Re: silent semantic changes with reiser4

James Bruce
2004-08-26T16:07:37Z

Andrew Morton wrote:

>No. All of the applications which you initially identified can be
>implemented by putting the various bits of data into a single file and
>getting applications to agree on the format of that file.
>
>

So in order to avoid breaking backup and file utilities, we'd instead
break every application that reads files? That way surely lies madness
:) This /could/ possibly work with lots of cooperation from glibc, but
we'd also need a way to insert and delete bytes in a file... moving 1MB
of attributes/streams just to change a 20 character author attribute
seems a bit silly. In addition, there are little things, such as how
adding a thumbnail image shouldn't change the modification time of the
original picture IMO, but it does if you embed it in the file.

If it should be in userspace, we could take the OS-X approach of using
directories for everything, and the "data" that would be in a hybrid
directory-file is a specially named file under that directory. Programs
for instance are actually directories, with the elf file underneath it.
When you click on the "directory-program" in the gui it runs the
associated elf file rather than opening the directory. I think that
approach is promising, but so few unix programs have any indirection for
file access it'd be hell to teach them all how it works. Of course with
emminent breakage of some sort, maybe now is the time...

- Jim Bruce