Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ucbvax!CORY.BERKELEY.EDU!dillon
From: dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Enviroment (was Re: Yea, but can an Amiga Shell do this....)
Message-ID: <8808192105.AA16960@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 19 Aug 88 21:05:30 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 31

:In article <1877@iscuva.ISCS.COM>, ricks@iscuva.ISCS.COM (Rick Schaeffer)
:	writes:
:> Most importantly, a shell spawned by CSH should inherit
:> it's parents environment.
:
:The problem is that for CLI programs there isn't a clear definition of what

	1.3 has got enviroment variables.  Guess how they're implemented!

	Yup, disk based.  You have a directory called ENV:, containing files
	whos names are the enviroment variables and contents the contents for
	those variables.  Eventually, C-A says, ENV: will become a device.

	(that device had better support Seek, Read, Write, Examine, ExNext,
	etc... though, when it comes).

	IT WORKS GREAT!  I modified my shell to search ENV: for $ variables
	and aliases and it gives 'global variables' a whole new meaning.  If
	you have a hard disk like I do, it is even better, because it takes
	no memory at all, just a minor amount of disk space.  If you've got 
	a cache (I don't at the moment) it is even better than better.

	And, even better than better than better, the 'variables' can be
	anything from a command-line type of thing to any type of file you 
	wish... IFF or whatever.  Frankly, I think ENV: should stay in the
	filing system.  Amoung other things, you have a choice of making
	it semi-permanent (put ENV: on your hard disk or floppy), or 
	temporary (put ENV: in RAM:).  Making mine semi-permanent, I don't
	have to re-load the enviroment every time I boot up!

						-Matt