feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) (06/23/88)
There have been several rebuttals on the net and via email to my posting that the picnix mv command is not like Unix. They all told me what I now know: If the syntax is given like this: mv filename \gooddir\bogusdir\anyfilename this command will indeed report it cannot create bogusdir. But if the syntax is like this: mv filename \gooddir\bogusdir\ then this command will treat bogusdir as the new name for the file and move it under gooddir, ignoring the backlash, oblivious that bogusdir was given as a DIRECTORY name. Unix, on the other hand, recognizes this to be a request to move filename to a directory and reports it cannot create it. And, if bogusdir DID exist, it moves filename under it, using the file's original name. (BTW, the MKS mv command emulates Unix a little more closely; it balks, however, at moving a file, even if it exists, if a trailing backslash to the directory path is used. But if not used, it's a catch-22. If the last directory named in the path is bogus it correctly chooses that for the new name of the moved file). Conclusion: these commands are only partially Unix-like. On the other hand....Chuck Forsberg's mv.com which was put on the net around the turn of the year emulates Unix exactly. Its error messages don't always fit the situation but it does what is expected. Nor is it fussy about which backslash is used. Forrest Gehrke
wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (06/25/88)
In article <28547@clyde.ATT.COM> feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) writes: >There have been several rebuttals on the net and via email >to my posting that the picnix mv command is not >like Unix. They all told me what I now know: >If the syntax is given like this: > > mv filename \gooddir\bogusdir\anyfilename > >this command will indeed report it cannot create bogusdir. > >But if the syntax is like this: > > mv filename \gooddir\bogusdir\ > >then this command will treat bogusdir as the new name >for the file and move it under gooddir, ignoring the backlash, >oblivious that bogusdir was given as a DIRECTORY name. I just tried this on my System V UNIX: $ touch test $ ls bogusdir bogusdir not found $ mv test bogusdir/ $ ls -l bogusdir -rw-r--r-- 1 wnp user 0 Jun 25 09:06 bogusdir $ Thus the PICNIX mv command seems to behave just like UNIX System V. The problem here seems to be the assumption that there is something called "UNIX" which is clearly defined. Well, I personally have worked on at least three different flavors of UNIX, and THEY ALL BEHAVE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY! The PICNIX documentation makes it very clear that the commands are designed to be largely System V compatible, and in the case of mv that seems to be the case. I had noticed that unlike real System V, the MKS toolkit commands do not tolerate trailing backslashes on directory names, and I hope someone at MKS reads this and gets it fixed (Gerry, Trevor, are you out there?). Anyway, folks, when you complain that such and such a command is not like UNIX, tell us WHICH UNIX you are referring to. That could save us a lot of unnecessary discussion. And check the docs, to see what they claim, before complaining. -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 DOMAIN: wnp@dcs.UUCP TLX: 910-380-0585 EES PLANO UD