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From: sean@ukma.UUCP (Sean Casey)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: more on file \"attributes\"
Message-ID: <2016@ukma.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Aug-85 21:18:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: ukma.2016
Posted: Sun Aug  4 21:18:07 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Aug-85 08:21:49 EDT
References: <3398@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: sean@ukma.UUCP (Sean Casey)
Organization: The White Tower @ The Univ. of KY
Lines: 21

In article <3398@decwrl.UUCP> jcampbell@mrfort.DEC (Jon Campbell) writes:
>What many users have suggested is that I put a "file header" at the
>beginning of each file. This seems like a reasonable approach, except
>that existing FORTRANs do not put such cruft at the beginning of files
>now. So we have a skew problem. What I was suggesting, though it might
>have not been clear, is an "invisible" file header, one which you look
>at in a slightly different way than the real data (the bytes in the file).

Why not just rewrite part of the fortran I/O library, instead of
rewriting the whole file system, the backup programs, etc.?  Why would
there be problems with that?  Sounds to me like it would be easier, and
save a lot of bucks in man-hours and bug fixing.  Not only that, but if
you did implement your "invisible" file header, you'd have rewrite part
of the I/O library anyway.  Geez, why go to all that trouble?


-- 

-  Sean Casey				UUCP:	sean@ukma.UUCP   or
-  Department of Mathematics			{cbosgd,anlams,hasmed}!ukma!sean
-  University of Kentucky		ARPA:	ukma!sean@ANL-MCS.ARPA