This and other RFCs are available on the web at http://dev.perl.org/rfc/ =head1 TITLE unlink() should be left alone =head1 VERSION Maintainer: Nathan Wiger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 04 Aug 2000 Last-Modified: 14 Aug 2000 Version: 2 Mailing List: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Number: 29 Status: Frozen =head1 STATUS This RFC was discussed on perl6-language-unlink with no objections. It has been frozen in its current format. =head1 ABSTRACT Some people have suggested that unlink() is too Unix centric, that that it should be renamed to something like delete() or remove(). This should not happen. unlink() should remain unlink(). =head1 DESCRIPTION While on the surface, renaming unlink() may seem like a not-too-bad-idea, in reality it has many bad parts: 1. It confuses experienced Perl, C, and Unix programmers 2. It makes link() and symlink() almost non-sensical 3. It's possible to have more than one link to a file in Unix, meaning unlink() != delete(). 4. It's a useless change. It's not broken. Renaming a function just for the sake of renaming a function, when in reality it works identically to the native C counterpart, does not add value to Perl 6. =head1 IMPLEMENTATION Nothing to be done! For those that are adamant about this, I suggest that they consider writing a module, say "Win32::Synonyms", that could be composed of typeglobs: *delete = \&CORE::unlink; With better referencing in Perl 6 this should be easily possible. However, I think it's RABID (Really A Bad IDea) at best. =head1 REFERENCES RFC 28: Perl should stay Perl, by Simon Cozens Unix unlink(2) man page
