The trouble with fork() (Re: IBM PC prehistory)

[Peter da Silva]

Fork() is an elegant concept, but as has been seen it leads to problems
implementing UNIX on a system without an MMU, or implementing a UNIX
lookalike on top of a non-UNIX O/S. It's possible, but expensive.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a sanctioned P1003 subset that replaced
fork() with a combined fork()/exec() call (spawn?). Or just an addition
of spawn to the standard as an alternative process creation mechanism:
This would radically improve the performance of non-UNIX POSIX systems,
without compromising the capability of the standard...
-- 
 _--_|\  Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. <peter at ficc.uu.net>.
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