Ross Biro wrote: >On 6/29/05, Hubert Chan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >>On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 01:09:05 -0400, Horst von Brand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: >> >> >> >>>Hubert Chan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] >>>And doing "tar cf /dev/tape /usr/games/tetris" gives you a nice tangle >>>of undecipherable junk. >>> >>> > >I'm confused. Can someone on one of these lists enlighten me? > >How is directories as files logically any different than putting all >data into .data files and making all files directories (yes you would >need some sort of special handling for files that were really called >.data). > Add to this that you make .data the default if the file within the directory is not specified, and define a stanadard set of names for metafiles, and you've got the essential idea, and any differences are details.
> Then it's just a matter of deciding what happens when you >call open and stat on one of these files? > >For backwards compatibility, current existing system calls have to >treat these things as directories. Perhaps an exception could be made >for exec. > >But we could have a whole new set of system calls that treat things as >magic, and if files as directories is as cool as many people think, >apps will start using the new api. If not, they won't and the new api >can be deprecated. > > Ross > > > >
