OT: Re: [Pan-users] Click on URL in a post??

[Eric Ortega]

On Thu, Dec 12, 2002 at 11:40:11AM -0700, Duncan wrote:

> something else DID depend on.  I rebooted and devfs didn't load, which meant 
> that its handling of legacy /dev references didn't load either, including 
> /dev/hda etc. references.  I had to work with a bare rootfs loaded, no /usr 
> or /home, no swap, etc.  Since the dependencies for VIM and MC were on /usr, 
> I couldn't run them, either.  I had to get out my trusty "rearing horse" and 
> "the Arabian" (O'Reilly's "Running Linux" and "Linux in a Nutshell"), and 
> learn enough SED on the fly to use it as an editor, 

Barf.

I install Debian over the net.  Part of this process involves creating
two floppy disks, root and rescue.  As a byproduct of a net installation
of Debian you also have a disk with a bootable linux kernel and some
editors and fsck and the like on it.  Saves you when you have lusers
mucking about in places they don't belong (it's a graduate lab, gimme
a break) and/or when your distribution decides to go bonkers as yours did.

No sed necessary.  Just mount your /dev/hda or whatever, edit, then 
reboot.

My most memorable comparable experience with Debian was a couple of years
ago when the password authentication modules were uploaded to unstable,
broken.  Broken password authentication is, um, a pain to rectify.

Of course, learning sed will help you in the long run, I guess, assuming
you never learn perl.  ;)

I'm wondering, though, after reading your story, if 'ed' would have worked.
It's considerably easier to use than sed as an editor.  I mean, after all,
it is "the standard text editor":  



  recopied from http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed.msg.html



  From: address@hidden (Patrick J. LoPresti)
  Subject: The True Path (long)
  Date: 11 Jul 91 03:17:31 GMT
  Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs,alt.slack
  
  When I log into my Xenix system with my 110 baud teletype, both vi
  *and* Emacs are just too damn slow.  They print useless messages like,
  'C-h for help' and '"foo" File is read only'.  So I use the editor
  that doesn't waste my VALUABLE time.
  
  Ed, man!  !man ed
  
  ED(1)               UNIX Programmer's Manual                ED(1)
  
  NAME
       ed - text editor
  
  SYNOPSIS
       ed [ - ] [ -x ] [ name ]
  DESCRIPTION
       Ed is the standard text editor.
  ---
  
  Computer Scientists love ed, not just because it comes first
  alphabetically, but because it's the standard.  Everyone else loves ed
  because it's ED!
  
  "Ed is the standard text editor."
  
  And ed doesn't waste space on my Timex Sinclair.  Just look:
  
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 root          24 Oct 29  1929 /bin/ed
  -rwxr-xr-t  4 root     1310720 Jan  1  1970 /usr/ucb/vi
  -rwxr-xr-x  1 root  5.89824e37 Oct 22  1990 /usr/bin/emacs
  
  Of course, on the system *I* administrate, vi is symlinked to ed.
  Emacs has been replaced by a shell script which 1) Generates a syslog
  message at level LOG_EMERG; 2) reduces the user's disk quota by 100K;
  and 3) RUNS ED!!!!!!
  
  "Ed is the standard text editor."
  
  Let's look at a typical novice's session with the mighty ed:
  
  golem$ ed
  
  ?
  help
  ?
  ?
  ?
  quit
  ?
  exit
  ?
  bye
  ?
  hello? 
  ?
  eat flaming death
  ?
  ^C
  ?
  ^C
  ?
  ^D
  ?
  
  ---
  Note the consistent user interface and error reportage.  Ed is
  generous enough to flag errors, yet prudent enough not to overwhelm
  the novice with verbosity.
  
  "Ed is the standard text editor."
  
  Ed, the greatest WYGIWYG editor of all.
  
  ED IS THE TRUE PATH TO NIRVANA!  ED HAS BEEN THE CHOICE OF EDUCATED
  AND IGNORANT ALIKE FOR CENTURIES!  ED WILL NOT CORRUPT YOUR PRECIOUS
  BODILY FLUIDS!!  ED IS THE STANDARD TEXT EDITOR!  ED MAKES THE SUN
  SHINE AND THE BIRDS SING AND THE GRASS GREEN!!
  
  When I use an editor, I don't want eight extra KILOBYTES of worthless
  help screens and cursor positioning code!  I just want an EDitor!!
  Not a "viitor".  Not a "emacsitor".  Those aren't even WORDS!!!! ED!
  ED! ED IS THE STANDARD!!!
  
  TEXT EDITOR.
  
  When IBM, in its ever-present omnipotence, needed to base their
  "edlin" on a UNIX standard, did they mimic vi?  No.  Emacs?  Surely
  you jest.  They chose the most karmic editor of all.  The standard.
  
  Ed is for those who can *remember* what they are working on.  If you
  are an idiot, you should use Emacs.  If you are an Emacs, you should
  not be vi.  If you use ED, you are on THE PATH TO REDEMPTION.  THE
  SO-CALLED "VISUAL" EDITORS HAVE BEEN PLACED HERE BY ED TO TEMPT THE
  FAITHLESS.  DO NOT GIVE IN!!!  THE MIGHTY ED HAS SPOKEN!!!
  
  ?