[Info-vax] : AUTHORIZE Enhancement

[David Froble]

IanD wrote:
> On Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 4:37:54 AM UTC+11, Art wrote:
>> While we're asking for shiny new things from VMS, could I ask for a simple (?) change whereby the output from e.g. MCR AUTHORIZE LIST * /FULL could be "enhanced" with /OUTPUT=SOMEWHERE_OTHER_THAN____SYSUAF.LIS ?
>>
>> I know I can do DEFINE SYS$OUTPUT etc. but c'mon, /OUT= please.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Art
> 
> Can we also add support for input/output in other formats also?
> 
> I'm thinking not just UAF but every utility in VMS (in your spare time of course!)
> 
> i.e.
> 
> mc authorize list */out=x.x/format=CSV
> or
> /format=JSON
> or
> /format=XML
> 
> Maybe qualify this by a /fields=(OWNER,PRIV,DEVICE) option also?
> 
> mc authorize list */out=x.x/format=CSV/fields=(USERNAME,OWNER)
> 
> The notion of moving data in/out of VMS utilities easily would save people a lot of time and/or reduce some of the frustration I experience when dealing with VMS data and having to resort to DCL scripts just to get simple report data out of VMS
> 
> mc authorize list */out=disusered_accounts.xml/format=XML/fields=(USERNAME,FLAG=(disuser))
> 
> has got to be easier than dumping the uaf, searching a window for disuered accounts and then sub-searching for username
> 
> Perhaps enhanced redirection / better piping might mitigate some of the frustration but I still think the need to easily export / input data in universally used formats like csv, json and xml natively has got to make people's life a lot easier?
> 
> I believe there is a unix project that someone started a while back that was looking at a similar idea of having csv as a minimum available in every tool for input / output. We can go one further by also supporting json and xml perhaps
> 
> Maybe have some type of universal parser that we can throw the input / output through versus changing every utility might be a better idea? Then over time, we just keep adding the different utilities it knows about

Yep!  Give 'em an inch, and next thing you know, it's 500 miles ....

:-)