Yes using the PATH instead of alises is the UNIX way. We did discuss
this within the Starlink Project during the move from VMS to UNIX, but
IIRC the consensus was that aliases would be more in keeping with our
community that had grown accustomed to the equivalent symbols under VMS.
Look how many user problems have occurred recently arising from the
introduction of STARLINK_DIR.
> recently I wanted to use the popular ImageMagick command convert and
> ended up with Starlink convert.
There are other clashes too and sometimes I get ImageMagick instead of
KAPPA:DISPLAY. The namespace is limited and there will be clashes.
It's a nuisance but they there are surprisingly few clashes. These
days it's probably more normal to augment the window-manager Graphics
menu or add an icon to the control bar to invoke ImageMagick.
> defined as shell command. This is unfortunate and probably not
> necessary if the Starlink environment is properly defined.
True, but as Peter said, there are some dodgy setups out there. For
example, many users seem to be unclear what should appear in their
.login/.profile and .cshrc scripts.
Malcolm Currie
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