Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!batcomputer!munnari.oz.au!metro!cluster!necisa!boyd From: boyd@necisa.ho.necisa.oz.au (Boyd Roberts) Newsgroups: comp.os.misc Subject: Re: What constitutes a good OS? (re: file systems) Message-ID: <1997@necisa.ho.necisa.oz.au> Date: 18 Jan 91 04:37:09 GMT References: <41679@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <1211@cvbnetPrime.COM> Organization: NEC Information Systems Australia Pty. Ltd. Lines: 24 In article kenw@skyler.calarc.ARC.AB.CA (Ken Wallewein) writes: > > Some want a stream of bytes; some want a fully structured data file. >I want both. I want to be able to choose. > I've always thought that the I/O system should be re-written so that everything is a stream. That way you could get arbitrary functionality by pushing a line discipline (or stack of them) onto _any_ file. Although, the semantics of a tty with a record I/O line discipline on it may be a bit interesting. Sticking stuff in the file-system like /proc and Plan 9 is a really neat idea. If all those files were streams, the possibilities are endless. Plan 9 also has an append file type. All writes go at the end of the file. I don't know whether this implies exclusive access, but if it does, writing a mail deliverer would be trivial & there are all sorts of other applications for such a file-type. Boyd Roberts boyd@necisa.ho.necisa.oz.au ``When the going gets wierd, the weird turn pro...''