Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S269231AbUIBWDH (ORCPT ); Thu, 2 Sep 2004 18:03:07 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S269127AbUIBWCc (ORCPT ); Thu, 2 Sep 2004 18:02:32 -0400 Received: from parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk ([195.92.249.252]:26788 "EHLO www.linux.org.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S269196AbUIBWA3 (ORCPT ); Thu, 2 Sep 2004 18:00:29 -0400 Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 23:00:27 +0100 From: viro@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk To: Frank van Maarseveen Cc: Dave Kleikamp , Alan Cox , Linus Torvalds , Jamie Lokier , Horst von Brand , Adrian Bunk , Hans Reiser , Christoph Hellwig , fsdevel , Linux Kernel Mailing List , Alexander Lyamin aka FLX , ReiserFS List Subject: Re: The argument for fs assistance in handling archives (was: silent semantic changes with reiser4) Message-ID: <20040902220027.GD23987@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk> References: <20040826150202.GE5733@mail.shareable.org> <200408282314.i7SNErYv003270@localhost.localdomain> <20040901200806.GC31934@mail.shareable.org> <1094118362.4847.23.camel@localhost.localdomain> <20040902203854.GA4801@janus> <1094160994.31499.19.camel@shaggy.austin.ibm.com> <20040902214806.GA5272@janus> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040902214806.GA5272@janus> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1121 Lines: 23 On Thu, Sep 02, 2004 at 11:48:06PM +0200, Frank van Maarseveen wrote: > mount is nice for root, clumsy for user. And a rather complicated > way of accessing data the kernel has knowledge about in the first > place. For filesystem images, cd'ing into the file is the most > obvious concept for file-as-a-dir IMHO. The hell it is. a) kernel has *NO* *FUCKING* *KNOWLEDGE* of fs type contained on a device. b) kernel has no way to guess which options to use c) fs _type_ is a fundamental part of mount - device(s) (if any) involved are arguments to be interpreted by that particular fs driver. d) permissions required for that lovely operation (and questions like whether we force nosuid/noexec, etc.) are nightmare to define. Frankly, the longer that thread grows, the more obvious it becomes that file-as-a-dir is a solution in search of problem. Desperate search, at that. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/