Re: [9fans] Re: echo -n

["ron minnich" <rminnich@gmail.com>]

This whole discussion has been coming up for years. I can't remember
the first time I saw it but it was definitely over a quarter century
ago. I think at some point we figured the issue was roughly akin to
the difference between the empty string and the null string -- where
EOF is the null string, and 0 bytes of data is the empty string --
which you can't actually distinguish via read. I'm NOT saying this is
exactly it, but I think it provides an analogy and a  way to think
about it.

I think Plan 9 got it completely right. Being able to push a 0-byte
write through the kernel is mighty handy. I got quite annoyed with
Unix at various points over the years as I watched "optimizations"
gobble up my attempts to get a 0 byte write through the kernel.

Score one more for Plan 9 -- it lets you do what you want to do.

I hope people enjoyed this discussion more than the up-arrow thread.

thanks

ron