🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <cZHJz8i00VcI83NDhu@andrew.cmu.edu> wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu 
(William M. Bumgarner) writes:
> I would like to see FSF software running on mac... but under MacMach, not
> the Mac OS.

I wouldn't worry too much about this; no FSF software that I know of runs 
under the Mac OS, as (thank God) the Mac OS isn't a UNIX variant.  Most of 
it DOES run under MPW, though, since MPW deliberately resembles UNIX.

In article <cZHJz8i00VcI83NDhu@andrew.cmu.edu> wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu 
(William M. Bumgarner) writes:
> Hopefully, MacMach will help break down the wall between the system 
software
> and the programmer that Apple has forced on all of us ("we will tell you
> what you NEED to know and no more").

MacMach can't help but bring the programmer closer to the system software; 
it's just UNIX, after all (albeit a much nicer UNIX architecture than 
most).

And the reality of the situation is that Apple doesn't enforce a wall 
between the system software and the programmer; we attempt to provide an 
understanding that there are a wide variety of things that, while they may 
work with our CURRENT hardware and system software, are by no means 
guaranteed to continue to do so, and therefore we a) discourage their use 
in situations where the developer already knows how to do these evil 
things, and b) don't tell developers who DON'T know how to do these evil 
thngs how to do them.

Most of us in MacDTS at least make an attempt to explain why you shouldn't 
do certain things, like tail-patching traps.  If we're guilty of anything, 
perhaps it's of assuming that when we say "don't do this," the developer 
will understand why s/he shouldn't by osmosis or something.

On the other hand, oftentimes our jobs would be much easier if some people 
would read Inside Macintosh and the Tech Notes before undertaking 
something that we've either already explained how to do, or explained why 
doing it is a bad idea.

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Just because I work for Apple Computer, Inc. doesn't mean that they 
believe what I believe or vice-versa.
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C++ -- The language in which only friends can access your private members.
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