[Info-vax] SET DEFAULT iterative logical name translation

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2021-10-25 19:32:15 +0000, Dave Froble said:

> On 10/25/2021 12:30 PM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> 
>> For my usage, logical names are a weak and volatile system-integrated 
>> key-value store design straight from the 1980s, and largely intended 
>> for app customization, and competitively woefully inadequate for app 
>> needs past device and file redirection, and I'm increasingly skeptical 
>> there.
> 
> WHOA!!!
> 
> Where did that "app customization" thing come from?
> 
> Device and file redirection (your terminology) is a good thing, and 
> logicals used in a good manner do that quite well.

Logical names are a central part of the available app-customization API 
available within OpenVMS.

The whole point of logical names is to customize the default behaviors 
of and the file and device references of apps, and of OpenVMS itself.

Logical names work decently well for file and device redirections, and 
particularly when the developers know about and use FNA/DNA/RLF.

Logical names tend to get messy with other app-specific customization 
settings; when not re-directing file or device references.

A whole lot of the "magic" of logical names is tied to the proper 
filename specification on the file opens too, and that usage is far 
from ubiquitous among developers.

A volatile key-value store is both limited and limiting too, as app 
customization APIs go.

And as I've mentioned up-thread, I'm finding it rather less common to 
be redirecting individual files within apps. OpenVMS itself and its 
archaic clustering "management interface", yes. But App file 
references, not so much.


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