From: William C Wickes <hpcvra!hpcvdw!billw>
Subject: Fast PURGE
   Date: Fri, 10 Jan 92 08:02:27 pst

[Note: Here's the long-awaited sequel to FPGDIR on Goodies Disk #5.  Notice
that we both ran into troubles, but Bill didn't give up like I did.  -jkh-]

Hi, Joe:

Now that Insights II is finished I have some time to hack around a bit.
XPURGE is a safe combination of PURGE and PGDIR that works like PURGE except
that it will blow away non-empty directories.  The latter is done quickly
unless a directory is referenced, in which case the slow PGDIR approach is
used.

I thought you might like to try it out before I post it for wider
distribution.

Cheers, 

Bill Wickes

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( Hey, Bill: it doesn't work!  And why is XLIB 703 0 in there??  -jkh-)

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   From: William C Wickes <hpcvra!hpcvdw!billw>
Subject: Youch!
   Date: Wed, 15 Jan 92 15:44:33 pst

XLIB 703 0 is in there because I'm an idiot.  I wrote XPURGE as part of
a utility library that I keep on my own 48.  Then I decided that since
it didn't call anything else in the library, I could send it out as
a stand-alone object rather than worrying about all the library overhead.
But I neglected to remember that it called itself as part of the
list argument loop, so of course it gets lost.

So throw it away, and accept my apology for trashing your machine.  This
was not revenge for FPGDIR -- I KNEW that would blow up, and only tested
it in don't-care 48's.  And I never try out anything in my do-care
machine without backing it up on some write-protected device, preferably
on a PC in a locked file cabinet in the basement guarded by a leopard.

I'll get back to you when I figure out how to have an unnamed object
call itself.

Bill Wickes

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   From: William C Wickes <hpcvra!hpcvdw!billw>
Subject: XPURGE: The Return
   Date: Wed, 15 Jan 92 16:36:42 pst

OK.  I hacked some more, this time dipping into uncharted waters
of weird RPL practices.  New version of XPURGE below.  Kindly archive
your memory (and that of the 48) before trying this at home.

--Bill Wickes

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( Hey, Bill: It crashes when you try to xpurge a stored XLIB!  -jkh-)

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   From: William C Wickes <hpcvra!billw%hpcvdw.cv.hp.com>
Subject: XPURGE
   Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 14:43:06 pdt

Joe:

I tracked down the problem with XPURGE that caused it to bomb with stored
ROM objects.  Subtle, but I should have thought about it.  Anyway, here
is a corrected version.

Now, did we learn our lesson about trying new software from Wickes:
"Always archive FIRST!".

Cheers,

Bill

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[Note: Don't you just love happy endings?
 In case it isn't obvious, XPURGE replaces both PURGE and PGDIR.
 Assign it to a key and use it to purge things.  -jkh-]