Re: FVWM: Re: Exec vs. exec

From: Bob Woodside <proteus_at_pcnet.com>
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 1997 22:54:18 -0500 (EST)

In recent days, David Goldberg, Randy Ray, and Kai Grossjohann wrote:
>>>> [lots of informative stuff...]

    So, it seems we really need 3 options to satisfy everybody...

    1) ExecClassic -- the original, as Exec reverted to in 2.0.43: no
       implicit exec added, if you want it, you add it. This must
       be used to handle things like
         Exec xterm -e my-first-thing ; my-second-1 ; my-third
       I suppose Exec should continue to use this form, for backward
       compatibility...?
    2) ExecLite -- as Exec was in 2.0.42: always using exec
    3) ExecQuick -- (UltraLite?) no shell, just use an exec call directly.

    I suppose Exec should continue to use the Classic form, for backward
compatibility (though I really preferred the ExecLite version)? Unless
somebody wants to see yet another command, something like

                ExecDefaultsTo [Classic | Lite | Quick]

    Since I opened my big mouth and reawakened a discussion that had just about
died of old age and natural causes, I'll volunteer to work up a patch to
implement this. First, though, I'd like to hear your suggestions on the
following - a consensus among users would be really nice.

    1) As an alternative to having 3 separate commands, we could try ultra
       clever parsing of the command string to try to decide which style is best
       for it. I'd shy away from that, because a) 3 distinct commands give
       greater flexibility to the power user who wants precise control, and
       b) one of these days someone's going to come up with an environment
       customized to use some other delimiter than a semicolon, and I don't want
       to be around when it happens. Opinions?

    2) Which do you think should be the default behavior for the existing Exec
       command? No, I don't want to use #3 as the default.

    3) What would you like to see the commands called? Actually, I don't mind
       using the whimsical names above, but some people might like to see
       something a little more, uh, professional.


    - Bob



                To exec, or not to exec, that is the question -
                Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
                The slings and arrows of outrageous forking,
                Or to take arms against a sea of shell procs,
                And by exec-ing, end them?...

                For...who would flame wars bear,
                To grunt and sweat under a weary shell,
                But that the fear of something after fork -
                That undiscovered country from whose Bourne
                No traveller returns - puzzles the will,
                And makes us rather bear those procs we have
                Than spawn yet others that we know not of.
                Thus conscience does make cowards of us all....

--
Visit the official FVWM web page at <URL:http://www.hpc.uh.edu/fvwm/>.
To unsubscribe from the list, send "unsubscribe fvwm" in the body of a
message to majordomo_at_hpc.uh.edu.
To report problems, send mail to fvwm-owner_at_hpc.uh.edu.
Received on Sat Apr 05 1997 - 23:35:57 BST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Mon Aug 29 2016 - 19:38:00 BST