🚀 go-pugleaf

There's a reason why exec() works the way it does under Eunice; it's
faster for the 99% case. If the file is fixed length, exec() simply
tries to execute it as a VMS image. If it's a variable length file, it
reads a record to extract the name of the shell to use. Those who know
how slow file I/O is under VMS will see why you want to avoid the read.
It may not seem like much overhead, but Unix programs use exec()
extensively and it quickly adds up.

I disagree with the statement that random seeks only work with Unix
files; although not efficient, random seeks work fine. They are slow
when dealing with a variable length file is because you must seek to
the beginning of the file and read until you get to the right place.
So make sure /etc/termcap is a fixed length file!

		Craig