[MLUG] VMS file version numbering for unix?

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Some users of the VMS operating system are very fond of the way VMS will
not overwrite a file but will tack a ";n" (where n is an integer) at the
end of the filename.  So if I were to edit a file four times, and the
original file was called file.txt, I'd end up with these files:

file.txt;1
file.txt;2
file.txt;3
file.txt;4
file.txt;5

Of these, file.txt;5 would be the oldest (the original file.txt) and
file.txt;1 would be the newest.  Has this been implemented in any unix OS
or unix shell?

I could make it work for certain programs.  Emacs already does this sort
of thing, if you ask it to.  But I'm not so sure it's possible to find a
unix OS (or shell) that will do this for all programs that might overwrite
a file.  VMS implements a PURGE command to allow the user to delete the
old versions.

Mike

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