Re^2: Unix deficiencies/problems

[Jay Plett]

In article <MIKE.89May11142510 at yunexus.yorku.ca>, mike at yunexus.yorku.ca (Mike Marques) writes:
> ... Under VMS I can
> define TEXINPUTS, for instance, in the system wide logical name table
> and when somebody uses tex things will work.  Under UNIX you can't
> transparently (I could be wrong) set things up for a user so that he
> can do this.  And don't tell me you just have to tell the user about setenv
> or whatever, not all users want to know a lot  of details about computers.

In the skeleton .login that is installed in a new user's home directory:
	source /usr/local/lib/dotlogin
In /usr/local/lib/dotlogin:
	setenv TEXINPUTS /wherever/it/is/this/month

You need tell the naive user nothing.  The slightly sophisticated user
will edit h{is,er} .login, adding things before and after the "source"
(according as they want their environment superseded by the system
administrator's).  The more sophisticated user is free to throw out
the "source" and create a private universe.

> Of course Unix was not designed for those users but that's a different
> discussion.

No, it's the same discussion.  See above.  Unix gives you the rope to
design your own noose.

	jay at princeton.edu