Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!pacbell!att-ih!att-cb!clyde!watmath!ccplumb
From: ccplumb@watmath.waterloo.edu (Colin Plumb)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: The 1001 Paths
Message-ID: <17904@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Date: 29 Mar 88 21:26:31 GMT
References: <4587@garfield.UUCP> <5489@well.UUCP> <850@nuchat.UUCP> <582@imagine.PAWL.RPI.EDU> <833@sandino.quintus.UUCP>
Reply-To: ccplumb@watmath.waterloo.edu (Colin Plumb)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 43
Confusion: U. of Waterloo, Ontario


pds@quintus.UUCP (Peter Schachte) wrote:
>I have a proposal that is similar to Peter's, but might be a bit easier
>to implement (I'm not sure):
>
>1> mount PATH:		; may not have to do this:  addpath might be able to
>1> addpath c ram:c, df0:c, df1:c createin df0:c
>1> addpath fonts df0:fonts fontdisk:
>1> assign c: path:c	; addpath should do this too, if possible
>1> assign fonts: path:fonts	; ditto
>1> list path:
>c                        Dir rwed Tuesday   06:19:29
>fonts                    Dir rwed Tuesday   06:19:29
>1> list path:c
>< all the files in ram:c, df0:c, and df1:c >
>1> list c:
>< the same >
>
>The idea is that path: is sort of like a directory, but its top-level
>constituents are actual paths, and attempts to Open(), Lock(),
>Examine(), or ExNext() files there will search the path.  Peter, what
>do you think?

I *like* this idea.  I *really* like this idea.  Unless there's some
problem with having DOS devices call each other, this is a fully
backwards-compatible way to get the desired functionality.  Can anyone
see any problems?

There could be some wierdness in that path: could return some names
twice in an ExNext stream (e.g. ram:dir and sys:c/dir), but I can't
envision it being a problem in practice.

It's certainly possible to do things the current path command doesn't
allow, such as removing directories from a path, or rearranging things
somewhat, and it may be possible to implement "don't search if not
mounted" bits.  All is wonderful!

I haven't got the expertise, but, please, some master hacker get on
this right away!
--
	-Colin (watmath!ccplumb)

Zippy says:
FEELINGS are cascading over me!!!