Re: [9fans] everything is a directory

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@xxxxxxxxx> 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?

.

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