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Date:      Sat, 04 Jul 1998 12:31:58 -0700
From:      Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
To:        sthaug@nethelp.no
Cc:        drosih@rpi.edu, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Variant Link implementation, continued 
Message-ID:  <199807041931.MAA00679@antipodes.cdrom.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 04 Jul 1998 10:58:51 %2B0200." <28706.899542731@verdi.nethelp.no> 

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> 
> Aren't you simply reinventing VMS logical names & tables here?
> 

If you were following this discussion last time, you would have the 
background on where we overlap and differ.

Basically, we are faced with a large parameter space, and the need to 
present 'views' of this space varying with context.   Right now, the 
space is fragmented along storage/access boundaries, with sections 
grown on an ad-hoc basis as required for their immediate consumers.

What we are seeing now is a growing number of situations where consumers
need to access parameters from multiple spaces, and are being confronted
with numerous problems stemming from the nature of implementation of
these separate fragments.  For example, the variant link decoder really
wants to be able to key a link off many things, but in the specific
context or 'view' of the process for whom the link translation is being
made.  The link may want to draw on parameters that are traditionally
stored in the process' environment (or that of its parents), or on
parameters stored in the sysctl database, or others again.

This is the same basic problem that led Apollo, Digital and many others
to look at a single, unified parametric store.  To grow, we need to do
this as well.  We have a lot of other peoples' experience to learn 
from, not to mention bicker about.  8)


-- 
\\  Sometimes you're ahead,       \\  Mike Smith
\\  sometimes you're behind.      \\  mike@smith.net.au
\\  The race is long, and in the  \\  msmith@freebsd.org
\\  end it's only with yourself.  \\  msmith@cdrom.com



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