[tex-k] How to get filehandle when `E'

[Igor Liferenko]

Hi Karl,

>> In
>> practice, the idea on the TOPS-20 systems where TeX was developed was
>> that an open alpha_file could be (and indeed had to be) queried to get
>> the filename.

I totally don't understand: you are saying

1) TeX was developed on TOPS-20 systems
2) tex.web contains code which was appropriate on the system where TeX
was originally developed (§26 is one example).
3) and then you are saying that the code for getting filename was not
implemented the TOPS-20 way in tex.web WHY???

In summary, I don't understand how to get file descriptor when `E' is pressed.
Is it cur_file or what? How was this supposed to work? Is there any
implementation
in existence that uses this (simple and straightforward) approach?
(Because on Linux there is a way to get filename from filehandle and I
would like
to use this approach.)

Thanks,
Igor