From: "Francisco J Ballesteros" <nemo@lsub.org>
To: "Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs" <9fans@cse.psu.edu>
Subject: Re: [9fans] everything is a directory
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:39:54 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <8ccc8ba40708160539i1655d999qf8905693f13f266d@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <1187223167.452937.319060@l22g2000prc.googlegroups.com>
In the first edition of Plan B we had "boxes". They are generic containers that
behave either as files or as directories depending on what op. you
use. In general,
a box is a typed container that has inner boxes. After having then
working, the lack
of applications made us drop the idea and switch back to files. A
brief description is
at "The Box, a replacement for files" paper in lsub.org. Also, I think
I still have the source
of that plan b, with a prefix mount table included and a box library,
but would have to
dig in the worm to re-locate it.
On 8/16/07, jsnx <jason.dusek@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it seems
> like a good fit. What better forum for deep thought on the meaning of
> files and directories than the Plan 9 news group?
>
> There would be great utility in merging files and directories into a
> composite content/container object that respond 'read' and 'write' for
> file ops and 'list', 'add', 'delete' for directory ops. For example, a
> disk drive could respond to 'read' with a bunch of stuff on the disk,
> and respond to 'list' with a listing of it's hardware settings, which
> could be set with a 'write'. Merged file/directories also make a lot
> of sense when you think about languages with hierarchical modules --
> instead of having naming conventions to find a sub-module, you just
> look it up and read it. Similarly, hierarchical documents map straight
> on to the mixed file/folder -- you put the intro in the head and its
> components under the head.
>
> I'm sure this idea has come up in the past; many of my ideas are like
> that. The 'everything is a file' model is proverbial, but it was not
> so once upon a time. I'm sure the 'everything is a directory' model
> had its proponents in days gone by, just as functional languages did
> (and will again!). In fact, 'everything is a directory' is the man
> behind the curtain in LDAP.
>
> In the considered opinion of the list, is "everything is a directory"
> a big mess, a resource wasting fantasy, an idea whose time has come?
>
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2007-08-16 12:39 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 107+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2007-08-16 9:30 jsnx
2007-08-16 10:42 ` maht
2007-08-16 11:47 ` Charles Forsyth
2007-08-17 8:41 ` [9fans] " jsnx
2007-08-16 12:39 ` Francisco J Ballesteros [this message]
2007-08-16 14:01 ` [9fans] " David Leimbach
2007-08-16 14:39 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-16 15:58 ` maht
2007-08-16 17:45 ` David Leimbach
2007-08-16 19:01 ` ron minnich
2007-08-16 19:37 ` Robert Sherwood
2007-08-16 20:49 ` David Leimbach
2007-08-17 8:42 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-17 13:00 ` ron minnich
2007-08-17 13:24 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-17 13:35 ` plan9
2007-08-17 14:22 ` ron minnich
2007-08-17 14:29 ` David Leimbach
2007-08-17 14:29 ` Richard Miller
2007-08-17 14:49 ` ron minnich
2007-08-17 17:49 ` David Leimbach
2007-08-17 18:09 ` Charles Forsyth
2007-08-20 8:48 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-20 8:48 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-20 14:29 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-20 14:53 ` Francisco J Ballesteros
2007-08-20 15:02 ` Rob Pike
2007-08-21 8:48 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-21 8:47 ` [9fans] " jsnx
2007-08-21 8:47 ` jsnx
2007-08-23 8:50 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-24 8:39 ` jsnx
2007-08-29 9:06 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-30 8:35 ` jsnx
2007-08-30 13:18 ` David Leimbach
2007-08-31 9:07 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-31 18:04 ` Joel C. Salomon
2007-09-01 12:07 ` Uriel
2007-09-02 1:11 ` Joel C. Salomon
2007-09-02 2:14 ` erik quanstrom
2007-09-02 5:01 ` Anthony Martin
2007-09-02 13:00 ` Uriel
2007-09-02 16:53 ` Joel C. Salomon
2007-09-03 7:50 ` Uriel
2007-09-03 16:40 ` Joel C. Salomon
2007-09-03 19:51 ` Uriel
2007-09-09 21:41 ` roger peppe
2007-09-03 9:27 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-09-03 11:03 ` Charles Forsyth
2007-08-17 14:27 ` [9fans] " David Leimbach
2007-08-17 4:11 ` Skip Tavakkolian
2007-08-17 8:42 ` [9fans] " jsnx
2007-08-17 13:25 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-17 0:39 ` [9fans] " Uriel
2007-08-17 8:59 ` matt
2007-08-17 12:05 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-20 8:47 ` [9fans] " jsnx
2007-08-20 9:00 ` Francisco J Ballesteros
2007-08-20 11:34 ` Tom Lieber
2007-08-20 11:40 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-20 13:33 ` Uriel
2007-08-20 17:36 ` Paweł Lasek
2007-08-20 18:26 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-20 18:48 ` Paweł Lasek
2007-08-20 19:52 ` Dave Eckhardt
2007-08-20 21:28 ` Robert William Fuller
2007-08-20 21:40 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-20 22:05 ` Robert William Fuller
2007-08-21 11:29 ` Brantley Coile
2007-08-21 17:54 ` Robert Raschke
2007-08-22 7:38 ` andrey mirtchovski
2007-08-20 22:12 ` David Leimbach
2007-08-21 0:37 ` dave.l
2007-08-21 1:14 ` David Leimbach
2007-08-21 1:25 ` Uriel
2007-08-21 1:44 ` David Leimbach
2007-08-21 8:48 ` app
2007-08-22 8:47 ` jsnx
2007-08-22 9:54 ` app
2007-08-22 11:22 ` roger peppe
2007-08-22 11:30 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-23 8:49 ` jsnx
2007-08-21 1:26 ` Roman Shaposhnick
2007-08-21 1:28 ` Uriel
2007-08-22 8:47 ` jsnx
2007-08-20 21:57 ` Uriel
2007-08-20 22:08 ` Robert William Fuller
2007-08-21 8:48 ` jsnx
2007-08-20 11:17 ` erik quanstrom
2007-08-20 17:40 ` Roman Shaposhnick
2007-08-20 17:52 ` Uriel
2007-08-23 8:49 ` jsnx
2007-08-23 10:35 ` Steve Simon
2007-08-24 8:40 ` jsnx
2007-08-24 8:57 ` Martin Neubauer
2007-08-24 10:55 ` David Leimbach
2007-09-06 4:06 ` Roman Shaposhnik
2007-08-29 9:06 ` jsnx
2007-08-30 1:41 ` Uriel
2007-09-06 5:06 ` Roman Shaposhnik
2007-08-29 9:06 ` jsnx
2007-08-23 15:29 ` Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-21 8:48 ` jsnx
2007-08-21 11:22 ` Uriel
2007-08-21 15:05 ` Skip Tavakkolian
2007-08-20 8:48 ` [9fans] " Douglas A. Gwyn
2007-08-17 8:42 ` [9fans] " jsnx
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