[OpenAFS] Features great and small

Default aeneous@speakeasy.org
Tue, 31 Jul 2001 20:45:51 -0400


> That's generally true but taken too far in this case, IMHO. 
> E.g., chmod, chown, chgrp, ... also have recursion built in. It would be 
> quite useful to have it in "fs sa" as well. It's used too often by ordinary 
> users to require any more complicated construct than a simple switch 
> added to what they already know. It is percieved as "lack of functionality
> compared to chmod" by users.

Not in UNIX(tm) chmod doesn't recurse.  Just because "10,000 high school 
students" don't fully respect the tool-building philosophy is no reason to go 
and make things worse.

Seriously, it's much easier to remember a 10 tools with 4 switches each than 
it is to remember 10 tools with 40 switches each.  GNU chmod has what, 11 
switches and three styles of specifying modes.  Unix chmod has no switches 
(but still has two or three mode styles, more's the pity). (Does Solaris chmod 
have all those switches?  Or AIX?)

Please, I don't want to get into a flamewar about user interface philosophy 
here.  It's certainly true that the existing interfaces to AFS are rough, but 
try to make them better, not just bigger.