Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!chinacat!sequoia!rpp386!jfh
From: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F Haugh II)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: file attributes
Message-ID: <19406@rpp386.cactus.org>
Date: 26 Jun 91 13:15:34 GMT
References: <1792@sranha.sra.co.jp>
Reply-To: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F Haugh II)
Organization: Cheeseburger in Paradise, Le Select, St Barts., FWI
Lines: 23

In article <1792@sranha.sra.co.jp> erik@srava.sra.co.jp (Erik M. van der Poel) writes:
>If metadata is added to Unix files, we will grep this way:
>
>	grep foo data

What do you propose "grep" do with the infinite number of metadata items
that "data" could have associated with it?

Your answer had better be "nothing" since it cannot be programmed to deal
with all possible permutations of all the possible metadata items that
might come and go.

What you are suggesting is making something that should be application
specific hard wired into the kernel.  Every application can't know what
to do with every kind of file.  Even operating systems, such as VM/CMS
which supports file attributes, don't get it right.  Programs that only
take LRELC=60 text files don't know what to do with an LRECL=80 text
file.  What makes you think UNIX could ever get it right?
-- 
John F. Haugh II        | Distribution to  | UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
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