Re: compat_bsdos

For those of us who first used BSD Unix in the days when it arrived on
tapes in a Jiffy bag, and still retain primitive habits, anything that
makes clear what is available in man7 and man8 (and sometimes man1)
would be welcome.  Apropos has become so verbose, and without the
permuted index (of ond memory and sadly missed) to refer to, finding
new and relevant stuff is hard.  I end up wasting time trying to reinvent
the postage stamp.

--
Steve Blinkhorn <[email protected]>

You wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 19 Aug 2020 at 03:57, Dan Plassche <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > On 2020-08-18 07:09, David Brownlee wrote:
> >
> > > Excellent news. I wonder if it would be worth taking a copy of the
> > > compat_linux manpage and producing a stripped down compat_bsdos for
> > > anyone else who comes along later :)
> > >
> >
> > Sounds good, David!  I will volunteer to draft a compat_bsdos manpage
> > and submit the source file to the docs list with this group copied.  I
> > anticipate that I'll send the draft next week.
> >
> > I wonder if it might also be helpful to have a compat_nomid manpage that
> > points to compat_bsdos and explains the other BSD o/n/q/zmagic binaries
> > that work?  The options(4) manpage provides a hint, and there are also
> > manpages for compat_sunos(8) and compat_ultrix(8), but other BSD systems
> > are covered by this code as well and the connection/setup is probably no
> > longer self-evident to users.
> >
> > The other systems covered by compat_nomid would include 386BSD and
> > NetBSD 0.8 on i386 and amd64.  I believe it used to include 4.3 BSD
> > binaries on the Vax, but I'm not sure about the status there anymore and
> > would need to test in simh across NetBSD releases for Tahoe and Reno.
> > 4.4 BSD encumbered binaries for the hp300 from Kirk's cds also
> > definitely work on older NetBSD releases I'm running on mac68k machines,
> > so I'll see about more recent releases.  Would anyone object to adding a
> > compat_nomid (essentially a "compat_bsd" for 4.3-4.4 derived releases)
> > manpage?  I will try to ask the docs group.
> 
> I think a compat_nomid(8) would make a lot of sense - there is a lot
> of these less common cases where people have to Just Know what to do,
> and a scattering or relevant manpages would definitely be a win :)
> 
> David
>