Re: reiser4 plugins

Kevin Bowen
2005-07-01T20:29:17Z

> > Could you please explain in plain english? The only part I get out is
> > "propietary API", and I don't see anybody advocating such here.

Proprietary was a poor choice of words on my part.

> I don't understand it much, but I think the point being made is that
...
> So, for instance, if I want to grab all mp3s with Artist "Paul
> Oakenfold" and change the genre to "techno" (can you do that?), I can
> use Beagle's search tool to find all mp3s by Oakenfold, but to change
> the genre, I have to use some separate tool to manipulate id3 tags,

Yes, this is basically what I was getting at, although I was thinking
more in terms of the reiser5/6/whatever set theoretic semantics, which,
from my point of view at least, reiser4 is simply the first step towards
building the enabling infrastructure of. But the fact that reiser4
semantics + trivial shell scripting enables, as illustrated by David,
the rough equivalent of set-theoretic semantics, demonstrates how
reiser4 is in fact a step in this direction.

> > moment the case of system-wide or network-wide shared data,
> I.e., something like 90% of the use of Linux here. OK.

90% of *what* exactly? 90% of what machines deal with, or 90% of what
humans interact with?

> > users needs. In fact, I believe there is currently a JSR in
> > progress to develop a more sophisticated Java packaging model.
>
> Presumably based on ReiserFS 4, which then has to be ported to
> whatever platform you want to run Java on ASAP? Great for you! Wait a
> bit, and you'll get what you want then, even across the board!

No, obviously that's not what I was saying. But the need for these kinds
of domain-specific packaging/metadata formats, each requiring their own
tools to work with, would be alleviated if there were simply a more
powerful filesystem semantic. Clearly forcing reiser on the world is a
non-starter, but try extending your imagination a little bit to a future
in which there's a 'new POSIX' specifying a set-theoretic filesystem
model. So-called 'database-filesystems' ARE coming, whether from
Microsoft, Apple, or us. Who gets there first will determine who gets to
make the rules.

--
kevin@ucsd.edu