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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!newshost.telstra.net!plaster.csdc.toshiba.com.au!inferno.mpx.com.au!goliath.apana.org.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!news.kei.com!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!news.cais.net!news.cais.com!news From: Eric Vought <adfh@ids2.idsonline.com> Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Ideal filesystem Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 15:41:27 -0500 Organization: Capital Area Internet Service info@cais.com 703-448-4470 Lines: 49 Message-ID: <31531077.2BB2656B@ids2.idsonline.com> References: <4hptj4$cf4@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <3140C968.20699696@netcom.com> <4ia7im$i4m@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu> <314A470D.CCE53F0@netcom.com> <4ijs72$cim@josie.abo.fi> <314E0DB7.624ACB10@netcom.com> <4irqph$n9d@josie.abo.fi> <4is431$269g@ausnews.austin.ibm.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ip198.idsonline.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.0 (X11; I; Linux 1.2.13 i486) Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:19856 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:15852 > say, tracking changes to configuration files without having to keep a > separate file synced up. > > Basically, if you ever think, "Gee. I'd like to save some information > about this file without modifying this file's contents. I'd also like > to have that information readily available from an easily accessed place. > Also, I'd like the link between this file and the associated information > to kept up automatically," then you've found a probable use for EAs. > > Sure, you can say, "Well, this or that can be accomplished without EAs. > You just do xyz." However, you can also do multitasking under DOS. You > don't need Linux. Of course, Linux makes it easier, much more robust, > faster, etc. So do EAs with file information that's orthogonal to the > file contents. Actually, many of your examples are ones which make me less amenable to the concept of EA's. Maybe this doesn't have to be the case, but what I see is what happens when I stick a MS-DOS formatted floppy in a Macintosh, then in my Linux box. The Macintosh writes desktop information to teh floppy which has much more to do with the operation of the macintosh than with the data contents of the disk. I'm continually deleteing this information as it clutters my floppies. What happens when one file is manipulated by multiple programs? As each program stores its associated data in the EA's, the overhead associated with that file gradually increases. What happens when you remove an application from the system? Does all of its associated EA data disappear, do you have to search the entire disk to find and delete the data, or does it just quietly sit and eat up space? Is there a way to register the EA information in an application associated and/or user associated space, such that this info can be removed easily with the user or the application and such that the actual files do not need to be accessed in order to do so? Additionally, how does one transfer a file and its EA's to another system? Do you lose all of the data that was carefully stored there, or do you carry all of the data with you, including that which is simply not relevant to the other machine (possibly including per-user EA data for users which do not exist and per-application data for applications which do not exist). Access lists are something which I very much support. The current UNIX setup is not versatile enough for many situations. For most of my uses, however, it would be sufficient to allow a "root" owner of a subtree (ie: a user which has many of the permissions usually ascribed to root (like ability to delete sticky files and ability to chown, and override permissions), but only within that directory structure and only within the confines of a group. This however, does not require EA's.