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]

thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (06/01/89)

Nice to be able to answer one's own questions, eh?  :-)

Re: my questions about the "stock" ksh accompanying the UNIXPC's Development
Set, let's just say the "stock" ksh sucks dead bunnies through a straw.

Also, I incorrectly reported the size of the "new" one as being the same as
the DevSet ksh; specifically: the "stock" ksh is 90088 bytes and the "06/03/86"
version is 90912 bytes.

Not using vi, I neglected to mention the ^V command (for ksh version) operates
only in Emacs mode.

And the "06/03/86" version is THE one documented in the new KORNSHELL book I
cited earlier (with the "11/16/88" version's newer features or differences from
the "06/03/86" version highlighted; the "stock" UNIXPC ksh lacks MANY of the
features of the "06/03/86" ksh).

Among the differences and bug fixes are (greatly abbreviated list):

	stock, "ksh/sh:msg.c 1.2"		"06/03/86" version
	------------------------------------	-----------------------

1)	ksh> let x=2.2				ksh> let x=2.2
	/bin/ksh: 2.2: bad number		ksh> echo $x
	ksh>					2
						ksh>

2)	M-c and M-l (for case change and	M-c and M-l work
	lower case in emacs mode) DON'T work

		(where "M-x" is Emacs' notation for "<ESCAPE>x")

3)	ksh> echo $SECONDS			ksh> echo $SECONDS
						32
	ksh> echo $SECONDS			ksh> echo $SECONDS
						34
	ksh>					ksh>

		(The monotonically increasing value of seconds since shell
		 start simply doesn't exist in the "stock" version.)

4)	ksh> let x=-3; echo $x			ksh> let x=-3; echo $x
	4294967293				-3
	ksh>					ksh>

5)	ksh> set -o				ksh> set -o
						... more options ...

6)	ksh> ls foo<ESC>*			ksh> ls foo<ESC>*
	rings bell and does squat		filename/pathname completion

etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.


WHY oh WHY oh WHY are these gems kept "secret" from us?  Does AT&T believe
that UNIXPC owners/users are lower than whale turds or something?  Though
it IS fun ferreting out such things, I don't have as much time anymore for such
frivolous activities and would simply prefer we got our "due."  I never did
get the "UNIXPC calendar" that was promised when I sent in the warranty cards,
but thanks to this newsgroup, however, I was able to retrieve the files from
the hidden /etc/fixes directory (under 3.51) and install them manually.

As a stockholder, I just may attend the next shareholders' meeting and express
my "satisfaction" with the "wonderful" support we get.   :-(

Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]

seg@PacBell.COM (S. E. Grove) (06/08/89)

  I never did
> get the "UNIXPC calendar" that was promised when I sent in the warranty cards,
> but thanks to this newsgroup, however, I was able to retrieve the files from
> the hidden /etc/fixes directory (under 3.51) and install them manually.
> 
> As a stockholder, I just may attend the next shareholders' meeting and express
> my "satisfaction" with the "wonderful" support we get.   :-(
> 
> Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]

 Thad, this is a change of subject, but you mentioned the UNIXPC calendar. 
How do install it manually? I found it, and I tried to put a copy in
/usr/spool/uucppublic, and have INSTALL install it from mail, but all
I got was the calendar to run. What else do I have to do?
	
Stephen Grove pacbell!pbhya!seg

thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (06/10/89)

Stephen Grove asks "how to install the pcal from /etc/fixes" ...

Rather than try to develop the procedure from scratch, I did a "grep" and
found this posting from about a year ago.  All the steps are sound and if
you follow them you'll soon have a "Personal Calendar" running on your UNIXPC!

The annoying thing, however, is that when AT&T didn't send us our due, we
didn't get ALL the instructions regarding the Calendar; I still cannot figure
out the "key" icon in the daily (or weekly?) window display.

In any event, enjoy!

Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]

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From: oscar@sunspot.UUCP (Oscar Von der Luhe)
Newsgroups: unix-pc.general
Subject: Re: Where is my Calendar(AT&T owes me)
Message-ID: <642@sunspot.UUCP>
Date: 15 Jul 88 05:18:07 GMT
Date-Received: 16 Jul 88 14:34:23 GMT
References: <7152@cup.portal.com> <230@magnus.UUCP> <7305@cup.portal.com>
Reply-To: oscar@sunspot.UUCP (Oscar Von der Luhe)
Organization: Natl. Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson, AZ USA
Lines: 43
Keywords: ... works for me ...
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In article <7305@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com writes:

[ stuff deleted ]

> ...the "pcal" in the "hidden" directory doesn't have the Preferences stuff so
>that one can set and save the options.

Gee, works for me! I pulled my calendar out of "/etc/fixes", too. This was
discussed on the net some time ago, so here is what I recall I did:

1.	move "pcal" to /usr/bin, and "pcal.hlp" to /usr/lib/ua

2.	add this to /usr/lib/ua/Office:

	Name=Calendar
	Default = Open
	Open = EXEC -d /usr/bin/pcal -c
	Help = EXEC -d /usr/bin/uahelp -h /usr/lib/ua/pcal.hlp -t "Calendar"

(now this is it:)
3.	add this to /usr/lib/ua/Preferences:

	Name=Calendar
	Default = Open
	Open = EXEC -d /usr/bin/pcal -p
	Help = EXEC -d /usr/bin/uahelp -h /usr/lib/ua/pcal.hlp -t "Calendar Preferences"

                  ...., ALL (myself included) have returned their warranty
>cards and only ONE person (per a phone call) has received the free calender
>stuff from AT&T.

So did I, and never heard from AT&T. I didn't even bother to call.

   __                                                        _
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 /  / _   /_  __.  __     , __________      __/ _  __      /    . . /_  _
(__/ /_)_/ <_(_/|_/ (_    \/ (_) / / <_    (_/_</_/ (_    /___ (_/_/ /_</_

"Habe nun, ach ... , C, PASCAL, BASIC, und leider auch FORTRAN,
studiert mit heissem Bemueh'n..."

UUCP:		{arizona,decvax,hao,ihnp4}!noao!sunspot!oscar
Internet:	ovonderluhe@noao.arizona.edu

kdb@chinet.chi.il.us (Karl Botts) (06/13/89)

In article <19328@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes:
>Gee, works for me! I pulled my calendar out of "/etc/fixes", too. This was
>discussed on the net some time ago, so here is what I recall I did:

   I don't particularly care about the calendar, but I would like to get rid
of any useless software hanging around in /etc/fixes.  What the heck is
it for, anyhow?  What else is in there?  How do I get rid of it?