Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S268090AbUIFOw1 (ORCPT ); Mon, 6 Sep 2004 10:52:27 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S268088AbUIFOw1 (ORCPT ); Mon, 6 Sep 2004 10:52:27 -0400 Received: from as8-6-1.ens.s.bonet.se ([217.215.92.25]:53713 "EHLO zoo.weinigel.se") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S268084AbUIFOwW (ORCPT ); Mon, 6 Sep 2004 10:52:22 -0400 To: Spam Cc: Pavel Machek , Tonnerre , Christer Weinigel , Linus Torvalds , Horst von Brand , David Masover , Jamie Lokier , Chris Wedgwood , , Christoph Hellwig , Hans Reiser , , , Alexander Lyamin aka FLX , ReiserFS List Subject: Re: silent semantic changes with reiser4 References: <200408311931.i7VJV8kt028102@laptop11.inf.utfsm.cl> <20040905111743.GC26560@thundrix.ch> <1215700165.20040905135749@tnonline.net> <20040905115854.GH26560@thundrix.ch> <1819110960.20040905143012@tnonline.net> <20040906105018.GB28111@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz> <6010544610.20040906143222@tnonline.net> From: Christer Weinigel Organization: Weinigel Ingenjorsbyra AB Date: 06 Sep 2004 16:52:21 +0200 In-Reply-To: <6010544610.20040906143222@tnonline.net> Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1932 Lines: 38 Spam writes: > >> The problem with the userspace library is standardization. What > >> would be needed is a userspace library that has a extensible plugin > >> interface that is standardized. Otherwise we would need lots of > >> different libraries, and I seriously doubt that 1) this will happen > >> and 2) we get all Linux programs to be patched to use it. > > > libvfs from midnight commander (and anything build on the top of it) > > already is very extensible. > > This wasn't my point. My point was about all applications using it. > Most aren't. So why do you think that just because you put an interface into the everyone will automatically start using it and use it without any conflicts (i.e. is foo/icon a windows icon, a gif, png, or jpeg file, what size is it, 16x16, 48x48...). When you add a new shared namespace, userspace must be taught about it anyways. So start with a userspace library, convince people to use it, and when you know what people want, _then_ put it into the kernel to increase performance or security. Don't start with "wouldn't it be nice if" without any thought behind it, it will just mean that we get another useless and misdesigned interface in the kernel that we have to live with for years. Do you know how long it took to get rid of /dev/cua0 and the locking mess associated with it? (Deity! I just checked on my FC2 system, it's still there. I thought it would be dead by now.) /Christer -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se - 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/