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From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Ideal filesystem
Date: 28 Mar 1996 22:58:03 GMT
Organization: Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah
Lines: 94
Message-ID: <4jf5hs$f12@park.uvsc.edu>
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rhys@vortex.cc.missouri.edu (Justin "Rhys Thuryn" McNutt) wrote:
]
] Terry Lambert (terry@lambert.org) wrote:
] : ges@EARTH.baylor.edu (Pyramids-R-Us) wrote:
] : ] >1) Application icon information
] : ]
] : ] I gave up on using icons....
]
] : The rest of us haven't; our customer's want GUI's, and they're
] : willing to dump UNIX in the toilet for an MS OS to get one.
]
] Who cares what *they* use. We're talking about what *we* use. Anybody
] who can't use a machine that doesn't have a GUI has no place in a
] discussion like this anyway (not referring to you, just the morons in
] most campus computer labs <sigh>).
Pretty much anyone who wants to sell their software has to cater
to those people. If you have a clue, better to cause people
without a clue to like your system so that economies of scale
work for you instead of just for your customer base.
] : ] >2) Desktop position information for an icon
] : ]
] : ] This is not good for a multi-user environment. No two users will want
] : ] icons in the same place.
]
] : This is not a good argument. One could just as easily have an
] : attribute per user.
]
] Then your attributes aren't file-related so much as user-related. This
] sort of information should be stored in a .desktoprc *directory* (a file
] would be too small :) ) in the user's home, not in the inode of a file.
Per user per file. 8-).
] Maybe, but still, abstractions such as a file's purpose shouldn't be in a
] filesystem. How would it know whether to edit or compile a file with a
] ..c extension?
It would edit the file (based on the application that handles
"text edit" attributed files).
If you wanted to compile it, you would have clicked on the
makefile (with it's application that handles "make process"
attributed files).
] Besides, I don't see how you intend to *use* the creator information on a
] unix system. You can't click on a file unless you are using a GUI. You
] can't run a file unless it's executable. If it's executable, Unix runs
] the file like a program. At what point is it supposed to search for an
] "associated" application?
The applciations aren't associated with the file. This is a
common mistake to make, since this isthe mistake Apple made
on the Macintosh.
The files are attributed by type, and the desktop knows that
for file type XXX it runs application YYY with that file as an
argument.
In other words, the act of association is a shell issue; you
*could* do the same thing for non-GUI shells, of course, because
you aren't limited to association with a particular application,
only association between attribution and application. For a
CLI shell, the association could be made with CLI tools (if you
choose to make the association at all for CLI users).
] Stuff like that belongs in .rc files related to the shell, not in the
] filesystem.
The *association* does, the *attribution* does not.
] : ] Problem B: What is the *right* application in the first place? I
] : ] unix there is often a speration between the program used to modify a
] : ] file and the program used to view/act on the file. If I double click
] : ] on a man file should I get the editor used to create it or wil I get
] : ] the man page viewer.
]
] : Attribution is by register file type. Preferred applciation for
] : a given file type is a problem for the desktop manager. 8-).
]
] You're limiting the discussion to filesystems used on machines running
] GUIs. I almost never use a GUI, and I don't like them. Why should
] something so application-specific be in the filesystem?
No I'm not. substitute "CLI" for "desktop manager", or better,
substitute "user environment" for both.
Terry Lambert
terry@cs.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.