Volume Size

[Richard Gaskin]

Bob Sneidar wrote:

 >> On Oct 14, 2014, at 20:37 , JB wrote:
 >>
 >> The dictionary states,
 >> This function always returns empty on Unix systems.
 >>
 >> So, is Linux a Unix OS?
 >
 > In a word, no. Linux is the result of someone writing a unix-like
 > OS without (ostensibly) copying any of the actual UNIX code. It
 > walks like UNIX, it quacks like UNIX, but it is decidedly *NOT* UNIX! 
 > Never say those words again!!! (It makes LINUX people queasy). ;-)

On the contrary, the reason Linux was invented was a desire to enjoy 
what Unix brings to the table, but without spending several thousand 
dollars on the proprietary hardware and software to get that enjoyment, 
and to have the freedom to enhance it if you choose.

Linux is very close to full POSIX compliance, prevented from being 
certified as a true Unix only by a relative handful of differences whose 
merit I'll leave others to argue.

Most Unix skills are directly transferable to Linux, which is useful 
since Unix market share continues to decline while Linux has only grown.

But the key issue here isn't about OSes at all, but about why the 
LiveCode team chose to leave both Unix and Linux support out of the 
volumes function.

The answer is likely related to mount points, which these days are 
equally problematic on OS X and Windows.

When originally introduced with what we now call Mac Classic, having 
only the name of a mounted volume was sufficient to know how to access 
it.  But with OS X, is it mounted at / or /Volumes/ or somewhere else? 
As noted earlier, such mount path issues are present in various forms on 
all three desktop OSes.

The discussion around the enhancement request for this has been 
illuminating and promising:
<http://quality.runrev.com/show_bug.cgi?id=13673>


And JB, thanks for the catch with "Unix" - obviously that should be 
"Linux", since OS X is a certified Unix and other flavors of Unix 
haven't been supported by LiveCode in many years, so I submitted a bug 
report to change that, pending the outcome of the enhancement request 
noted above:
<http://quality.runrev.com/show_bug.cgi?id=13696>

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com