Is there a standard way to do "foo"

[phil at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu]

Suppose I am writing something in which I need to do "foo".  I could write
something to do "foo" myself, but perhaps "foo" has already been done and
it is generally available across unix platforms.  Is there a way of finding
out if a generally available "foo" exists without bothering a guru?

Of course if there was a list of "generally available things" I could look
in it and see if foo is in there.  I could also read this list sequentially
and learn them all, too.

Keep in mind that my term for "foo" and the generally known term for "foo"
might not match.  The matchup might need to be done by semantics rather than
by name.  I guess this is the age old problem of reverse man pages (here is
what I want to do, what is its name).

My current "foo" is "how do resolve a pathname that contains one or more
symbolic links into a pathname that has none (absolute path)?".  But I hate
having to ask each question every time.

--Phil Howard, KA9WGN-- | Individual CHOICE is fundamental to a free society
<phil at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> | no matter what the particular issue is all about.