[comp.sys.next] system/shell variables in Mach-NeXT

rogerj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Jagoda) (11/10/89)

I have discovered  (reported from the field actually) an
unusuall bug in the 1.0 NeXT OS. The man page for
lpr from a Mnt. Xinu BSD 4.3 system says lpr looks
for the variable $PRINTER. This is useful if you
want to set this in your .cshcr file. The man page
for lpr under NeXT OS says the variable is $Printer
(note case change). Either way, on the NeXT, only
 
setenv Printer <printer name>
 
works for lpr, but lpq doesn't listen to
EITHER $PRINTER or $Printer. So, a bug or by
design??
 
Also, exactly what IS a system variable as defined
by the NeXT OS. You can see $BOOTFILE in / is a
symbolic link to mach, but only has 9 bytes! I know
sdmach and odmach are proabbly the same file, but
where is $BOOTFILE defined to either of those kernels?
If you do:
 
echo $BOOTFILE
 
the system says it's undefined...um so it's probably a
system variable...or is it? Where is the file defined?
 
Thanks for the insights and help this net is always known
for.....end of suck-up speach...:-)

Roger Jagoda
System Support
Cornell University
FQOJ@CORNELLA.CIT.CORNELL.EDU