Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bellcore!att!cbnews!pmd
From: pmd@cbnews.ATT.COM (Paul Dubuc)
Newsgroups: alt.sources
Subject: Re: Bandwidth Wasters Hall of Fame - The Code
Message-ID: <9797@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 28 Sep 89 15:13:15 GMT
References: <1618@tellab5.tellabs.CHI.IL.US>
Reply-To: pmd@cbnews.ATT.COM (Paul Dubuc,59474,cb,3E355,6148607836)
Distribution: alt
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 27

In article <1618@tellab5.tellabs.CHI.IL.US> toth@tellab5.tellabs.CHI.IL.US (Joseph G. Toth Jr.) writes:
}In article <4254@wpi.wpi.edu>, jdutka@wpi.wpi.edu (John Dutka) writes:
}> I couldn't get the csh script to work on our system for
}> /usr/spool/news/comp/sys/mac - the program said the argument was too long -
}> any suggestions/help from anyone?
}> 
}
}I havn't looked at the source for the script, but;
}
}This comes from the fact that Unix(tm), at some point, creats a command
}with a list of parameters (filenames) to provide a list to the executed
}program.  The list is built on the prefix and meta character specifications.
} ...
}It might be possible to modify the script to 'cd ;cmd *'
}or 'pushd ;cmd *;popd' (if available) to expand the command
}line as;
}    f1 f2 f3 ... fx
}
}and eliminate the long prefix on each file entry in the list to be
}processed.

A more permanent solution to this would be to use xargs(1).
-- 
Paul Dubuc   |   "To consider persons and events and
att!asr1!pmd |   situations only in the light of their
	     |   effect upon myself is to live on the
	     |   doorstep of hell"	Thomas Merton