Linux-kernel mailing list archive 1999-25,: Re: (reiserfs) Re: File systems are semantically impoverished compared to database and keyword systems: it is time to change!

# Re: (reiserfs) Re: File systems are semantically impoverished compared to database and keyword systems: it is time to change!

Albert D. Cahalan (acahalan@cs.uml.edu)
Thu, 24 Jun 1999 19:15:57 -0400 (EDT)

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Acy James Stapp writes:

> "Reparse points" or filters could be even more easily (and perhaps
> more fruitfully) implemented as part of the standard library.

It is amazing how the sub-file issues resemble sub-process issues.
Threads could be more easily implemented as part of libc, but
performance and correctness would suffer.

> This introduces another directory access on every open (to
> see if a directory has an .albod entry and hence should be treated
> as a file) even for non-albod aware apps. This might be a noticeable
> performance hit for certain apps.

No kidding. You won't use this. I won't use this. Nobody will use this.
I think you are proposing "solutions" to brush away the problem.

> Other advantages of a user-space implementation are fewer
> security concerns and portability to other OSs.

Fewer security concerns? When a setuid app runs a user-space filter...
(and it must, since the system won't work otherwise)

> However, the above directory structure wouldn't allow a file to
> impersonate a directory.

There goes the correctness.

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- Next message: Tim Fletcher: "Silent smbfs hardlock"
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- Reply: Raul Miller: "Re: (reiserfs) Re: File systems are semantically impoverished compared to database and keyword systems: it is time to change!"
- Reply: Hans Reiser: "(reiserfs) Re: File systems are semantically impoverished compared to database and keyword systems: it is time to change!"