>>>>> "Linus" == Linus Torvalds <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
[...] Linus> I've seen all these examples of exposing MP3 ID information as a Linus> "side stream", and that's TOTALLY POINTLESS! The information is Linus> already there, it's in a standard format, and exporting it as a Linus> stream buys you absolutely nothing. Exporting it through the filesystem would mean that I could use my favourite editor to edit MP3/OGG tags, instead of having to use some other program that has a piece-of-crap interface. It's a user-interface issue, and not a technical issue. Someone might then tell me to write my own MP3-tag editor that has an interface that I like. How may MP3 tag editors do we need? Besides, I have better things to do with my time. Actually, I would argue that things like ID3 tags for MP3 files, and EXIF for JPEG exist only because filesystems in general can't support associating metadata/attributes with files. If filesystems were built the "right way" to begin with, all those tagging schemes would never have come into existence. Of course, that's just a dream, but one can dream, can't they? [...] Linus> And realize that the "separate shadow tree" actually works very Linus> well. That's how version control systems like CVS have always Linus> worked. VMS (or some other OS -- too lazy to look it up) exposed version control through the filesystem. Their naming sucked (or so says Pike), but that's what they did. Yes, CVS works, but I wouldn't say that it works very well. If I want to get a specific version of a file, I need to drop to the command line and type in some cvs command that I don't remember and then open the file. I can't just do "C-x C-f foo.c/version/2.1" in emacs. Yes, emacs has version-control support, so that I can open up a specific version. But if v-c isn't exposed through the filesystem, we would have to add support to emacs for every v-c system out there. And do the same for vi, gedit, nano, bluefish, conglomerate, Mozilla Composer, glade, etc. Linus> It's certainly how you can make icon information work too. If you Linus> use a tool for accessing the data, the tool can maintain Linus> coherency and you'll never care about the side stream. The point is that I shouldn't need to use a special tool. I should be able to use my favourite text/image/sound/etc. editor. Using a special tool may work for you, but it isn't the optimal user interface in general. -- Hubert Chan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://www.uhoreg.ca/ PGP/GnuPG key: 1024D/124B61FA Fingerprint: 96C5 012F 5F74 A5F7 1FF7 5291 AF29 C719 124B 61FA Key available at wwwkeys.pgp.net. Encrypted e-mail preferred.
