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From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: //host vs "mount point"
Message-ID: <9559@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 29-Nov-87 08:59:32 EST
Article-I.D.: mimsy.9559
Posted: Sun Nov 29 08:59:32 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 1-Dec-87 06:05:30 EST
References: <648@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1668@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <38c15248.4580@hi-csc.UUCP>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 50

Not having to mount remote machines is certainly a convenience;
and given that I have never had several thousand machines all
cross-mounted, I will (for the sake of argument at least) take the
word of the Apollo folks that it is virtually a necessity.  Let us
assume that this is so.  Yet I still claim that `//host' is a bad
syntax.  Why?  Because it adds yet another special case (doubling
the number of special cases!), embedding still more semantics in
filename strings themselves (as opposed to the files reached by
the strings).  I think that this is bad.  If you must use a special
string, consider instead `/n'.  You can still have the kernel
recognise this `by magic', but now it looks like an ordinary
directory.  As a `for instance', if // is to be consistent (or if
/n is to be consistent), one should be able to say

	cd //; cd host

or

	cd /n; cd host

and get the same effect as

	cd //host

or

	cd /n/host

There are several possible implementations for /n (one being
`special magic string', another being file system switches or
virtual file systems).  The telling point, though, is that

	/n/host/somewhere

`looks like' an ordinary file name, and that if for some reason
everyone decided that the name `/n' is wrong and that it should
be `/vogon' instead, well, no problem:

	/vogon/host/somewhere

It still looks just like an ordinary file name.  There is (from an
external viewpoint, at any rate) no magic attached to a special
part of that file name.  (Oh all right, not as *much* magic.)

Whether you wish to implement `ls /n' is another matter entirely,
but this seems somehow more reasonable if your network switch point
is `just another directory'.
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7690)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris