From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 816 invoked from network); 10 Jun 1998 17:45:00 -0000 Received: from math.gatech.edu (list@130.207.146.50) by ns1.primenet.com.au with SMTP; 10 Jun 1998 17:45:00 -0000 Received: (from list@localhost) by math.gatech.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id NAA15444; Wed, 10 Jun 1998 13:40:48 -0400 (EDT) Resent-Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 13:40:48 -0400 (EDT) From: "Bart Schaefer" Message-Id: <980610103728.ZM12142@candle.brasslantern.com> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 10:37:28 -0700 In-Reply-To: <199806101055.LAA13182@taos.demon.co.uk> Comments: In reply to Zefram "Re: Variable namespaces, goals for ZLE, etc." (Jun 10, 11:55am) References: <199806101055.LAA13182@taos.demon.co.uk> X-Mailer: Z-Mail (5.0.0 30July97) To: Zefram Subject: Re: Variable namespaces, goals for ZLE, etc. Cc: zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Resent-Message-ID: <"ntfkn2.0.Fn3.VKiVr"@math> Resent-From: zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu X-Mailing-List: archive/latest/4091 X-Loop: zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu Precedence: list Resent-Sender: zsh-workers-request@math.gatech.edu On Jun 10, 11:55am, Zefram wrote: } Subject: Re: Variable namespaces, goals for ZLE, etc. } } The advantage of a "zsh." prefix is that *nothing* currently relies } on such a variable name existing or behaving in any particular manner, } whereas "ZSH_" names are defined by POSIX to have no special semantics. Are there any "available" names in the POSIX space? The problem with introducing an incompatible syntax in order to escape POSIX is that you can't reliably export variables with the new names. I've used versions of sh that would mangle the environment and/or issue warning messages if there were any strings present where the stuff to the left of the `=' contained characters other than [A-Z][a-z][0-9]_. -- Bart Schaefer Brass Lantern Enterprises http://www.well.com/user/barts http://www.brasslantern.com