Re: albods are not a clean set of orthogonal primitives (was Re: File systems are semantically imp

Stefan Monnier (monnier+lists/linux/kernel/news/@tequila.cs.yale.edu)
26 Jun 1999 17:35:21 -0400


>>>>> "Wanderer" == Wanderer <wanderer@everywhere.net> writes:
> Pretty good summary , but ... Issues like user specific overrides of
> components are really an application issue. As I've said before, the

Not really. What is the main difference between a bundle and a couple
files in /usr/bin, /usr/man and /usr/lib ? It's the fact that they are
explicitly together, rather than bound by some naming convention.
Now if you add user overrides, you suddenly have a nice self-contained
bundle plus something outside of it and which can only be found thanks to some
naming convention. So this user override breaks the main idea of bundling.
It just shows that the one-to-one relationship of components in a bundle is
not what we want. Probably works on single-user systems, but on anything
fancier, the limits become very quickly visible and you quickly end up
using the same kinds of conventions that you tried to get rid of by using
bundles.

> Putting things together in an 'archive' (as you put it) is mandatory
> IMO. The entire issue is that many items simply have no
> significance on their own. It is only when bundled with other items
> that they become significant. This can very from simple international
> strings and icons, to entire application suites.

Yes, that's what packaging systems like redhat are for. I prefer a
more strongly connected packaging like NeXT's (or `stow' or `depot'),
but the point is just that forks don't provide a sufficient answer
and that there is no reason to have kernel support.

> Does it make sense to
> have a utility that manages FooBar Document Folders when you
> don't have the FooBar Application to create the document?

Of course. I might receive those documents via email.

> I've started work on a standalone application that creates and
> manipulates a meta-file with tags. Hopefully I'll get it done this
> weekend and post it so people can play with the idea. It won't be
> complete as you cannot execute an application from within it,
> but it should point out what can be done using the meta idea (pun?).
> [Won't be easy ... there's an air show in my backyard and I keep
> running outside to watch!]

Use directories instead. This will allow much easier access inside.

Stefan

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