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Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 15:14:21 -0800 (PST)
From: Jake Hamby <jehamby@lightside.com>
To: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
cc: terry@lambert.org, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: FreeBSD ports to NT (was Win32...)
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On Tue, 27 Feb 1996, Terry Lambert wrote:

> Apparently you thought I was referring to the POSIX library rather than
> the Win32 FS API on which it is built.
> 
> I was noting that it was a deficiency of the POSIX subsystem, not a
> deficiency of NT.
> 
> The 32 bit MKS tools for WinNT/Win95 don't have these deficiencies.

To be 100% accurate, the POSIX subsystem in NT is not built on top of the
Win32 API at all but calls the kernel for FS access.  In Unix terms it
would be like making a libposix.so that did NOT use libc.so but instead
replaced libc and did everything via kernel calls. 

> Linux might be possible, in that it uses a call gate for traps.

Interesting.. MacOS would be possible too, using a binary emulation 
technology like Executor from ARDI...

> Yes.  That's what I want to see.  A standardized help source format,
> a standard "compiled" help format, and a standard text and X viewer.

Why not just go with Windows?  .RTF, .HLP, respectively, and then we need a 
free .RTF->.HLP converter, and viewers.

> SGML would really be ideal, actually; there is a need for SGML tools
> as well (not just HTML tools) that you can give a DTD as part of
> startup and have it act like HTML or whatever.

I don't see too much need for SGML tools, call me old-fashioned, but I 
typically compose HTML and SGML by using somebody else's document as a 
template/reference, and typing it into a text editor..  :-)

---Jake