> Does this answer Ron's question as to why one wants things added to > the distribution, not just tacked onto any old branched version? > ++L
No. It doesn't. Here's an attempt to answer that question: As I see it, there are three types of program: 1) Stuff only one person is ever likely to want. No worth contributing. 2) Stuff of interest only to a small group of people. This belongs in contrib. 3) Stuff of more general utility. This should probably go in the main tree unless there is a good reason not to put it there. It was Rudolf who asked for a find command, and I've said I would like one, so we can exclude (1) in this case. (2) or (3) is obviously a judgment call. I remember the issue of find coming up before, though, so I am guessing that it's more than just two people who will use it. It's worth noting that find is part of posix, so it's often used in scripts that are meant to be portable across unix variants. Plan9 was never meant to be a unix variant, but having a find makes porting scripts a bit easier. I don't see the downside. It's not like find is evolving and will need to be maintained by someone at the labs. In the end, of course, it's not my call what goes in the base system. I can just express an opinion. -- John Stalker School of Mathematics Trinity College Dublin tel +353 1 896 1983 fax +353 1 896 2282
