From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: <599f06db0611201514u26ac129axa8b21894a17f6d00@mail.gmail.com> Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 00:14:34 +0100 From: "Gorka guardiola" To: "Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs" <9fans@cse.psu.edu> Subject: Re: [9fans] echo -n In-Reply-To: <8ccc8ba40611201411o35a3f282kf10d4bcf5f4d7bc1@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <8ccc8ba40611201116r89eba04m32cf9d487a02ceb5@mail.gmail.com> <5c2bf4a5c8ff68ef5e1bfd2db024e300@plan9.jp> <8ccc8ba40611201305u114a86fboa765b4dd87a95b4e@mail.gmail.com> <8ccc8ba40611201411o35a3f282kf10d4bcf5f4d7bc1@mail.gmail.com> Topicbox-Message-UUID: e3b51a90-ead1-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 As I see it, the problem here is that of symmetry and special cases. A 0 read means eof. The problem is that it also means a 0 sized message on a pipe. There are 0 reads which are not eofs because we want to conserve the symmetry for pipes (n writes mean n reads) in order not add special cases. But then we have a special case when eof does not mean the pipe has been closed. Which is also an interpretation, because eof means end of file, but that means end of pipe or end of session or what?. So there is a compromise between the special case of having zero writes, and thus not eof 0 reads which are not necessary because you can use a convention of a special character or something, versus adding a special case on the other side for the closing of pipes. So whatever you change, you are not better off so we stay put. Am I reading right or is there something else I am missing?. It is late and my english is fuzzy. Pardon my french. -- - curiosity sKilled the cat