Re: [Summary] Meta-data/filesystem-encapsulation

[Kevin Littlejohn <darius connect com au>]

> Of course it is.  =)
> 
> The problem, though, comes in because you lose portability.  Whatever
> system is chosen should support two methods: the preferred being a
> filesystem modification type, the "safe" being some lesser alternative, be
> it a combination mime.types for "classes" and flatfile/dbm for individual
> attributes or what have you. 
> 
> Regarding changing the filesystem, this should not be a problem.  ext2
> already supports many "attributes" (man chattr), one of which is
> "compressed".  Even though this isn't yet supported, the idea can be used.
> Add an attribute "metadata" or "extended attribute" (oops, is that too

[snip]

So is gnome a linux-specific thing?  Or more correctly, an ext2-linux
specific thing?  Can we put attributes on NFS-mounted files?  On MS drives?
Am I allowed to use the metadata stuff, given I'm on Solaris (half the time,
anyway:)?

My main stance in all of this is to keep it as non-specific to filesystem/
OS/desktop as possible - make it a good system that other people can hook
into easily, and it stands a better chance of being acceptable to the end
user.  Make it rely on things that mamy not be available to some users (like
ext2 filesystems, or the ability to preload libraries across everything),
and you reduce the functionality of gnome for parts of the userbase.

I still think the most important part of this system is not going to be
where do we store the data, or how do we access the data - it's going to
be how do we handle the data being desynchronised - because without
redoing the filesystem (and loosing vast swaths of the userbase), we _are_
going to run into synch problems.  How well the system recovers from those
problems will be, to a large degree, the measure by which users judge the
system.

KevinL