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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!haven.umd.edu!uunet!mcsun!marble.uknet.ac.uk!uknet!cf-cm!paul From: paul@isl.cf.ac.uk (Paul) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.development Subject: Re: File Truncation Philosophy Message-ID: <1993Apr2.072443.790@cm.cf.ac.uk> Date: 2 Apr 93 07:24:42 GMT References: <C4tJ6C.C17@ns1.nodak.edu> <CGD.93Apr1173018@eden.CS.Berkeley.EDU> <C4u8y2.HCM@ns1.nodak.edu> <CGD.93Apr1204906@eden.CS.Berkeley.EDU> Sender: news@cm.cf.ac.uk (Network News System) Organization: /usr/local/lib/rn/organisation Lines: 36 In article <CGD.93Apr1204906@eden.CS.Berkeley.EDU> cgd@eden.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Chris G. Demetriou) writes: > >sorry, what i had tried to say, but managed to say rather poorly was >the following: > >(1) programs exist to install and/or restore binaries. >(2) they, and only they, should be used to install and/or restore binaries. >(3) they should do so correctly > >apparently, i didn't state (2) well, and i didn't state (3) at all, >leaving both you and nate wonder what i was thinking... > >i don't think that "cp" falls into (1), however, programs like >"install" and "restore" do. > >therefore, in my opinion, programs like "install" and "restore" >should be modified to work correctly (i believe install does, but from >your comments, i'd surmise that restore doesn't...), and programs >like "cp" should not. > Maybe I'm missing the obvious but .... What about users moving their own binaries around. If cp et al don't work properly then aren't users (including root) just as likely to bring the system down when they overwrite running binaries. We're not just talking about installation and init updates. You can't expect novice users to know that they shouldn't copy foo.new to foo while they're running foo. Enlightening flames welcome :-) -- Paul Richards, University of Wales, College Cardiff Internet: paul@isl.cf.ac.uk