Origin of the name grep (actually Eunice!)

[guy at rlgvax.UUCP]

> This scheme won't work right in situations where different newsgroups
> are expired in differing lengths of time, since you lose UNIX's "all links
> have equal status" property.  But then, it only required about 30 seconds
> to think of - you should be able to do better with a bit more thought.

A suggestion, from a VMS non-wizard:

Use links (i.e., multiple directory entries pointing to the same file), but
replace the "unlink" routine by one that just removes the link and doesn't
delete the file (or "mark the file for deletion" or whatever).  Keep a reference
count in the history file, and delete the file when the last link disappears.

Will this work?  Can a user-mode Eunice program do all this, or do you have to
be running in supervisor or executive mode or not be built from Eunice to
create/delete directory entries and mark files for deletion?

	Guy Harris
	{seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guy