🚀 go-pugleaf

The Lisp Machine did all of this stuff right over a decade ago.

In article <40mb7p$5id@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> jeske@dcl-nxt44.cso.uiuc.edu (David Jeske) writes:

   nnb@haven.ios.com (Nikolai Bezroukov) writes:

   >: 5. File sysem
   >:    -Hierarchy (of course)
   >:    -Multi-gigabyte support

It's about time we simply went to unlimited filesystem support
(limited by available virtual memory or the like).  As a compromise, I
think 48 bits will work for most of us for about another 5 years, but
64 bits or more is really needed for the longer haul.  But the
filesystem switch shouldn't have a limit, only particular instances of
filesystems.

   >:    -Encryption

The more widespread a particular encryption technology is, the more
vulnerable to attack.  This should be part of the driver for a
particular class of filesystem.

   >:    -long file name support

...like unlimited (at least the filesystem switch shouldn't impose a
limit).

   >:    -Suggestions Please (I don't know much abour file systems)

   >I would add:

   >  - File aliases. They are very important and should be implemented directly 
   >    (UNIX-like are OK)

Unix actually has two kinds of aliases: links (which are truly equal
names pointing to the same inode, and can't cross filesystem
boundaries), and symlinks (which are one-way pointers).  There are
some rather subtle issues here, though:

1) When you cd to a directory through a symlink, and cd .. (to get one
level up) what happens?  Since symlinks are one way pointers in Unix
(and due to the implementation of getwd() and the way the current
working directory is stored), you may not wind up where you started.
This is a matter of no small debate in the Unix community.

2) Do you allow aliases (in the form of symlinks) to point to
nonexistent files?  This is permitted under Unix, and is useful, but
is tricky.  For example, stat vs. lstat, and the fact that unlink()
removes the symlink, but open() opens the target of the symlink.

   >  - ZIP-files should be consided as psoudo-directories (with 
   >    limitations) with native support for basic op (view, copy, move,
   >     rename delete).  
   >  - mountable external subsystems (FAT and HPFS)

A filesystem switch would permit a filesystem driver that handled ZIP
files as a mountable filesystem, as David Jeske points out.
-- 
Robert Krawitz <rlk@tiac.net>

Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail lpf@uunet.uu.net
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