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Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!inferno.mpx.com.au!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!mail2news.alias.net!myriad!mylinuxbox!suck!netcom.com!kalessin From: Adam Megacz <kalessin@netcom.com> Subject: Re: Ideal filesystem Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Message-ID: <316EC65B.33F8D1FF@netcom.com> Sender: kalessin@netcom16.netcom.com Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) References: <4gejrb$ogj@floyd.sw.oz.au> <3140C968.20699696@netcom.com> <4ia7im$i4m@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu> <4if9gb$4kh@park.uvsc.edu> <4iibd2$ng@EARTH.baylor.edu> <4ir7tc$5uf@park.uvsc.edu> <31530CC6.266C03EF@ids2.idsonline.com> <4j0ccn$ftv@park.uvsc.edu> <4jthcs$3dn@nexus.it.com.au> <31631263.68EFE48C@netcom.com> <4kifre$q0l@nexus.it.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 21:08:43 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.01 (X11; I; Linux 1.2.13 i486) Lines: 42 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:21178 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17150 > > 1) Elegance. If EA's are part of the filesystem, I can use all > > those fun preexisting apps (cat, tar, cp, mv, ls) to manipulate them. > > Not to mention stuff like xfilemanager. > Ever seen (at the risk of earning flamage) WinNT's registry editor? (adam laughs at the term "flamage"). EA's and a Registry do not do each other's job; I strongly advocate a Registry for Linux (see my thread "Idea for a Linux Registry"). I think we should go in the direction of OS/2, which has both EA's *and* a registry. > If metadata is manipulated by a library, then the names of files, > whether data or application, becomes irrelevant, surely? The metadata > is now under control of the application, the way it's stored on disk > is no longer an issue. But how can one app read another's metadata? BTW, EA's are designed to hold stuff like a file's author, it's purpose, it's icon, and other things like that. *Application Preferences* Belong in a library. Also, the advantage of EA's in the filesystem is that they are "stuck to" the file they belong with, and can't get orphaned. > > > 3) The UNIX way (tm). It seems (IMHO) that integrating everything > > into the filesystem is the UNIX way (tm). I really like it, and there > > are others that do, too. > > This is a philosophical point, and I'd very much like to disagree with > you here; As far as _I_ can tell, the UNIX way (tm) is simplicity; > the device driver drives devices; And device drivers are in the filesystem -- what do you think /dev/* is? >the filing system stores files; Yup. > the c library does buffered and formatted io; Buffered I/O To and from the filesystem! >ls is not a web browser. Ever heard of the ftp filesystem? An HTTP version is on it's way :-) > One level of abstraction per layer; metadata is application specific > data, NONONONONONO. A file's icon may be used by both xfm and moxfm and xfilmanager; therefore it is NOT application specific.