Re: Not a typewriter

H. Peter Anvin
2001-05-10T22:39:34Z

Followup to: <Pine.LNX.3.95.1010510173138.29690A-100000@chaos.analogic.com>
By author: "Richard B. Johnson" <root@chaos.analogic.com>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
>
> I noticed that my favorite "errno" has now gotten trashed by
> the newer 'C' runtime libraries.
>
> ENOTTY has been for ages, "Not a typewriter".
> It's now been changed to "Inappropriate ioctl for device".
>
> Methinks that this means that ../linux/include/asm/errno.h now needs
> to be updated:
>
>
> -#define ENOTTY 25 /* Not a typewriter */
> +#define ENOTTY 25 /* Inappropriate ioctl for device
> */
>
> None of these strings are in the kernel, but the headers probably should
> show the "latest standard".
>

Sounds like someone has just clarified what the heck it means. "tty"
and "typewriter" aren't exactly the same thing (even though "tty"
stands for "teletypewriter" it has come to mean something completely
different in a Unix context)... "not a typewriter" is just a
completely confusing error message for the uninitiated.

-hpa
--
<hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private!
"Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."