From: Tobias Reif <tobiasreif@...>
Date: 2002-05-24T21:26:54+09:00
Subject: Re: OS independent scripts, system calls on Windows and Linux

nobu.nokada@softhome.net wrote:


> The backtick returns stdout only and is almostly system
> independent.


Then I might think about an RCR for a feature which saves me from 
writing stuff like

[ http://ruby-talk.com/9739 ]
...
  if ENV.has_key?("OS") && ENV["OS"] =~ /nt/i
                puts "It's either NT or 2K, use 'cmd.exe /c '" if $DEBUG
                #it's either NT or Win2K
                command_shell = "cmd.exe /c "
...

What do people think?

I'd like to have a way more platform independent system call mechanism, 
in Ruby itself or in the std lib, which returns either nil, an Error 
object of some sort, or a Stdout object of some kind, so I can simply 
write something like

commands = Commands.new ['this -x -y','that -a -b']
commands.each do |cmd|
   returned = cmd.issue # or ".run", ".enter", ...
   case returned
     when Stderr then raise returned
     when Stdout then puts  returned
   end
end

Would others find that useful too?

Tobi

-- 
http://www.pinkjuice.com/