Re: [boost] [compond_file_binary] Gauging interest in a possible library submission.

Subject: Re: [boost] [compond_file_binary] Gauging interest in a possible library submission.
From: Andrey Semashev (andrey.semashev_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-12-02 11:37:53

On December 2, 2012 8:01:12 PM Olaf van der Spek <ml_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 5:44 PM, Andrey Semashev
> <andrey.semashev_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> > Does it provide any benefits compared to mounting a loop device and
> > working with it through traditional file system interfaces? It seems
> > odd to have a library duplicating file system operations.
>
> Is it? We don't use loop devices to read/write tar/zip files, do we?

On OS X you do mount packages. You also typically mount various image 
files. Library-level access to conventional archive files is a legacy 
from older systems (read Windows and DOS) that did not support flexible 
mounting.

> Can you even mount loop devices as unprivileged user?

Ok, you have a point about unprivileged mounting.

> Does Windows even have loop devices?

According to Wikipedia, it does now. But then again, Windows is not the 
whole world.