Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:36:21 -0700 | From | Tim Bird <> | Subject | Re: what's next for the linux kernel? |
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Nikita Danilov wrote: > Marc Perkel writes: > > [...] > > > Right - that's Unix "inside the box" thinking. The idea is to make the > > operating system smarter so that the user doesn't have to deal with > > what's computer friendly - but reather what makes sense to the user. > > From a user's perspective if you have not rights to access a file then > > why should you be allowed to delete it? > > Because in Unix a name is not an attribute of a file. > > Files are objects that you read, write and truncate. They are > represented by inodes. > > Separately from that, there is an indexing structure: directory > tree. Directories map symbolical names to inodes. Obviously, adding a > reference to an index, or removing it from one requires access > permission to the _index_ rather then to the object being referenced. > > That two-level model of files and indexing on top of them is essential > to Unix due to the flexibility and conceptual economy it provides. >
We should print that on post-it notes for grandmothers to read when they are interacting with Unix file systems.
> > > > So - the thread is about the future so I say - time to fix Unix. > > One thing is clear: it's too late to fix Netware. Why should Unix > emulate its lethal defects?
Like NetWare's defect of it being intuitive and easy to administer file system rights? Hey, here's a thought. Maybe the operating system could actually exist to SERVE the human instead of vice versa. -- Tim
============================= Tim Bird Architecture Group Chair, CE Linux Forum Senior Staff Engineer, Sony Electronics =============================
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