From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.0 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3EC05C433DF for ; Wed, 12 Aug 2020 14:40:16 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09BA420756 for ; Wed, 12 Aug 2020 14:40:16 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1726678AbgHLOkO (ORCPT ); Wed, 12 Aug 2020 10:40:14 -0400 Received: from lindbergh.monkeyblade.net ([23.128.96.19]:48146 "EHLO lindbergh.monkeyblade.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1726492AbgHLOkN (ORCPT ); Wed, 12 Aug 2020 10:40:13 -0400 Received: from ZenIV.linux.org.uk (zeniv.linux.org.uk [IPv6:2002:c35c:fd02::1]) by lindbergh.monkeyblade.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 2D5F3C061383; Wed, 12 Aug 2020 07:40:13 -0700 (PDT) Received: from viro by ZenIV.linux.org.uk with local (Exim 4.92.3 #3 (Red Hat Linux)) id 1k5rv3-00E7t1-1a; Wed, 12 Aug 2020 14:39:57 +0000 Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2020 15:39:57 +0100 From: Al Viro To: Miklos Szeredi Cc: Linus Torvalds , Jann Horn , Casey Schaufler , Andy Lutomirski , linux-fsdevel , David Howells , Karel Zak , Jeff Layton , Miklos Szeredi , Nicolas Dichtel , Christian Brauner , Lennart Poettering , Linux API , Ian Kent , LSM , Linux Kernel Mailing List Subject: Re: file metadata via fs API (was: [GIT PULL] Filesystem Information) Message-ID: <20200812143957.GQ1236603@ZenIV.linux.org.uk> References: <5C8E0FA8-274E-4B56-9B5A-88E768D01F3A@amacapital.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, Aug 12, 2020 at 09:23:23AM +0200, Miklos Szeredi wrote: > Anyway, starting with just introducing the alt namespace without > unification seems to be a good first step. If that turns out to be > workable, we can revisit unification later. Start with coming up with answers to the questions on semantics upthread. To spare you the joy of digging through the branches of that thread, how's that for starters? "Can those suckers be passed to ...at() as starting points? Can they be bound in namespace? Can something be bound *on* them? What do they have for inodes and what maintains their inumbers (and st_dev, while we are at it)? Can _they_ have secondaries like that (sensu Swift)? Is that a flat space, or can they be directories?"