HP-UX 10.20 C shell problem with stty

[Alan Edwards]

When using csh on HP-UX 10.20 the command 'stty -echo' does not turn off echo. If you change to sh or ksh, it works correctly. Does anyone know why, it works OK in AIX and Sun OS?

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Alan:

I've never heard much good about csh but that's another issue. A relatively old document (#4701320077) dated 1996 Apr 09, states "csh doesn't pay attention to stty settings, or allow all of them to be
changed...There is no temporary workaround...No fix available at this time".

One wonders. You might try "stty sane" and then "stty -echo".

...JRF...

[Alan Riggs]

Hmmmm . . .is it time for a "why csh is bad" rant?

Is there a reason you must use csh? It is, in general, a less reliable and less functional interface than either ksh or posix. Hey, I'm an old C programmer, too, but sometimes it makes more sense to adapt methods to the better tool.

[Alan Edwards]

I don't use the csh myself, it is one of the users I support that does. I will check for the document mentioned.

[Alan Edwards]

James,

HP will not send me the document, do you have a copy?

Alan E.

[James R. Ferguson]

Alan:

Here's all I could find (attached). Good luck!

...JRF...

[Alan Edwards]

I didn't get an attachment, can you send it again. Would regular e-mail be OK?

Alan

[Alan Edwards]

Cancel that, I did find the attachment.

Thanks again

Alan

[Tim Malnati]

POSIX and ksh may be better in some people's minds, but the item that concerns me is the fact that stty works properly with csh in AIX and Solaris environments. I'm not a proponent of csh, but I've certainly run into many people who are. In my mind it is not a good idea for HP to ignore issues like this. These are irritations that don't help HPUX sales. Stack up enough of them and some key parties can easily make a case for selecting another machine instead. HP really needs to make an effort to fill in these holes. You become a lot more attractive when you have more functionality, not less.