cvs commit: src/sys/sys errno.h

[Chris Pressey]

On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 03:13:27 +0100
Hiten Pandya <hmp at xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Chris Pressey wrote:
> > There was once a news post by some prominent FreeBSD person - I
> > don't remember who, and I can't find the link anymore, but it was a
> > list of ten things that a winning operating system would have.  One
> > of those things was a "big switch" that, when turned on, made the
> > thing totally standards-compliant.  I like that idea.  I don't
> > really like the idea of the switch being permanently in the "on"
> > position, though.
> > 
> > -Chris
> 
> 	The switch you are refering to is probably "POSIXLY_CORRECT"

No, he was definately talking "in theory" about an idealized switch
that, when active, would make the entire operating system do *exactly*
the things described in (whichever chosen) standards and *only* the
things that were described in those standards.  No violations, but also
no extended behaviour either.  His claim was that this is one thing
that, if an OS had it, would instantly make it wildly successful.  (Not
that I necessarily agree, but I still think it's a good idea.)

>       except the idea of being standards compliant by using a
>       switch is non-intuitive to the end user, period.

It wouldn't be for end users - it'd default to off and they'd never even
have to know about it.  It'd be for developers who want to make sure
their software *strictly* conforms to standards.

I only wish I could remember who it was, because Google is definately
not clever enough to let me find it again without knowing his name...

-Chris