Re: dispatch program

() Paul Eggert <[email protected]>
() Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:56:05 -0800

   On 01/17/12 00:00, Thien-Thi Nguyen wrote:
   > Much less hassle: "If the system has grcs, it is
   > new-style; if not, old-style".

   On the contrary, that heuristic is more hassle, because it does
   not work as stated.  grcs is commonly used as the name
   of the old-fashioned 'rcs' command, right now.  See, for example,
   <http://www.openbsd.org/4.5_packages/i386/grcs-5.7p0.tgz-contents.html>.

   One could get the heuristic to work, but at that point it becomes
   too much hassle.  For example, this:

      if (grcs --version) >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        rcs_style=new
      else
        rcs_style=old
      fi

   is just as complicated as this:

      if (rcs --commands) >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        rcs_style=new
      else
        rcs_style=old
      fi

   and the whole thing becomes more confusing to users.

   Let's keep it simple and stick with plain "rcs" for RCS commands.

OK, you've convinced me.