Messages in this thread | | | From | Jesse Pollard <> | Subject | Re: NTFS-like streams? | Date | Sat, 12 Aug 2000 18:38:48 -0500 |
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On Sat, 12 Aug 2000, Michal Jaegermann wrote: >Proponent of Rube Goldberg-like contraptions for storing "extendent >information" about files claim that an obvious answer of using >directories for such purpose is "brittle". A long real-life experies >from NeXTSTEP does not support that. > >On NeXT various "NeXT Apps" are simply directory tries and command line >tools do not even try to hide that fact. If you are using graphical >file tools then by default they will show up as a single entity but an >extra command, not hidden very deeply :-), will allow you to open such >unit as a directory and get to components separately. This is, >actually, a _good thing_ as a user can, for example, adjust and >customize various interface elements using Interface Builder. After >many years when NeXTSTEP is around I do not recall serious complaints >that this leads to a breakage and if somebody will acutally mess >something up then things are easily fixable. > >OTOH various other complicated schemes for storing a meta-information >invariably turn out to be a major PITA and _really brittle_ outside >their very narrowly defined "native environments" and break regularly >when somebody will do something "unexpected" (read - use some standard >and universal tool). > >With all this evidence in mind I watch pretty amazed when this >discussion periodically flares up and various kludges are proposed >as if nobody tried something like that in the past.
I agree. Trying to do an FSCK on such a beast must be REALLY fun. The old UNISYS had similar things to track file revisions. Half the time the file got really screwed when there was a crash - the same line of fortran would be repeated (once for every change made to it). It also made the filesystem very slow.
The only support I can think of would be a flag on a "directory" to indicate to an underlying file system that the file is complex. That way when a unix tar, cpio, dump ... (they have to carry the bit) copies files out, the mkdir would recieve the flag. The underlying FS could impliment it as either a simple directory (plus flag), or a complex file with native streams. Tar and cpio copying from a filesystem with the native streams would see a directory with the bit.
No changes to open or anything but the directory functions to pass the flag back and forth. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jesse I Pollard, II Email: pollard@cats-chateau.net
Any opinions expressed are solely my own.
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