dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (09/21/83)
Since time immemorial, UNIX manual pages have had a "FILES" section
which summarized, in one easily found spot, what files a program uses.
I would like to see a simlar "VARIABLES" section. A complicated
program (take readnews or sh, for example) uses many environment variables.
It would be nice if every UNIX manual page had a brief summary, at
the end, of all of the environment variables which the program looks
at.
Anybody listening out there at Bell or Berkeley?
Dave Sherman
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{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!lsuc!davesamir@drufl.UUCP (09/22/83)
I second Dave Sherman's suggestion. Samir Shah drufl!samir AT&T Information Systems, Denver
geo@watarts.UUCP (09/26/83)
I think this new section of manual pages, which describes what environment variables the programme expects would be better named "ENVIRONMENT", than the "VARIABLES", which Dave Sherman suggests. Cordially, Geo Swan, Integrated Studies, University of Waterloo (allegra||ihnp4)!watmath!watarts!geo
rcj@burl.UUCP (R. Curtis Jackson) (09/30/83)
The good folks who wrote esh, if you have never had occasion to see it or its documentation, allow the user to set single-letter shell variables and then bring the contents of those variables onto the command line with <esc>x, where x is the single-character name of a shell variable. GREAT stuff, and VERY useful; I am very sure and not being sarcastic. HOWEVER, if you try to do something stupid like 'man tail' or 'uuto file grock!foo', you will get the strangest messages!! It seems that man and uuto are shells which utilize several single-character variables each........ *sigh*, what will they think of next? -- The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3814 (Cornet 291) alias: Curtis Jackson ...![ floyd clyde ihnp4 mhuxv ]!burl!rcj
fred@umcp-cs.UUCP (10/04/83)
the dramatic effect of having the arguments pop onto your screen? Typing <exc>x is no easier than typing $x, which accomplishes the same thing, and is more general since you're not restricted to single-character variables. Fred Blonder harpo!seismo!umcp-cs!fred