Re: silent semantic changes with reiser4

Paul Stewart
2004-08-30T17:43:58Z

On 2004.08.27 23:08, Paul Jackson wrote:
> Hans wrote:
> > We create filename/pseudos/backup, and that tells the archiver what
> > to do.....
>
> Instead of exposing the old semantics under a new interface, why not
> expose the new semantics under a new interface.

Here's another take on the same theme. To see attrs on files, one can
either use a newly developed application which can use special new
syscalls/flags on syscalls a Paul Jackson recommends. However from an
old shell or application one can also open the attribute node on
/home/myself/foo.txt by checking out /attr/home/myself/foo.txt/, which
points to the "as directory" node on the filesystem that foo.txt points
to.

The strange part of this idea is that the /attr filesystem wouldn't be
conventionally browsable. An opendir() on any path would return the
attributes, not the subdirectory contents, even if the target was a
conventional directory. File based operations (open(), unlink(), etc)
would operate on the "as directory" node of the dirname() of the file
argument. The /attr filesystem would be completely virtual, honoring
the permissions, crossing filesystems, and inheriting the root
directory of the calling process.

Just a thought from a Linux fs layman -- certainly one of the Reiser
unwashed masses.

--
Paul