> From: "Helge Hafting" <helge.hafting@daldata.no>
> Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 09:09:26 +0100
> I agree. It is hard to make all unix vendors implement metadata at the
> same time, someone will probably have to be first. This could be linux.
> An implementation where the metadata works but nothing depends on it looks
> like a good idea to me. Utilities will simply loose none-essential
> functionality when accessing files over NFS.
>Utilities like /bin/cp, /bin/tar, etc. will simply lose until someone
>comes up with an API for accessing the metadata, so that those utilities
>can deal with it.
>And it had better by an API which all the Unix vendors
>actually salute to, or it won't be very useful.
Of course. The majority of vendors would have to agree on a standard
before it would be useful. Waiting for that is one option. Using linux
as an experimental case is another option. That could show others how
well it works.
>Also consider other networking protocols besides NFS: AFS, FTP, HTTP,
>etc. Implementing metadata really is a non-trivial exercise. One really
>has to wonder if it's worth it. (For example, for executables, we're
>probably much better off storing the icon in an ELF section....)
Yes, but there are files other than executables for which metadata may be
useful, and there are metadata other than icons. ACL's is an example of
both. ACL's is a special simple case, they don't have to be copied by
FTP and HTTP as they may not be meaningful on another machine even if it
supports them.
Helge Hafting
-- ----------------------------------------------------------- helge.hafting@daldata.no -----------------------------------------------------------
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