Re: [PATCH] reiserfs: fix handling of device names with /'s in them

[Hans Reiser <reiser@namesys.com>]

Jeff Mahoney wrote:

> Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
>
> >On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 20:02:27 PDT, Hans Reiser said:
>
> >>Create a mountpoint which knows how to resolve a/b without using a
> >>"directory".
>
> >And said mountpoint gets past the '/' interpretation in the VFS, how,
> exactly?
>
> >fs/namei.c, do_path_lookup() does magic on a '/' on about the 3rd line.
> >So you're going to get handed 'a'.
>
>
> That's where he started talking about how BSD gets namei() right by
> allowing each file system to deal with it how it chooses.
>
> Personally, I think it's insane. On occasion, I've started to port
> ReiserFS to BSD-like systems, 

Porting V3 to anything is insane.  Why would you even consider it?

> and I get so fed up with how you have to
> reinvent the wheel for everything. There's something to be said for
> replaceable-anything semantics, but personally I like the Linux model
> and having an agreed-upon framework to work with.

Linux vs. BSD's namei is the difference between thinking you know how to
do things and everyone should be forced into your mold, and thinking
that someone will always be more clever, at the very least with regards
to some special case you could never have anticipated.

>
> I also think it's insane to come up with a reisermetafs to export procfs
> information when a simple s#/#!# _on a single directory name_ will do
> the job.

Or just create a parent directory and skip the metafs.  Look, I don't
much care about the other details of coding it, but if you are changing
!'s to /'s, as an architect my intuition says something is wrong and
being papered over.  /'s are just fine, and what the block devices do is
elegant.   You are doing a quick hack.

>
> -Jeff
>
> --
> Jeff Mahoney
> SUSE Labs