Re: semantics of gnome_vfs_get_file_info_from_handle

[Alexander Larsson <alexl redhat com>]

On 16 Feb 2003, Colin Walters wrote:

> > Of the proposed API extensions:
> > 1) gnome_vfs_open_full
> >  Requires added complexity in every module for an optimization which is 
> >  mostly only important for http.
> 
> Well, yeah...but it would be a one-time change.

Its not. Its "the only change you want to do at the moment". Its a 
slippery slope. Good APIs are small.
 
> > 2) gnome_vfs_request_file_info_from_handle
> >  I like this the most (except the name), since its the least complexity 
> >  for methods, and most clearly expresses what this optimization is about.
> 
> Ok, I actually named it:
> gnome_vfs_get_known_file_info_from_handle.  Could you see the patch I
> posted to the list here?
> 
> > 3) New flag to GnomeVFSFileInfoOptions
> >  This is a really nasty hack that exposes this optimization to every user 
> >  and makes some flags only usable for some API calls.
> 
> Yeah.
> 
> > But really, I see API additions as a last resort. I want the API to be 
> > really small and orthogonal, so I still think special casing this for http 
> > is the right thing to do. That would make the http case a lot faster, not 
> > really affect the local file case (you want the mimetype anyway, not the 
> > fstat data), not require new API (and the branching+unstable branch that 
> > goes with it), not require changes to apps to get the advantage of the 
> > optimization, and in general be a less confusing set of APIs.
> 
> How would I special-case this for http?

Can't you just basically return HttpFileHandle->file_info in 
do_get_file_info_from_handle(). Or am I missing something?

-- 
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 Alexander Larsson                                            Red Hat, Inc 
                   alexl redhat com    alla lysator liu se 
He's a time-tossed voodoo filmmaker who knows the secret of the alien 
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