From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Dec 21 15:56:47 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 1F787371 for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2014 15:56:47 +0000 (UTC) Received: from relay5-d.mail.gandi.net (relay5-d.mail.gandi.net [IPv6:2001:4b98:c:538::197]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D3D382B87 for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2014 15:56:46 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mfilter18-d.gandi.net (mfilter18-d.gandi.net [217.70.178.146]) by relay5-d.mail.gandi.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id E05AD41C062 for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2014 16:56:43 +0100 (CET) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at mfilter18-d.gandi.net Received: from relay5-d.mail.gandi.net ([217.70.183.197]) by mfilter18-d.gandi.net (mfilter18-d.gandi.net [10.0.15.180]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id mdem3qVwhseB for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2014 16:56:42 +0100 (CET) X-Originating-IP: 120.60.164.172 Received: from localhost (triband-mum-120.60.164.172.mtnl.net.in [120.60.164.172]) (Authenticated sender: mayuresh@kathe.in) by relay5-d.mail.gandi.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 8840C41C067 for ; Sun, 21 Dec 2014 16:56:41 +0100 (CET) Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 21:26:37 +0530 From: Mayuresh Kathe To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: posix has been rendered useless, isn't it? Message-ID: <20141221155635.GA1388@aio> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 15:56:47 -0000 hello, there's a question which i have not been able to find an answer to yet, hence venture to pose here. i have been studying the unix way of doing things, i.e. tool-chaining to combine small programs for accomplishing a solution. but, almost none of today's servers built for any of today's unix-like systems adhere to the unix philosophy. most of them instead, are large applications. does that mean, posix has been rendered useless? if yes, what's the need to have so much support for the posix standard? wouldn't it make more sense to have a components based layer surrounding the kernel? components would be specialized programs designed to accomplish one task, and do it well, and which in turn would communicate with other components over clean and well designed interfaces. yes, this is what exists right now, but somehow, the idea doesn't reach out deep enough. i couldn't find a way to write a c-shell script to create a workable mail server in minimal time. i apologize if i have provoked anyone, it's not my intention, but, it's just frustrating to note that there's so much work being done towards writing more and more server programs, but none of them adhere to the base philosophy of the system for which they are supposedly crafted. it's like, people are writing 'vms' style programs for unix-like systems. that's crazy, isn't it? ~mayuresh