Re: [MiNT] STAT bits - Ouch!

["Roger Burrows" <rfburrows@ymail.com>]

Hi Alan,
On 8 Dec 2010 at 10:09, Alan Hourihane wrote:
> 
> This problem has been around a long long time.......
> 
> Given, pretty much, every unix'ish style OS defines these....
> 
> (stuff re __S_ defines omitted)
> 
> To fix this, I'm thinking of adding an additional command to Ssystem()
> to tell the kernel to interpret these bits differently. Therefore any
> new MiNTlib compiled applications would require a new kernel, and if it
> doesn't get it, the application would fail instantly with an appropriate
> error message. But existing applications would still work with new or
> old kernels.
> 
> What do people think about this ?
> 
The incompatibility of defines is very irritating (& awkward in some cases).  
I'm all in favour of changing them to the de facto standard.  So the new 
Ssystem() command would ask the kernel to use the new (i.e. standard Unix) 
defines for the current process.  Some questions on implementation:
1. Will MiNTlib automagically issue the new Ssystem() call, or will it be the 
program's responsibility?
2. Will this attribute be inherited by a forked process?
3. Will it be possible to write a new program with backward compatibility to 
old kernels?

Roger