Sender: nate AT cartsys DOT com
Message-ID: <37C2C5E1.A71CF3D8@cartsys.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 09:18:41 -0700
From: Nate Eldredge <nate AT cartsys DOT com>
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Do Error Messages Really Help?
References: <199908232202 DOT SAA12175 AT delorie DOT com> <pJvw3.4742$ei1 DOT 9960 AT newsfeeds DOT bigpond DOT com> <7pu789$975 AT tandem DOT CAM DOT ORG>
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

Martin Peach wrote:
> 
> It sure would be useful to have stuff like ENOENT written out in long, I
> keep trying to guess what it might possibly stand for.
> "Error no Entry"? "Eno ain't here?" "Exit not Entrance?"  Surely there is
> not a DOS-like (8.3) limit on symbolic names?
> \/\/\/*=Martin

It means "No such file or directory", silly :)  HHOS.  Actually, the
meaning of the error is already there; the exact expansion of the macro
is more a matter of tradition and etomology (sp?).  I think your first
guess is right in that respect.

There's no limit on what we can print in that message (just change
src/libc/ansi/string/syserr*.c) but longer explanations will increase
the code bloat that people are already so upset about.

Actually, most Unixes I've seen don't print the E* macro name in the
perror message, just "No such file or directory\n" or whatever.  This is
a little easier on the newbie, who doesn't have some cryptic
abbreviation to be confused by, but harder on the programmer, who has to
remember (or look up) the sometimes non-obvious mapping between the two.
-- 

Nate Eldredge
nate AT cartsys DOT com