🚀 go-pugleaf

Cc: std-unix@sally.utexas.edu
Cc: gwyn@brl.arpa
From: henry@utzoo.uucp

> I just ran across the first use of the Posix directory access library
> and was disappointed that it is not source-code compatible...
> 
> For some reason the ***&%^$ standard changed the names of the include
> file and the struct!

For an excellent reason:  Berkeley's imbecilic decision to use the same
names in the high-level library as in the implementation within the
kernel causes endless trouble on non-Berkeley systems.

> The old #include <sys/dir.h>	is now	#include <dirent.h>

This is a godsend for those of us who have a *different* directory structure
in our sys/dir.h, namely that used in the kernel.  User-level libraries
have no business parking their include files in the sys subdirectory!

>   "	struct direct			struct dirent

And this is a godsend for those of us who want to include *other* kernel
include files in the same program as the directory library.  The kernel
include files are so interrelated that it is impossible to pick up, say,
user.h without also picking up dir.h.  Which means that no program that
uses any of the kernel include files can use the directory library, because
the definitions of "struct direct" clash.  Yes, there are legitimate reasons
for using some of the other include files, at least in non-Berkeley systems.
Arguably these reasons themselves indicate problems that really ought to be
fixed -- but we were talking about compatibility with existing practice!

In short, I can assure John that there *are* practical problems with using
the Berkeley naming on non-Berkeley systems.  I have run into them too
often myself to do anything but applaud this "incompatibility"; non-Berklix
systems already find it necessary to engage in incompatible kludges to use
the otherwise-praiseworthy directory library.  I am one of the (doubtless
numerous) people who strongly urged P1003 to fix this bug.

				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry

Volume-Number: Volume 12, Number 7