Re: Proposal: Add option to add dates to write(1)

[Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

> I'm not really thinking anymore about really patching write, but just
> for completion. ;-)

I think it's worth thinking about even if all we do is think about it.
A better grasp of tradeoffs is rarely a bad thing. :-)

>> No.  Anyone can read a mode 644 file.
> Thus having permissions in your home directory set.

True, but there's nothing inconsistent about "if you want this to work,
the writer has to be able to read the file, including searching your
homedir".

>>> And to fail when network is down because of nfs (home) hanging,
>>> ldap hanging, or whatever.

A valid point.  This could be worked aorund by doing the lookup in a
child process, with a relatively short timeout in the parent.

The KISS argument has weight to me too; I am inclined to agree with the
people who've been saying that one of write's strengths is its
simplicity.  Given the original intended use case, perhaps this could
be done only when a particular flag is given on the command line?
Thus, it requires agreement from the sender, but only minimally, and
the strftime format is still supplied by the receiver.

I'm not sure I like it, but I dislike it less than anything else I've
seen suggested; this version actually, to me, makes the "is it worth
trying" cut (albeit not by much).

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