Re: silent semantic changes with reiser4

Giuliano Pochini
2004-08-27T09:18:55Z

On 26-Aug-2004 Linus Torvalds wrote:

> I advocated (long ago) something like this for /dev handling, just because
> I think it would make sense to have
>
> /dev/hda <- special file
> /dev/hda/part1 <- partition 1 (aka /dev/hda1)

This breaks the r4 semantics if I understood it correctly. Because
/partN are not simply associated to the file, they are part of the
file. ie. when I modify /dev/hda I also change /dev/hda/partN and
vice-versa. I don't see any pratical problem, though.

> Still, I really do like the idea of merging the notion of file and
> directory into one notion of "container". I absolutely _detest_ files with
> internal structure that tools have to know about (ie I hate seeing all
> those embedded formats that I can't use "grep" on - MIME being one case).
> I'd much rather see a "group of files" and a "file with a grouping of
> information".

You're actually looking for a database with a legacy fs-like interface :)

--
Giuliano.