Re: Summary of how linux can best avoid the need for streams

Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:16:44 +1000


Hans Reiser writes:
>
> I am not saying put an FS into a file, I am saying make the filesystem
> effective enough that nobody needs to create things like structured
> storage. Given that as a goal, what is needed?

I don't even concede this goal. In some cases "structured storage"
inside a file is quite reasonable and efficient.

However, I would agree that for some applications that FS-based
structured storage is much better than file-based structured storage.

> I propose the following:
>
> * inheritance of file bodies

What exactly is this?

> * inheritance of stat data

Fine.

> * a syntax based on rdf for writing to files which have inheritance
> (solving this stumbling block was important for me)

What's "rdf"?

> * filters, such that "dirname/..tar" generates a tar file when read,
> and "dirname/..cat" concatenates for read, and
> "filename/..filtername" runs filtername on the file/directory
> filename.

NO! This is a terrible idea. The low-level tools *must* provide raw
access. This higher-level grouping of data belongs in the GUI.

> * overloading directory names so that if they are opened as files they are
> files, and if accessed as directories they are directories.

Again, NO!

> All of these features are valuable in and of themselves.

I strongly disagree. Some of them are good, some of them are not.

Regards,

Richard....

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