Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!labrea!decwrl!pyramid!prls!philabs!micomvax!musocs!mcgill-vision!mouse From: mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: UNIX - the "don't worry about it" operating system? Message-ID: <835@mcgill-vision.UUCP> Date: Sun, 5-Jul-87 19:26:49 EDT Article-I.D.: mcgill-v.835 Posted: Sun Jul 5 19:26:49 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jul-87 00:49:47 EDT References: <17108@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> Organization: McGill University, Montreal Lines: 40 Keywords: locking safety integrity security In article <17108@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>, jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle) writes: > It strikes me that problems that were solved with immense effort in > other operating systems are generally ignored in UNIX, with amazingly > little effect. I wouldn't say they are ignored, just that they are addressed differently. The UNIX attitude to problems such as > File system integrity: > Spoolers: > Locking: > Security: > System administration: is one of making it easy for people to handle things. For example, let's compare printer spoolers on VMS and UNIX. Under VMS, the print symbiont works fine, most of the time, just as it does on UNIX. Under UNIX it fails somewhat more often. But under UNIX it is vastly easier to fix when it does fail. When the print symbiont gets hung on VMS what can you do? Guess we gotta reboot.... Let's look at filesystems. VMS has code analgous to UNIX fsck, which is run automatically when a possibly-corrupted filesystem is seen at mount time. Normally this will repair anything that's wrong, just as fsck will under UNIX. The difference is in what happens when the automatic repair fails. Under each system, someone who knows what they're doing can repair the filesystem. The point is that the UNIX filesystem is simpler and better documented, hence the necessary skill is commoner. The necessary support programs (eg, clri) come with UNIX instead of on a diagnostic kit available only to field circus engineers. Why not admit that UNIX and, say, VMS are targeted at different environments and therefore handle problems in different ways - and let it go at that? UNIX is not all things to all people, nor can it ever be. It is foolish to complain because it isn't. der Mouse (mouse@mcgill-vision.uucp)