Re: [fuse-devel] What's the status of hybrid objects?

[bob <yob...@ho...>]

Goswin von Brederlow <goswin-v-b@...> writes:

> 
> bob <yobbobob@...> writes:
> 
> > What's the current state of play with directories as files, etc.?
> >
> > There was a thread on this a few years back, and certainly a lot of noise
> > on the lkml wrt Rieser4 but it seems to have  been left hanging.
> >
> > Is it possible to create this kind of functionality using FUSE?
> >
> > If not,  is it possible with the VFS?
> >
> > Assuming that it is possible to do, will it be something that only works
> > under Linux, or can the *BSD/Darwin VFS layers accommodate it as well?
> 
> Usualy linux doesn't let you open directories as files:
> 
> % cat src
> cat: src: Is a directory
> 
> Under for example hpux this would give you the filesystems binary
> representation of the directory.
> 
> As this is highly filesystem (and even version) specific the data is
> more than useless imho. If you need to look into the representation of
> a directory then use for example libext2fs.
> 
> Ask yourself: What do you want to achieve by having directories as
> files apart from a funny cat output?
> 
> MfG
>         Goswin
> 

Sorry I should have actually given a few sample links to the previous
discussions I mentioned, to wit:

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.file-systems.fuse.devel/4456
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.file-systems.avfs.user/251
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.file-systems.fuse.devel/4470
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/533106
http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/4/17/150
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/9/9/218

etc. etc.

In short this would enable things such as:

cd /path/to/some/archive.tar.gz/contents/

There is a link on the FUSE wiki which shows some more possibilities 
(http://fuse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Hybrid%20objects)
but it hasn't been updated in over a year.

I'm not sure if FUSE currently allows for any of this, or if it's actively being
used by someone (AVFS for example), but when this first popped up on the
list wrt to avfs, and when the debate over reiser4 cropped-up on the lkml,
I couldn't find any indication to a resolution of the debate surrounding this
functionality (and various other changes that the reiserfs team were asking for)

So I was hoping someone who knows about this stuff, perhaps some of those
who were involved in some of the previous discussions (miklos?), might like to
comment on the state of this.

Specifically:
is it possible now?
will be possible soon?
will it be linux only?
or has been scrapped?

TIA,