Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!pixar!unicom!physh
From: physh@unicom.UUCP (Jon 'Quality in - Quantity out' Foreman)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Command interface interim suggestion
Keywords: command interface, globbing, tomfoolery, kudgery
Message-ID: <216@unicom.UUCP>
Date: 10 Dec 87 03:40:53 GMT
Reply-To: physh@unicom.UUCP
Organization: Halcon Co. et al., via College of Marin in California.
Lines: 24


	As everyone knows, unix figures out how to run something by
examining it magic number (or for shell scripts, its lack thereof.) I
have often found a need for overriding a shells behavior of treating
* and ? etc, as special in someway.  For instance, I always wanted
programs like "send" and "reply" from TOPS 20, so under UNIX I could
say: "send bar I'll meet you for lunch?" and bar could "reply sure!"
and not have it choke on the quote, question mark or exclaimation point.

	Since the binary images have so much extra information in them
already (symbol table, reloadability when pure, etc), why not add yet
another optional header, say 1024 bytes long, which defines how
arguments are supposed to be handled?  Then a command interpreter such
as sh(1) or csh(1) or tcsh(1?) etc. can just open the file, read 1024
and have some method of resolving such sillyness.  The kernel could 
recognize this header and just skip over it if it doesn't need anything
from it.

	Even just a mechanism in the shell to do this on named programs
would be nice (sorta like alias, say, unglob send; unglob reply.)
-- 
{ucbvax,hoptoad}!\                      ~~~~~~~\~~~   That's spelled
{lll-lcc,hplabs}!well!unicom!physh       Jon  }()      "physh" and 
         {ptsfa,dual}!/                        /     pronounced "fish".