POSIX Work Made Easy with Qedit
Although POSIX has been around since MPE/iX 4.5, it is still underused at many sites. That's will change because new features and applications such as the Apache Web server and Java must reside in the POSIX namespace. The POSIX namespace has its own set of rules, which you should become familiar with. Qedit 4.8 has been enhanced so that it is easier for you to abide by some of these rules.
When you want to access a POSIX file, MPE and most applications require that you prefix the file name with a slash (/) or dot-slash (./). This is easy to forget and can become annoying if you need to use it frequently. To get around this problem, you can now use Set HFS On in Qedit. Once enabled, Qedit automatically inserts a dot-slash prefix in front of file names, if they don't already have a prefix.
Example:
/Text MyFile
Error: NONEXISTENT PERMANENT FILE (FSERR 52)
/Set HFS On
/Text MyFile
4 lines in file
POSIX introduces a new file type called Bytestream. These files have specific attributes, which are slightly different from fixed and variable length files. Qedit automatically recognizes Bytestream files and preserves the file attributes. If you want to create a new Bytestream file, you can use Set Keep Bytestream On before saving the file.
Example:
/Add
I am inserting this text in a new Bytestream file.
//
/Set Keep Bytestream On
/Keep NewByteFile
/Listfile ./NewByteFile,2
PATH= /ACCT/PUB/testdir/
CODE ------LOGICAL RECORD------- -----SPACE----- FILENAME
SIZE TYP EOF LIMIT R/B SECTORS #X MX
1B BA 59 2147483647 1 16 1 32 NewByteFile
POSIX names can have up to 254 characters and can include mixed case letters as well as special characters. Some of these special characters are normally interpreted as string delimiters in Qedit. To avoid conflicts, you can use Set Stringdelimiters to reduce the number of valid delimiters.
Example:
/Verify Stringdelimiters {default delimiters}
Set STRINGDelimiters "|\~{}[]_@?!#>%&:'"
/Set Stringdelimiters Posix {"Posix" can be replaced with own list}
/Verify Stringdelimiters
Set STRINGDelimiters "\:"
As you can see in the example above, you have to use the MPE Listfile command to look at POSIX objects (files and directories). You can use Qedit's new Set Alias option to create useful shortcuts.
Example:
/Set Alias "dir" to ":listfile ./@,2"
/dir
POSIX is definitely in your future. Qedit is ready to help you deal with this new environment.
[François Desrochers]