[% setvar title unlink() should be left alone %]
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<a name='TITLE'></a><h1>TITLE</h1>
<p>unlink() should be left alone</p>
<a name='VERSION'></a><h1>VERSION</h1>
<pre>  Maintainer: Nathan Wiger &lt;<a href='mailto:nate@wiger.org'>nate@wiger.org</a>&gt;
  Date: 4 Aug 2000
  Last Modified: 14 Aug 2000
  Mailing List: <a href='mailto:perl6-language@perl.org'>perl6-language@perl.org</a>
  Number: 29
  Version: 2
  Status: Frozen</pre>
<a name='STATUS'></a><h1>STATUS</h1>
<p>This RFC was discussed on perl6-language-unlink with no
objections. It has been frozen in its current format.</p>
<a name='ABSTRACT'></a><h1>ABSTRACT</h1>
<p>Some people have suggested that unlink() is too Unix
centric, that that it should be renamed to something
like delete() or remove().</p>
<p>This should not happen. unlink() should remain unlink().</p>
<a name='DESCRIPTION'></a><h1>DESCRIPTION</h1>
<p>While on the surface, renaming unlink() may seem like
a not-too-bad-idea, in reality it has many bad parts:</p>
<pre>   1. It confuses experienced Perl, C, and Unix programmers

   2. It makes link() and symlink() almost non-sensical

   3. It's possible to have more than one link to a file
      in Unix, meaning unlink() != delete().

   4. It's a useless change. It's not broken.</pre>
<p>Renaming a function just for the sake of renaming a
function, when in reality it works identically to the
native C counterpart, does not add value to Perl 6.</p>
<a name='IMPLEMENTATION'></a><h1>IMPLEMENTATION</h1>
<p>Nothing to be done!</p>
<p>For those that are adamant about this, I suggest that
they consider writing a module, say &quot;Win32::Synonyms&quot;,
that could be composed of typeglobs:</p>
<pre>   *delete = \&amp;CORE::unlink;</pre>
<p>With better referencing in Perl 6 this should be easily
possible. However, I think it's RABID (Really A Bad IDea)
at best.</p>
<a name='REFERENCES'></a><h1>REFERENCES</h1>
<p>RFC 28: Perl should stay Perl, by Simon Cozens</p>
<p>Unix unlink(2) man page</p>
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