Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!CORY.BERKELEY.EDU!dillon
From: dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Idea for another DOS device
Message-ID: <8801261908.AA07776@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 26 Jan 88 19:08:54 GMT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 28


	How about a file cache w/ symbolic link capability?  That is, a DOS
device that looks like a RAM: disk.  You can do all the things a RAM: disk
can do.  Additionaly, you can soft-link other devices symbolically.  E.G.
you can soft-link C: DF0:C DF1:C DF2:C DF3:C all as CAS:C, so when you get
a directory of CAS:C, you get a combined directory of everything.  This 
allows you to PATH ADD CAS:C and have it automagically search all mounted
drives.  This would also be useful for combining, for instance, various
remote font directories on other disks into CAS:FONTS, say.

	Furthermore, unlike the CLI PATH, CAS: is symbolically linked so if
a specific volume is not mounted it is ignored (NO requestor).

	Then the cache ability:  Whenever a file in CAS: is openned that 
refers through one of the symbolic links, download the entire file into CAS:
(remember it is a RAM disk also) with a timeout... the file is automatically
removed after X minutes of non-use.  The volume *is* checked on an open
which goes to a cached file, and the file is reloaded if the original file
has a later timestamp.  Note that the *feature* here is the timeout-delete
capability.

	I don't have time to work on such a project (right now I'm working
on some networking stuff), but would love to see such a device.  FACC is
nice and all that, but sometimes gets rid of things I don't want gotten
rid of.  A prime skeleton for such a device would be the example ram disk
I posted a couple months back.

					-Matt