Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site umd5.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!umcp-cs!cvl!umd5!louie
From: louie@umd5.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: Extending the UNIX pathname syntax
Message-ID: <472@umd5.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Apr-85 10:06:49 EST
Article-I.D.: umd5.472
Posted: Mon Apr 22 10:06:49 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Apr-85 03:32:09 EST
References: <10102@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Reply-To: louie@umd5.UUCP (Louis Mamakos)
Organization: U of Md, CSC, College Park, Md
Lines: 23

In article <10102@brl-tgr.ARPA> scc%cl-steve.cam@ucl-cs.arpa (Stephen Crawley) writes:
>In more general terms, it ought to be possible to pass device or socket
>specific parameters in the open() pathname.  When resolving a pathname, the
>kernel knows that the inode corresponding to rmt0 is a special file.  Why not
>simply pass any characters following rmt0/ through to the device driver's open
>routine for interpretation?  The string after the / does not even have to
>conform to the contentional pathname syntax.

In fact, this is already implemented in a version of UNIX for the Sperry
1100 series hardware.  UNIX on the Sperry runs "on top" of the existing
1100 OS.  There is a driver in UNIX that allows users in the UNIX
environment to access regular OS1100 files and elements.  The way that
you do this is
		/u/QUAL*FILE.ELT

where stuff after the /u/ is interpreted as an 1100 file or element name.
There's a hack in namei() to detect the special i-node for /u.

	
-- 
Louis A. Mamakos WA3YMH   University of Maryland, Computer Science Center
 Internet: louie@umd5.arpa
 UUCP: {seismo!umcp-cs, ihnp4!rlgvax}!cvl!umd5!louie