Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 21:52:25 -0800 From: John Polstra <jdp@polstra.com> To: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ipfw patch Message-ID: <199801280552.VAA05179@austin.polstra.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 28 Jan 1998 16:10:20 %2B1030." <199801280540.QAA01308@word.smith.net.au>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> > I agree with Archie. It's best to avoid adding programs that > > change their behavior based on the name used to invoke them. > > Why do you say that? I've often felt exactly the opposite, so I'm > curious to see it from your point of view... I guess I just don't like a program to know its own name, in general. A user might not like its name, and decide to rename it. That shouldn't change the way it behaves. Or you might install a new beta version under a special name, to avoid conflict with your older stable version. What a surprise to find out that the program doesn't do what it seems like it ought to do. Depending on the name of the program is just a little too tricky for my taste, and it seems too likely to cause surprises. That's why I prefer explicit options for influencing a program's behavior. John -- John Polstra jdp@polstra.com John D. Polstra & Co., Inc. Seattle, Washington USA "Self-knowledge is always bad news." -- John Barth
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199801280552.VAA05179>