Re: [9fans] Re: everything is a directory

[Uriel <uriel99@gmail.com>]

>   If that's the only need that can justify extended file attributes my
> personal reaction would be to quote Al Viro (who, I believe, was
> paraphrasing Ken, but I'm not certain): "Out-of-band == should be on a
> separate channel..."

I would love to find the original quote from ken (the one from Al is
quite good though). I personally like to put it this way:

"Metadata is just data with a stupid interface."

>   To me extended attributes are no better than ioctls and I hope we
> all share a certain deep and profound feeling towards them.

Very true.

>   One last observation. I would argue that the very same reason that
> makes symlinks semi-interisting on UNIX-like systems makes extended
> attributes pop-up in the same context as well: it is difficult to
> manipulate your personal file namespace there and create these
> "separate channels" on demand.

Sad thing is that when you try to convince Unix people of the power of
private namespaces, they complain that they seem 'too confusing'...
yea, because symlinks, extended attributes and other such hideous
hacks are so much nicer... and certainly create many more jobs, so
they keep adding layers of crud but wont implement the solution that
has been around for ages... has anyone learned anything from plan9?
I'm starting to doubt it.

Why is it that every new software feature people come up with makes me
think of the "I did it for you all" interview?

uriel