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From: wayner@svax.cs.cornell.edu (Peter Wayner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: The Prefered Way to Refer to Files...
Keywords: File Manager
Message-ID: <38534@cornell.UUCP>
Date: 12 Mar 90 22:20:46 GMT
Sender: nobody@cornell.UUCP
Reply-To: wayner@cs.cornell.edu (Peter Wayner)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY
Lines: 34

I've been coding up an application which needs to keep a list of files
and their locations on the disk. This list needs to be stable from boot
to boot and even between restores from backup. There are several ways this can
be done:

1) Full Path name
2) file name and DirId

Tech Note #240 something says that path names are not as robust as
directory ids because directory ids are preserved when directories are
moved. On the other hand, it admits that restoring a file from backups
will probably not preserve Directory Id's. 

My questions are;

Are there any other problems with pathnames? 

How can I convert a DirId into a vRef which I can then use
with SFOpen? Or more generally, how can I open a file with 
a name and a DirId?

What about System 7.0? The tech note mentions that file id numbers
will be the best when System 7.0 comes around because they will be
stable even after renaming.


Thanks to every kind hearted and knowledgable soul on the net,

Peter Wayner
(wayner@cs.cornell.edu)

Peter Wayner   Department of Computer Science Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY 14850
EMail:wayner@svax.cs.cornell.edu    Office: 607-255-9202
Home: 119 Ferris Place, Ithaca, NY 14850  Phone: 607-277-0785