From owner-freebsd-hackers Thu Sep 14 11: 6:13 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from southpass.baynetworks.com (ns2.BayNetworks.COM [134.177.3.16]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BF3D737B42C for ; Thu, 14 Sep 2000 11:06:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mailhost.BayNetworks.COM (h8754.s84f5.BayNetworks.COM [132.245.135.84]) by southpass.baynetworks.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id KAA02686; Thu, 14 Sep 2000 10:57:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pobox.engeast.BayNetworks.COM (pobox.engeast.baynetworks.com [192.32.61.6]) by mailhost.BayNetworks.COM (8.9.1/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA00600; Thu, 14 Sep 2000 14:06:01 -0400 (EDT) Received: from baynetworks.com (kyzyl [192.32.150.103]) by pobox.engeast.BayNetworks.COM (SMI-8.6/BNET-97/04/24-S) with ESMTP id OAA10683; Thu, 14 Sep 2000 14:06:01 -0400 for Message-Id: <200009141806.OAA10683@pobox.engeast.BayNetworks.COM> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.1.1 10/15/1999 To: Johnny Eriksson Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Fdescfs updates--coming to a devfs near you! In-Reply-To: Message from Johnny Eriksson of "Thu, 14 Sep 0100 15:40:42 +0700." Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 14:06:01 -0400 From: Robert Withrow Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG [ I trimmed off current. ] :- > Suppose I *want* a filename called "-"? My tough luck, huh? :- Could you settle for "./-"? I wouldn't want to. Consider: I have a program that takes user input (from an option or a file or whatever) and uses that to compose an output file name. With the above I have to either test for "magic" filenames, or I have to correctly re-write filenames to prepend "./" when appropriate (and *only* when appropriate). Sure, it can be done, but it isn't trivial work and it has to be done to every program or you have a unexpected lurking bug. IMO, "magic" filenames are bad design. Orthogonality should always win out. -- Robert Withrow -- (+1 978 288 8256) BWithrow@BayNetworks.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message