Re: Nautilus, metadata and extended attributes

["Gene Z. Ragan" <diskzero mac com>]

On Feb 2, 2004, at 9:02 AM, Ryan Boder wrote:

> Why does the sniffing have to occur when you try to open the 
> directory? I'm
> not taking the time to research how to implement this on Linux right 
> now,
> but conceptually wouldn't it be better for a desktop system to sniff 
> the
> files when they are created or copied over? There is no reason to wait 
> until
> the user opens the directory to sniff all the files.

Exactly.  People are diving into the  minutia of how Nautilus currently 
works.
The current implementation represents compromises made at the time
the application was wrote and the limitations of the system that it 
operated in.
No one is claiming that it is ideal behavior for Nautilus to churn and 
sniff every
file at each directory load.  At the time, this was the behavior that 
was decided
upon as a compromise.

> I would like to see file types managed by the system in some way so 
> that
> files are sniffed and the file type stored as meta data at a time when 
> the
> user is not waiting for nautilus to do it's thing.

I believe this is where energy should be directed.  The should be a 
holistic
and comprehensive method of typing files.  You could look at the BeOS
and its mime typing server as one possible successful way to perform 
such
tasks.  Once again, when Nautilus was created, the underlying system was
immature and there are still no ideal means of file typing.  If you 
look at the
Nautilus code you will see that it is full of compromises taken to 
bring the user
the best trade-off between functionality and performance.  The level to 
which
this is successful is a point of contention by many.

> If file types are managed this way, sniffing is fast enough for 
> nautilus and
> even the command line. Then we get to have the best design (file types
> stored as meta data not hacked into file names) and still have the 
> speed of
> file extensions.

The current fixation on Nautilus directory load speed and the role of 
file extensions
as a typing mechanism is belaboring the pointless.  We all know that 
the current scheme
is flawed on several levels.  Gnome needs system level support for 
metadata and file typing.
Nautilus should have no role in performing file typing operations.

Thanks for some good points Ryan.

Gene