#: 7997 S15/Hot Topics
    04-Nov-90  22:12:25
Sb: #os9 standards
Fm: Robert A. Larson 75126,723
To: all

I do think getting together a group of os9/68k manufacturers, software
developers, and users together to create standards for areas that Microware has
ignored is a good idea.  This should include both hardware and software. 
Hardware may need support in both the dirver level and the applications
software to take full advantage.  Software standards are needed to make sure
programs don't prevent use of each other and to make sure they can be used
together.  A readily available library would also be a boon to software
developers.

One of the first things this commitee should do is grap a portion of the "user"
space in each of the areas that microware has split between system and user
spaces.  Signal numbers, error codes, and status codes are among these.  This
does not mean that they should be assigned fast, just reserved for future use.

A few things I think this commitee should look into:

Setstat code for drop dtr.

Better login program.  (Encript the passwords, root should NOT be able to
examine users passwords.)

Non-root accessable data about users.  Preferably with the same programmer
interface as unix getpwuid, getpwuid, etc.


I have ported and written quite a bit of software for os9/68k that is freely
available.  (Source code only, of course.  I do not distribute binaries.)  Soon
to be release is my unix-compatability library, which does cover the getpw*
routines, and my own login program will follow.

Developers of free software should not be excluded, a lot of the best software
on os9 is free.  (What terminal programs do you use on os9?)

Users should be allowed input as well.  We don't need another standards
committee that ignores what users need.

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