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From: gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards,net.database
Subject: Re: A variant of the streams idea
Message-ID: <964@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 21-Dec-85 18:20:43 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.964
Posted: Sat Dec 21 18:20:43 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Jan-86 06:25:28 EST
References: <2416@ukma.UUCP> <372@ncr-sd.UUCP>
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab
Lines: 13

> I would like to see the whole stream mechanism generalized so that I
> could push a stream module in front of \any/ file, not just a tty file.

Several of us have discussed this idea before.
It comes down to the fact that there really are
significant differences between random-access
(disk) files and sequential (communication)
files.  To force random files into the stream
model would require sacrificing some of their
desirable properties (seekability, sharability,
speed), alas.

Nice try, though.