Jonathan Briggs writes:
> On Tue, 2005-05-31 at 15:01 -0600, Jonathan Briggs wrote:
> > I should create an example.
> >
> > Wherever I used True Name previously, use OID instead. True Name was
> > simply another term for a unique object identifier.
> >
> > Three files with OIDs of 1001, 1002, and 1003.
> > Object 1001:
> > name: /tmp/A/file1
> > name: /tmp/A/B/file1
> > name: /tmp/A/B/C/file1
> >
> > Object 1002:
> > name: /tmp/A/file2
> >
> > Object 1003:
> > name: /tmp/A/B/file3
> >
> > Three query objects (directories) with OIDs of 1, 2, and 3.
> > Object 1:
> > name: /tmp/A
> > name: /tmp/A/B/C/A
> > query: name begins with /tmp/A/
> > query result cache: B->2, file1->1001, file2->1002
> >
> > Object 2:
> > name: /tmp/A/B
> > query: name begins with /tmp/A/B/
> > query result cache: C->3, file1->1001, file3->1003
> >
> > Object 3:
> > name: /tmp/A/B/C
> > query: name begins with /tmp/A/B/C/
> > query result cache: A->1, file1->1001
> >
> > Now there is a A -> B -> C -> A directory loop. But removing
> > name: /tmp/A/B/C/A from Object 1 fixes the loop. Deleting Object 1 also
> > fixes the loop. Deleting any of Object 1, 2 or 3 does not affect any
> > other object, because in this scheme, directory objects do not need to
> > actually exist: they are just queries that return objects with certain
> > names.
One problem with the above is that directory structure is inconsistent
with lists of names associated with objects. For example, file1 is a
child of /tmp/A/B/C/A, but Object 1001 doesn't list /tmp/A/B/C/A/file1
among its names.
>
> I forgot to address Nikita's point about reclaiming lost cycles. In
> this case, let me create Object 4 for /tmp
> Object 4:
> name: /tmp
> query: name begins with /tmp/
> query result cache: A->1
>
> Now, if we delete Object 4, are Objects 1,2,3 lost? I would say not
> because they still have names. When the shell calls chdir("/tmp") a new
> query object (directory) must be created dynamically, and Objects
> 1001,1002,1003 still have their names that start with /tmp and so they
> immediately appear again. Their names still start with /, so the top
> level query will still find them and /tmp as well.
Object 4 is "/tmp". Once it was removed what does it _mean_ for, say,
Object 1003 to have a name "/tmp/A/B/file3"? What is "/tmp" bit there?
Just a string? If so, and your directories are but queries, what does it
mean for directory to be removed? How mv /tmp/A /tmp/A1 is implemented?
By scanning whole file system and updating leaf name-lists?
It seems that what you are proposing is a radical departure from file
system namespace as we know it. :-) In your scheme all structural
information is encoded in leaves _only_, and directories just do some
kind of pattern matching. This is closer to a relational database than
to the current file-systems where directories are the only source of
the structural inform
