Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!atha!aupair.cs.athabascau.ca!lyndon
From: lyndon@cs.athabascau.ca (Lyndon Nerenberg)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: file attributes
Message-ID: <lyndon.677529401@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca>
Date: 21 Jun 91 18:36:41 GMT
References: <1743@sranha.sra.co.jp> <DPASSAGE.91Jun20001100@soda.berkeley.edu> <1752@sranha.sra.co.jp>
Organization: Athabasca University
Lines: 21

erik@srava.sra.co.jp (Erik M. van der Poel) writes:

>If you put the metadata for several files in one file called .desktop
>or whatever, the program that reads this data will be more complex. 
>Please remember the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, <censored>).

You're trying to tell me that changing the semantics of the filesystem,
and implementing new system calls to deal with that is SIMPLER than
writing a couple of C callable library routines? Yow!

>If you have a file called .desktop or whatever that contains the
>metadata, where do you put the metametadata for this metadata .desktop
>file? It would be cleaner to hide the metadata from open().

What sort of metadata would be required for .desktop?

-- 
    Lyndon Nerenberg  VE6BBM / Computing Services / Athabasca University
           atha!cs.athabascau.ca!lyndon || lyndon@cs.athabascau.ca
                    Packet: ve6bbm@ve6mc.ab.can.noam
        As a math atheist, I should be excused from this.   --Calvin