Re: gmc/libvfs suggestion for removable media

["James M. Cape" <jcape jcinteractive com>]

Gleef wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, Daniel Burrows wrote:
> > On Tue, Feb 23, 1999 at 06:56:39PM +0100, Matthias Warkus was heard to say:
> > >
> > > ACK. You're completely right.
> > > Anyway, who wants to use Unix should learn what buffered I/O is and
> > > that stuff needs to be mounted and umounted.
> > >
> > > mawa
> >
> > What is the purpose of the Gnome project?  Am I misunderstanding something?
> 
> The purpose of the GNOME Project is to write an excellent desktop
> environment for the X Window System based entirely on Free Software.  The
> part I think you might be misunderstanding is the "for the X Window
> System" part.
> 
> The X Window System is designed with a clear division of labor imlicit in
> the system.  You have the system stuff, on top of that you run X11, on top
> of that you run a window manager, and on top of that you run any
> applications or special programs.  Each layer has their own job to do, and
> is discouraged from stepping on the toes of the other layers.
> 
> GNOME falls in the category of "special programs", that is to say it
> assumes that underneath GNOME you are running a window manager, an X
> server, and a bunch of system stuff, and that all of them are doing their
> jobs.  This is why GNOME doesn't handle window decorations (the window
> manager's job), or the placing of graphics in video memory (the X Server's
> job), or the mounting and unmounting of disks (the system's job).  That
> isn't to say that GNOME can't help make these tasks easier, but it
> shouldn't actually do them.
> 
> If GNOME were to be ported to a non X Window system, say MacOS X or BeOS,
> the underlying system behavior would be determined by what is standard on
> that system, rather than what is standard on a Unix-style system.
> 
> I hope I've cleared things up a bit for you (and maybe some lurkers :-).
> -Gleef

Which isn't to say that some applet or whathaveyou can't provide a
UI-based means of mounting/unmounting disks or editing /etc/fstab (or
whatever), because those are simply UI frontends for
accomplishing/configuring a system-level task. Now, it is *not* up to
the application to actually mount the disks or parse /etc/fstab and
apply it to the system upon startup. Neither is it the job of the
application to provide an automounting service. Those tasks are strictly
within the bounds of the system.

    Jim Cape
    http://www.jcinteractive.com

    "All animals are equal, some animals
     are more equal than others."
         -- George Orwell, Animal Farm