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Date:      Tue, 14 Apr 1998 08:21:34 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Mike <mike@seidata.com>
To:        Chuck Robey <chuckr@glue.umd.edu>
Cc:        John Birrell <jb@cimlogic.com.au>, "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@futuresouth.com>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: the place of vi
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.980414081302.5431A-100000@seidata.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980414012039.26876E-100000@localhost>

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On Tue, 14 Apr 1998, Chuck Robey wrote:

> Some (many?) don't use vi. I do, though, but I just mount /usr to
> exit rc.conf. Do you have a funny set up that doesn't let you
> boot single user, then:

Many I know either 1.) don't use vi or 2.) just use it as a backup.  No...
the people that don't use vi aren't sinful masses, they're mostly power
users who have found that even vi can't meet all their needs. :)  Emacs,
for example, give you nifty features like opening multiple files in
different windows and easily modifying them side by side...

> Though, having lived through a couple bad panics, it would have been
> nice not to have to rely on my weak knowledge of ed.  I would guess

However, it's not like we haven't *all* been forwarned though, right?  I
mean...  most every system administration book I've ever read has dealt
with what to do when you need to boot in single user mode and can't access
your favorite editor...  it's kind of like a DOS user being able to use
copy con should the need ever arise.  Granted, you might not usually edit
files this way, but...  rather than bitching that this is a pain we should
all be thankful the the great gawds of unix time have ensured we have an
editor at all when in single user mode. ;)

I guess what my thoughts boil down to is as follows: why did a thread like
this ever get started in 'hackers'?  I mean...  a real FreeBSD hacker
would either master ed or expiriment with compiling a non-static vi.

Oh well...

---
 Mike Hoskins                           Kettering University
 SEI Data Network Services, Inc.        CS/CE Dual-Major Program
 mike@seidata.com                       hosk0094@kettering.edu
 http://www.seidata.com                 http://www.kettering.edu


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