[Info-vax] VMS Features I Wish Linux Had

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2016-06-15 11:57:06 +0000,   VAXman-  @SendSpamHere.ORG said:

> THere IS line editing in the terminal driver but it's limited.  
> Extending that to 'vi' and 'emacs' capabilities is NOT appropriate in 
> the terminal driver.  Put it where it belongs!

What most folks would want is some flexibility around editing command 
input, allowing vim or emacs or (since this is OpenVMS) EDT-compatible 
cursor control.

http://www.catonmat.net/blog/bash-vi-editing-mode-cheat-sheet/

The cursor handling is inherently going to be part of the driver (and 
also sensitive to the character encoding), whether the command history 
or recall buffer or the rest is part of the driver or is implemented 
elsewhere is an implementation detail.  If OpenVMS ever went onto Mach 
(past that prototype from many years ago), this handling could be in a 
process somewhere, for instance, and for all anybody using it cared.

Akin to the lack of FUSE support within the OpenVMS I/O and file system 
implementation on OpenVMS, there's also no input character handling 
layer on OpenVMS.


-- 
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC