🚀 go-pugleaf

   Hunter writes...

> But it is true that improper use of PATCH can cause more problems than it
> solves.

Any tool in the hand of a good craftsman can work wonders.  The same tool in
the hand of a barbarian is a razor in a monkey's paw.  I leave it to the reader
to decide if they are craftsmen or barbarians.

Until a couple of years ago I was a Systems Programmer on IBM mainframes.  As
far as I can tell, IBM is slowly crushing Systems Programmers out of existance.

As the skill level of the customer's systems people goes down, (and they become
little more than glorified operators,) the more IBM can get away with.

If powerful tools like Patch are dropped, then it chips away at the customers
and third party software developers ability to modify the operating system to
their own requirements.   At the same time it strengthens (or attempts to
strengthen) the vendor's grip on their customers.

I assume that there are some technical reasons why patch is more difficult to
port, and this makes for an excuse to not port it.  Bad choice, in my opinion.


 Louis B. Moore                      Internet: lbmoore@tchden.org
 Systems Programmer                  Phone:    +1 303 837 2513
 The Children's Hospital of Denver   Denver, Colorado USA 80218

CyberGEEZER