Autzoo.1532 net.bugs utcsrgv!utzoo!henry Mon Apr 5 19:10:04 1982 nami misfeature, cont. We seem to have an inconsistency ahead of us. Like this: The Unix Time-Sharing System: As another limiting case, the null file name refers to the current directory... Unix 3.0 INTRO(2): Unless specifically stated otherwise, the null path name is treated as if it named a non-existent file... I can't find any places in the 3.0 manual where anything is "specifically stated otherwise". What to do? I am ambivalent about this one. There is something to be said for the V7 interpretation, although the do-something-reasonable-for- strange-input principle is weaker for system calls than for programs that users invoke directly. On the other hand, objecting to null filenames would have caught a number of bugs I've seen at one time or another. Note that the -1 pointer points to a null filename in V7. So does the NULL pointer if you are running split-space. On the whole, I think any use of a null filename is likely to be the result of a bug, so it should be trapped. In practice, the 3.0 interpretation will probably triumph by sheer weight of numbers. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.