Re: LYNX-DEV Lynx W32 bug report

[Hiram Lester, Jr.]

On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, Wayne Buttles wrote:

> 
> 
> On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, Alan Cox wrote:
> 
> > >   ~buttles/       depends on server setting, eg, html docs directory?
> > >   ~/              UNIX convention for environment variable $HOME?
> 
> And I ask, again, why would I want my lynx.cfg to be accessable by
> ~buttles/ ?  Can you even count on everyone's home being the same place on
> a unix box?  NO.  So you can't be sure that ~fred/ is the same as
> /home2/fred/ when you live in /home/buttles/.
> 
> I just don't see why it matters.

That's exactly the point.  ~fred/ points to fred's home directory
regardless of what the full path is.  If fred's account is in
/home2/fred/, and the sysadmin decides that fred's account should be in
/home3/fred/, then direct references to the full path will be inaccurate,
however ~fred/ will still work cause it looks up fred's home directory as
listed in the /etc/passwd file.  If fred logs in, he will wind up in the
new directory as well, and for HIM all references to ~ will still be the
same.  The ~ is a shortcut for the home directory that's smart enough to
know about different directory paths.  On my linux box, it defaults to
/root/ as the default for root, and I think I put user's directories in
/home/hwlester/, but ~root/ and ~hwlester/ would get to those directories
regardless of where they really were as long as they're listed in the
/etc/passwd file properly.  Look at the code I sent, and you'll see the
pwent stuff that someone else mentioned.  Do a man on that on a unix box
and maybe that'll help.

   +------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
   | Hiram W. Lester, Jr.               | E-Mail: address@hidden    |
   | Computer Science                   | Home page:                    |
   | Middle Tennessee State University  |   http://pobox.com/~hwlester/ |
   +------------------------------------+-------------------------------+

;
; To UNSUBSCRIBE:  Send a mail message to address@hidden
;                  with "unsubscribe lynx-dev" (without the
;                  quotation marks) on a line by itself.
;