job control

[std-unix at ut-sally.UUCP]

From: nike!oliveb!felix!peregrine!mike at sally.utexas.edu (Mike Wexler)
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 86 10:21:55 PDT
Organization: Peregrine Systems, Inc, Irvine Ca

>From: pyramid!utzoo!henry at sally.utexas.edu  (Henry Spencer)
>Date: Sat, 4 Oct 86 03:03:30 PDT
>
>     Implementing supervision of multiplexed interaction in user processes  is
>difficult  in  many  existing Unix implementations, minimal implementations of
>the existing P1003 standard among them.  The basic problem is that normal user
>processes  are  definitely aware that their output is going to a terminal, the
>device-independence of Unix  i/o  notwithstanding.   Screen-oriented  programs
>doing *ioctl*s are the biggest problem.  A less obvious glitch is that *stdio*
>adjusts its buffering strategy depending on whether output is to a terminal or
>not;  this  is  a major nuisance with some existing window systems.  Something
>like the `pseudo-tty' concept would be very useful:   an  entity  which  looks
>like  a  terminal from one side, but whose behavior is under user-process con-
>trol from the other side.  Some existing systems do implement such things, but
>the lack of standardization largely prevents use of them in portable programs.

One idea would be to put Ritchie's streams in the standard or an extension
of the standard so that there is a "clean" way of writing user level window
managers.  Given this there would probably be many window managers implemented
and likes shells you wouldn't need a single standard one, but could provide
several and allow users to write their own.

[ Does anyone from the /usr/group networks or windowing systems groups
have any comments on this?  -mod ]

Volume-Number: Volume 7, Number 45