--- a/AbstractOperatingSystem.st	Tue Dec 11 17:14:14 2001 +0100
+++ b/AbstractOperatingSystem.st	Tue Dec 11 17:40:04 2001 +0100
@@ -1919,6 +1919,32 @@
     "Modified: / 13.8.1998 / 21:37:24 / cg"
 !
 
+openFile:pathName withMode:openModeSymbol attributes:attributeSpec
+    "open a file, return an os specific fileHandle. 
+     openmode is a symbol defining the way to open
+     valid modes are:
+        #read
+        #write  
+        #readWrite
+        #appendWrite
+        #appendReadWrite
+        #createWrite
+        #createReadWrite
+
+     attributeSpec is an additional argument, currently only used with VMS
+     - it allows a file to be created as fixedRecord, variableRecord, streamLF, streamCR, ...
+
+     In VMS, if nonNil, it must consist of an array of strings (max:10), giving additional
+     attributes (see fopen description).
+     Passing a nil specifies the default format (streamLF) - ST/X always invokes this with nil.
+     This argument is ignored in UNIX & MSDOS systems.
+
+     This is a private entry, but maybe useful to open/create a file in a special mode,
+     which is proprietrary to the operatingSystem."
+
+    self subclassResponsibility
+!
+
 recursiveCopyDirectory:fullPathName to:destinationPathName
     "copy the directory named 'fullPathName' and all contained 
      files/directories recursively to destinationPathName.
@@ -4388,6 +4414,6 @@
 !AbstractOperatingSystem class methodsFor:'documentation'!
 
 version
-    ^ '$Header: /cvs/stx/stx/libbasic/AbstractOperatingSystem.st,v 1.56 2001-12-11 16:02:45 stefan Exp $'
+    ^ '$Header: /cvs/stx/stx/libbasic/AbstractOperatingSystem.st,v 1.57 2001-12-11 16:40:04 cg Exp $'
 ! !
 AbstractOperatingSystem initialize!