Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!munnari.oz.au!basser!steve
From: steve@basser.oz (Stephen Russell)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: switching file systems
Message-ID: <2613@basser.oz>
Date: 7 Oct 89 14:21:28 GMT
References: <24987@louie.udel.EDU> <2453@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> <1989Oct5.181148.8229@utzoo.uucp> <2461@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> <1989Oct6.170630.6287@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: Dept of Comp Sci, Uni of Sydney, Australia
Lines: 23

One argument not yet discussed for supporting both file systems is the
desire to maintain compatibility with existing media. Andy's "backup/
switch FS/restore" scenario is acceptable if _everything_ is on the
HD.  Many users though may have dozens of floppies which will become
obsolete if no backward compatability is provided. Sure, they can be
converted if someone writes a conversion utility, but it's a slow
process.

Incompatible file systems also make exchanging disks with other Minix
users difficult. As we've seen with the 1.1->1.2->1.3->1.4 upgrade
path, the users won't all be running the same system at any one time.
I'd still like to be able to have a friend send me a Minix disk without
having to worry what version she's running. (Yes, I know they could
send me a raw disk, but ...)

As Andy has mentioned, converting the disk format to an internal
"canonical" format may not be very difficult, and may have advantages
for PC & ST compatibility (and other future Minix systems?). IMHO, Andy
should investigate this option further. If it turns out to be a clean
change, then why not do it that way?

Of course, many mistakes have been prolonged beyond their natural life
in the name of "backward compatibility" :-)