From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Anil Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Software/HD ecology Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:16:49 GMT Organization: Prodigy Internet http://www.prodigy.com Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+gnu-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <121220021419243187%anil@null.invalid> References: <041220020952400758%ajanta@no.spam> <56cfb0e3.0212041458.5eab182a@posting.google.com> <061220020416350201%ajanta@no.spam> <071220021155280606%ajanta@no.spam> <5ld6obj8il.fsf@rum.cs.yale.edu> <091220021652087216%ajanta@no.spam> <111220021101520860%ajanta@no.spam> <111220021253524057%ajanta@no.spam> <5l65u0i8zj.fsf@rum.cs.yale.edu> <111220022053507599%ajanta@no.spam> <87u1hjdwta.fsf@hurd.crasseux.com> <121220021324043990%ajanta@no.spam> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1039724565 20488 80.91.224.249 (12 Dec 2002 20:22:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 20:22:45 +0000 (UTC) Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 18MZpN-0005Bt-00 for ; Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:21:01 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 18MZov-0004QN-02 for gnu-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:20:33 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!c03.atl99!rip!news.webusenet.com!prodigy.com!newsmst01.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.com!postmaster.news.prodigy.com!newssrv26.news.prodigy.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps,comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.text.tex,gnu.emacs.help Mail-Copies-To: nobody User-Agent: Thoth/1.5.10 (Carbon/OS X) Original-Lines: 25 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 67.37.190.240 Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@prodigy.net Original-X-Trace: newssrv26.news.prodigy.com 1039727809 ST000 67.37.190.240 (Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:16:49 CST) Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:16:49 CST X-UserInfo1: O@YORZWDARRAB]\YJJID]_\@VR]^@B@MCPWZKB]MPXHDUWYAKVUOPCW[ML\JXUCKVFDYZKBMSFX^OMSAFNTINTDDMVW[X\THOPXZRVOCJTUTPC\_JSBVX\KAOTBAJBVMZTYAKMNLDI_MFDSSOLXINH__FS^\WQGHGI^C@E[A_CF\AQLDQ\BTMPLDFNVUQ_VM Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu comp.sys.mac.apps:348738 gnu.emacs.help:108055 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: List-Unsubscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+gnu-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:4586 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:4586 Since unix routinely keeps a system-wide log on every file, I am wondering if it would be desirable to extend that a little. Let us say a slightly enhanced version of "ls" could tell you not only that a file is owned by root, wheel, etc., but also "belongs" to the System or a user or a package like TeX or Emacs-29.9, and maybe even its type within that package (src, doc, bin...). This requires one or two more file attributes, but then you could check on an individual file with "ls" or list all files belonging to a package with "find". I think unix was conceptualized for small systems and programs, where a user might know every file, where it came from, what it does. Either you wrote it yourself or copied it from a friend. Those times are gone. We have hundreds of thousands of files, know nothing about them, and routinely install packages that bring thousands of files. The culture and the tools have not evolved to deal with this reality and perhaps need to. Shouldn't you be able to know just what a particular file named "dtabttf" doing on your system? Similarly, while I am glad to know a files's relationship to "wheel", it would also be useful to know it belongs to emacs or TeX. Anil Trivedi