(Message misc/dns:99) showproc misc/dns/99 /home/mjd/bin/mailpager /home/mjd/MH-Mail/misc/dns/99 Received: (qmail 26045 invoked from network); 3 Aug 2001 20:33:52 -0000 Received: from muncher.math.uic.edu (131.193.178.181) by plover.com with SMTP; 3 Aug 2001 20:33:52 -0000 Received: (qmail 13738 invoked by uid 1002); 3 Aug 2001 20:28:29 -0000 Mailing-List: contact dns-help@list.cr.yp.to; run by ezmlm Delivered-To: mailing list dns@list.cr.yp.to Received: (qmail 12351 invoked by uid 1001); 3 Aug 2001 20:28:29 -0000 Date: 3 Aug 2001 20:28:29 -0000 Message-ID: <20010803202829.30570.qmail@cr.yp.to> Mail-Followup-To: dns@list.cr.yp.to Automatic-Legal-Notices: Copyright 2001, D. J. Bernstein. My transmission of this message to you does not constitute a copyright waiver or any other limitation of my rights, even if you have told me otherwise. From: "D. J. Bernstein" To: dns@list.cr.yp.to Subject: Re: Counter argument to http://cr.yp.to/compatibility.html References: <20010803061112.93425.qmail@prefix.bushwire.net> <20010803133308.24873.qmail@cr.yp.to> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Greg Black writes: > People need to be able to put things where they want. Someone recently made a similar claim on the fhs-discuss mailing list: ``Programmers should try to be a bit smarter... Mandating that the configuration file for a program goes in a "one true way" position is rather inflexible.'' My response: You're absolutely right. The name /etc/resolv.conf is so _inflexible_! I want to call it /etc/xyzzy. No, no, wait, I want /etc/xyzzy-995361683, with the number increasing by 1 every second. Any _flexible_ operating system should be able to do that! Whaddya mean, programs expect /etc/resolv.conf? That's _inflexible_! Obviously programmers should try to be a bit smarter. Let me know when you're done moving /etc/resolv.conf. After that we can work on /etc/group, /dev/random, and /bin/sh. ---Dan