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The "everything is a file" in UNIX is bit of a lie. And plan 9 went on fixing that. UNIX has many files that aren't actually files but special devices that you
by Cloudef 6y ago
The "everything is a file" in UNIX is bit of a lie. And plan 9 went on fixing that. UNIX has many files that aren't actually files but special devices that you access with non-standard interface (mainly ioctl). In plan 9 everything truly is a file and all communication happens with read/write system calls.
- rakoo 6y agoI might be uninformed but it seems to be "everything is a file" was more or less true when UNIX was created, and then it evolved outside of the academic garden, especially Linux which was a hobbyist project and never strove to have a cleanly designed, rigorous architecture. Plan 9 does fix this, and I wish so much it managed to be a dominant OS. So many things seem correct. Maybe it's exactly because it isn't used for real use cases that it can maintain its appearance of good design