> Sure, but if *each* file can have more than one representation then > where's the best place for the ctl thing to be? In each subdirectory? > At the top of the hierarchy (accepting the full path names, of course)?
Well, assume you have a canonical representation for a given file, I'd have the ctl file in the same directory. You'd then use a command that includes the basename as well as the representation selector to create the new entry. If the representation directory already exists, then the file is added to whatever is already there, otherwise the directory is created first: ; ls /n/synthetic /n/synthetic/ctl /n/synthetic/image.canonical ; echo GIF image.canonical > /n/synthetic/ctl ; ls /n/synthetic /n/synthetic/ctl /n/synthetic/gif /n/synthetic/image.canonical ; ls /n/synthetic/gif /n/synthetic/gif/image.canonical # sic If you need additional depth to the directory, then I think you ought to be looking to upas/fs and how it manipulates its directory for further hints. Whether this is any better than content negotiation may be a judgement call. I'll read the wikipedia entry later, thank you for pointing me to it. ++L