Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ubc-cs!van-bc!mdivax1!hiebert
From: hiebert@mdivax1.uucp (Graeme Hiebert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: System 7.0
Message-ID: <1989Aug24.221123.4188@mdivax1.uucp>
Date: 24 Aug 89 22:11:23 GMT
References: <227700026@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> <483@sunfs3.camex.uucp> <9173@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <13784@shamash.cdc.com> <490@sunfs3.camex.uucp> <8368@hoptoad.uucp> <3214@zeus.unl.edu> <1394@intercon.UUCP> <8381@hoptoad.uucp>
Reply-To: hiebert@mdivax1.uucp (Graeme Hiebert)
Organization: Mobile Data International, Richmond, B.C., Canada
Lines: 47

In article <8381@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes:
> ...
> [a bunch of stuff deleted, most of which is truly valid, such as the
>  complaining about having to overwrite files]
> ...
> (And for anyone who may think that file ids are required for the new
> symbolic link feature, which *is* useful -- think again.  All you need
> to store is what UNIX stores, the full path name.)
> 

(By the way, for what little difference it makes, UNIX stores the relative
path name.)

An advantage of file id's that I can see is that you can move a file to
a different folder and still have no trouble finding it.  For example,
the "Set Paths" DA always knows where to look for the paths you
specify, even if you rename them or move them.  This saves a fair
amount of work when you reorganize your hard drive as much as I do.

Instead of having to overwrite a file, there should be a way to say to
the OS, "OK, I want to change this file but keep a backup, so change
this file's ID and open a new file for me with its current ID."  I
don't know what the ramifications of this are, but it would both solve
the "write over" problem and allow symbolic links which aren't subject
to renaming/moving problems.

I can, however, see your point about incompatibility across file systems.

> ...
> -- 
> Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com
> 
> "Something was badly amiss with the spiritual life of the planet, thought
>  Gibreel Farishta.  Too many demons inside people claiming to believe in
>  God." -- Salman Rushdie, THE SATANIC VERSES

   -g

P.S.	Tomorrow is my last day of both this job and usenet access, so
	I leave this as my last (sob :-( ) posting to the net.  I can say,
	these discussions will be sadly missed.

-- 
Graeme E. Hiebert                 | So many of us seek pleasures to acquire
hiebert@mdivax1.uucp              | happiness, yet so few of us are happy
...!ubc-cs!van-bc!mdivax1!hiebert | with the pleasures we find.
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