Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!toddpw
From: toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Reordering GS/OS directories
Message-ID: <1991Jan29.113245.24252@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 29 Jan 91 11:32:45 GMT
References: <1991Jan28.093438.21992@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <15006@smoke.brl.mil>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 20

gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:

> Our tools have been deliberately crippled!

I disagree. The present situation is REQUIRED because of a limitation in
the current FST design. If FST's could be given the opportunity to 'veto'
low level I/O requests, this wouldn't be a problem.

Since the FST's are assumed to be caching blocks whenever they can (the
ProDOS FST does it to directory blocks a lot), it is a very bad idea to
perform direct writes to blocks that an FST thinks it has a valid cache
copy of.

>There have been other reported actual problems caused by this restriction.

Yes, but they way things are currently set up, removing the restriction would
cause worse problems.

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu