[Info-vax] Porting logical name applications to Unix

[ChaosLess]

On Sep 25, 9:14 pm, "John E. Malmberg" <wb8... at qsl.network> wrote:
> JF Mezei wrote:
> > Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>
> >> But you would only use a few of them and instead put the
> >> majority of the paths in a text config file.
>
> > So config files are really what native Unix uses ?
>
> It depends what you were using the logical names for.
>
> Symbolic links on Unix seem to be used for what System wide logical
> names are used for on VMS.
>
> One use is for finding shared images.  An image might call for
> foobar.1.2, and foobar.2.3 is the current version and binary compatible,
> so to save space, foobar.1.2 will just be a symbolic link to foobar.2.3.
>
> Mount points are also used for what VMS uses logical names for to some
> extent.
>
> Environment variables are used for what DCL symbols are used for.
>
> But there is not really anything in Unix that corresponds to Process,
> Job, and Group logical names.
>
> -John
> wb8... at qsl.network
> Personal Opinion Only

one of the many limitations for environment variables is that the $
symbol has inherent meaning so stuffing that into the environment
variable name is, at best, frustrating.  in the unix 'shell' it will
have to be 'escaped' at every turn - either enclosed in single quotes
are preceded by \ ...