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From: bzs@BU-CS.BU.EDU.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: NFS
Message-ID: <8612260419.AA11284@bu-cs.bu.edu>
Date: Thu, 25-Dec-86 23:19:23 EST
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.8612260419.AA11284
Posted: Thu Dec 25 23:19:23 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Dec-86 03:35:32 EST
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I am surprised that a lot of this discussion has centered around
pathname'ing. It always seemed to me to be one of the easier things
to either fake or punt (fake: use UNIX syntax on a UNIX workstation
as NFS does, punt: use a quoted syntax such as the PUP/Leaf's convention
of {HOST_OR_DEVICE}<any_string_the_other_os_can_interpret>.)

Of course, there is always the possibility of coming up with a
standard, universal catalogue syntax, similar in spirit I guess to the
Library of Congress' universal conventions for finding something.
Then we could all either use that syntax or at least support it.

I always thought it was file formats (access methods) that were the
problem (or have we decided that this is too hopeless to even think
about?)

Maybe we need to make a list of issues, here's mine:

        1. File naming.
        2. Path naming.
        3. File formats and access methods (eg. ISAM, stream...)
        4. File access semantics (eg. atomicity of updates,
           error handling, authorization, etc etc etc.)
       (5. Performance?)

        -Barry Shein, Boston University