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Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!qns3.qns.com!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uchinews!not-for-mail From: cdjeris@midway.uchicago.edu (Christopher Jeris) Subject: Re: Ideal filesystem X-Nntp-Posting-Host: quads.uchicago.edu Message-ID: <DpvCB7.xn@midway.uchicago.edu> Summary: leave directories completely? Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator) Organization: The University of Chicago References: <4hptj4$cf4@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <4jpjb6$77c@park.uvsc.edu> <jlemonDpEw1v.4Ez@netcom.com> <4kfoqd$dgs@coyote.Artisoft.COM> Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 20:16:19 GMT Lines: 33 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:21292 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17248 I trespass in this discussion with the greatest trepidation; please forgive me if I show my ignorance. In particular I have only seen the last thirty or so articles, so I may be returning to a hashed-over topic; if so, I'm sorry. When compiling & installing large software packages, I am often frustrated by the strict tree structure of the filesystem (the surface abstraction, that is) which does not seem to be the best way to express the relationships. Take TeX, for instance: one must choose between organizing fonts or macros by package, so that one can keep such a massive body of code under control, and keeping all the compiled fonts in one place to quickly search (or building a huge directory of links, which seems to me less than desirable because it forces you to synchronize by hand). Kpathsea helps, but only addresses the example of TeX, not the underlying problem. So I have come up with an idea which cannot possibly be new, namely (leaving untouched the question of what a file is, or whether files should have fork- structure or not) to organize files by drawing circles around related groups. Not one tree, but a number of superimposed trees. For every package in the system one would have a circle around source, binary, library and document- ation, while separate systemwide circles are drawn around "public binaries" (perhaps divided into classes), "manuals" and the like. I don't know whether this much meta-data can be maintained efficiently or not, but it seems to me to reflect the true structure of a running computer system much better than a hierarchical file system. I know that this idea requires some revisions in the way other parts of the FS and OS are structured to go along with it; I don't really know enough to lay them out in detail. Has this been discussed before, and if so, where ? Christopher Jeris c-jeris@uchicago.edu University of Chicago Math I am a .sig chain letter. Copy me and put me in ten other people's .sigs.