🚀 go-pugleaf

    	a)  stream_$inquire is not able to inquire files of type dp_dpd
     (created by dialog) and mbx.  For the former, stream_$inquire returns
     a "not yet implemented" message and the latter, "no active servers"
     message is returned.  It is also not able to inquire about files
     with UNIX style file names (with special characters and uppercase
     letters).  A temporary fix for the last problem is to quote the
     name string.

Streams can access a file only if it has Streams type managers for
the file's type.  Currently, there is not a type manager for the "dp_dpd"
type.

The problem with "mbx" type files is that you're presumably calling
"stream_$inquire" with "stream_$name_conditional" or
"stream_$name_unconditional" option.  (I.e. you're supplying a pathname
as input rather than a stream ID.)  The implementation of this style
of "stream_$inquire" implicitly tries to open a stream to the object
with "inquire-only" mode.  Unfortunately, the "mbx" Stream manager is
not clever enough to see that it should be in "inquire-only" mode and
instead it tries to actually open an MBX channel.  Presumably, there
were no actual MBX servers at the time you made the call and this is
why you got an error.  We'll fix the MBX manager to be more clever.

    	b)  The insert file "/sys/ins/type_uids.ins.c" declares some uid
     types, all as external.  Looks like they are defined somewhere else.
     However, nowhere their values are documented (each is a structure
     with two elements.  I found the values using the debugger).  The
     type socket_$uid is not defined anywhere, and the bind complains
     rightfully so.  Also, all the UNIX type files (files with special
     characters or uppercase letters in their names) do not have seem
     to have a defined type.

The values of these variables are generally not of interest to anyone
-- they're just unique identifiers for types.  The exist for two reasons:
(1) so you can write code like:

            type := --- get type UID of file --- 
            if type = uasc_$uid then
                --- do something for UASC files ---

and (2) so that with the new Stream interface (released at sr9.2), you
can create files of any type:

            ios_$create('foo', ..., records_$uid, id, status); 

Note that in neither case do you actually need to know what the value
of those variables are.  The "socket_$uid" thing is a bug that was fixed
at sr9.2.  The correct name is "tcp_$uid".  The variable named in the
old include file was not defined anywhere, hence causing the bind error
you saw.

    	c)  I need to access the ACLs of some files from within a program.
     In addition, I need to set them in a special way from within the
     same program.  However, I can't find any system calls to do the
     job.  Hopefully that information is not propreitary.

Unfortunately, calls to do what you want are not released.  Considering
the fact that many people think that ACLs are too complicated and that
we should simply stick to the Unix user-group-world style of protection,
I don't know whether the ACL calls will ever be released.  (The Unix
protection calls -- chmod(2), etc. -- are, of course, usable.)

                -- Nat Mishkin
                   Apollo Computer Inc.
                   apollo!mishkin
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