*BSD News Article 63974


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From: Marko.Kohtala@ntc.nokia.com (Kohtala Marko)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Ideal filesystem
Date: 20 Mar 1996 23:50:08 +0200
Organization: Nokia Telecommunications OY
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In article <314A470D.CCE53F0@netcom.com> Adam Megacz <kalessin@netcom.com> writes:

> Here's just a couple:
>   - Comments on binary files
>   - Author of a file

Often these have been available with ident command.

>   - Icons for Xfilemanager, Xfm, etc...

Yes, seems these are wanted. However, perhaps we had better design a
binary format which can include bitmaps, comments, etc. Much like
Windoze has, as extra sections with well known names in the file.

>   - MOST OF ALL, FILE TYPE! The standard UNIX mechanism for determining
> file type is *almost* as crappy as WinDoze's (filename extensions). This
> is one of the few areas where the Mac & OS/2 kick Linux's butt.

file command does this to some degree. Not as well, but anyway.

This has the practical problem, that how does the type get into the
file? Would you add it by hand separately to each file or do you think
programs would be modified soon to do it well enough to be of use?

>   - Short description of what a file does - this is a MAJOR help for
> novice sysadmins. Also provides a more convenient place to store
> "whatis" information.

README file is often more useful.

Besides, I doubt a novice finds anything which is not shown by ls. A
real novice has enough trouble to understand files and directories,
let alone extended attributes.

> > the point is resources/EAs are poorly defined, and not designed at all.

> NO - they provide FLEXIBILITY for the future.

I see problems. What all kind of information would end up as EAs?
Icons, icon positions and other user interface specific information,
various versioning system information, operating system specific
information, etc? How to cope with foreign information?  What parts of
this information would you like to have copied with cp?  What should
tar, cpio etc. store with the file?  What about NFS and other network
file system users? Should some parts of this information be privileged
and other publicly available? Naming standards to avoid attribute name
space problems? Information format? Big endian, little endian, etc.

Perhaps what you really want is a WEB like filesystem where you have
no files and directories. Only pages with links. Some links start up
program binaries, some source code editors, etc. I have a feeling this
is what Netscape is planning.
-- 
---
Marko Kohtala - Marko.Kohtala@ntc.nokia.com, Marko.Kohtala@hut.fi