Re: silent semantic changes with reiser4

[Paul Stewart]

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


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