4 ms·
GNU extensions are all over the place. The C library has all kind of GNU functions that are more convenient/practical than what Unix had, the command line progr
by st_goliath 6y ago
GNU extensions are all over the place. The C library has all kind of GNU functions that are more convenient/practical than what Unix had, the command line programs (e.g. coreutils) have feature flags and extensions that the originals didn't have but that made them more convenient to use, and I already mentioned GNU extensions in the tar format.
POSIX aside, Unix-like systems that are still around nowadays and not directly use GNU user space, have copied many of the GNU extensions out of necessity. People have become accustomed to those extensions and written programs & scripts depending on them, so you now need to implement many of the GNU extensions simply to stay compatible.
Even if not consciously done and without malicious intents, this is IMO still fairly similar to how Microsoft played it: add extensions that are convenient, so people use them, eventually rely on them and become a de facto standard.
- vanviegen 6y agoBut as you say, Unix vendors could just implement these features. That's not how Microsoft would have employed its infamous tactic.
- pjmlp 6y agoI am yet to see Microsoft sue WINE for example. Any C compiler vendor (even commercial ones) does language extensions, mob => pushing the language forward. Microsoft does C compiler with language extensions, mob => get your pitchforks.
- stinos 6y agoSimilar for vendor lock-in. While very real, it wouldn't be the first time reading topics where the general sentiment is 'oh you poor Apple/MS/RedHat/Visual Studio/... user you're getting locked in, all hope lost' being written by people who don't recognize they are themselves following that principle merely by sticking to one particular OS/editor/debugger/...
- pjmlp 6y agoI used to be a Solaris fanboy (Linux was only the way I managed to have UNIX at home), and one of my regular tasks as Solaris admin was to install GNU from Solaris Packages repository due to software expectations.
- throw0101a 6y ago> GNU extensions are all over the place. On purpose and on accident: when Debian switched its /bin/sh from Bash to dash all sorts of things broke (for us) because GNUism were leaking into what should have been a standard language/feature set. We had to tell our users: change your code or change your shebang.
- rualca 6y ago> POSIX aside, Unix-like systems that are still around nowadays and not directly use GNU user space, have copied many of the GNU extensions out of necessity. That reads like a lack of interest to update POSIX to catch up with the de-facto sstandard I mean, I doubt that GNU would try to block the standardization process to avoid including their extensions.