Re: silent semantic changes with reiser4

Hubert Chan
2004-08-31T21:07:00Z

>>>>> "Linus" == Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> 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 <hubert@uhoreg.ca> - http://www.uhoreg.ca/
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