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Date:      Tue, 04 Sep 2001 10:12:37 -0400
From:      Charlie Root <root@twwells.com>
To:        freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Should URL's be pervasive.
Message-ID:  <E15eGwP-0005gh-00@twwells.com>
References:  <000003ff0207cf07d1@[192.168.1.4]>

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> What I was trying to say is that there is no reason that I should care
> if the file is local or not.

You do need to know if the file is local or not. You need to know
for security. You need to know because files behave differently on
different machines. You need to know because file structures don't
map from one machine to another. You need to know because
differing protocols allow you do to very different things to
files. You need to know because performance varies dramatically
depending on where the file is located.

> Just as the OS support having multiple storage devices and media and the
> software does not need to know if the file is on a SCSI or IDE disk or if
> it is on DISK 2 partition 3 or DISK 5 partition 1, why should it know if
> it is local or on the machine beside it or on the machine on the other side
> of the world?

The OS support of multiple device types exists because it is
possible and reasonable to abstract each of those device types
into a single "virtual" type. When this isn't possible or
reasonable, it's not only difficult but *wrong* to abstract. There
are way too many things you can do with a local file that you
can't do with a remote file to allow this abstraction.

> Anyway, the point is that a file that I can access should be a file I
> can access via VI or MORE or EMACS or GREP or any other tool without
> having those tools each having FTP and HTTP and SSH support built in to
> them.  The OS should handle it.

No it should not. It's not reasonable for the *operating system*
to know about every damned protocol that someone decides would be
a just peachy way to access a file. Hell, it's not even practical.

The idea of universal abstraction just does not work. If you think
otherwise, I suggest you start coding and stop bothering the rest
of us until you've made it work.

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