2 ms·
The real problem here is that the unix file system is kinda sorta like a database but not really. So people try to use it like a database and it kinda sorta wo
by lisper 5y ago
The real problem here is that the unix file system is kinda sorta like a database but not really. So people try to use it like a database and it kinda sorta works, but not really.
Someone ought to write a clean-sheet OS with an embedded copy of SQLite built in to the kernel. That would kick some serious tushy.
- xxpor 5y agoThat didn't go very well for MS back in the mid 2000s
- lisper 5y agoHuh? What are you referring to?
- croes 5y agoProbably WinFS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinFS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinFS
- lisper 5y agoOK, yeah, that's not quite the same as what I'm suggesting. WinFS was intended to be used at the application level. I'm talking about using SQLite (or something like that) to store filesystem metadata, more like the resource fork in the original MacOS, except that the resource fork was per-file and what I'm suggesting here would use the embedded DB to store directories (in addition to per-file metadata). The schemas would be part of the OS design. Applications would not be able to modify them or add new ones.
- lmm 5y agoYou can deploy your application as a unikernel and if you don't need a filesystem then you don't have to include one. I really think that's the future.
- smallstepforman 5y agoBeOS has the Be File System, a light database on top of a filesystem, and you can query to your hearts content. https://web.archive.org/web/20170213221835/http://www.nobius.org/~dbg/practical-file-system-design.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170213221835/http://www.nobius...