From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: <8ccc8ba40611201522g2514b38fn464a2b9d721daeeb@mail.gmail.com> Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 00:22:42 +0100 From: "Francisco J Ballesteros" To: "Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs" <9fans@cse.psu.edu> Subject: Re: [9fans] echo -n In-Reply-To: <599f06db0611201514u26ac129axa8b21894a17f6d00@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; 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> <599f06db0611201514u26ac129axa8b21894a17f6d00@mail.gmail.com> Topicbox-Message-UUID: e3be03b2-ead1-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 Yes, but, what does it mean to write zero bytes? I know, I know. But my point is, does it make sense? If you want a write of something weird to mean something, you might just use a write of something weird, or a control operation kept appart. A related question, can we create a file with an empty name? Is what happens a bug or a feature? On 11/21/06, Gorka guardiola wrote: > 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 > >