Re: A Plumberâs Wish List for Linux

From: Alan Cox
Date: Fri Oct 07 2011 - 06:41:03 EST


On Fri, 7 Oct 2011 12:28:46 +0200
Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 12:12, Alan Cox <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >> * (ioctl based?) interface to query and modify the label of a mounted
> >> FAT volume:
> >
> > Seems sensible - or it could go in sysfs ?
>
> That would mean to export superblocks in /sys, which isn't namespaced,
> and which might create issues by making information globally available
> which probably shouldn't?

Possibly, otherwise you really need an ioctl on the root inode of the fs
- which is doable, NCPfs makes heavy use of that.
>
> >> A FAT labels is implemented as a hidden directory entry in the file
> >> system which need to be renamed when changing the file system label,
> >
> > That would be ugly - it works for FAT as you can create an imaginary name
> > which is not possible on the fs, but that isn't true for say ext4. Sysfs
> > sounds the logic way, it means adding chunks of code to various file
> > systems.
>
> What do you mean would be ugly?

I have an ext4fs. It supports every possible file name allowed by POSIX
and SuS. What name are you going to use for your 'hidden directory' that
won't clash with a real file ?

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