Re: [boost] Re: Design for a file system library

From: Jason Stewart (res0054p_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-03-08 09:04:48

At 02:04 PM 3/8/2002 +0200, you wrote:
>From: "bill_kempf" <williamkempf_at_[hidden]>
> > > I'm not sure I follow what you mean here.  How does "top-level
> > root" compare
> > > to "/" in a Posix filesystem?
> >
> > root_directory() just returns a "name" that represents the systems
> > root "directory".  Above you claim that you want this directory
> > to "return" just '/', which indicates to me that '/' is the only
> > entry in the "directory" returned from root_directory().  This makes
> > it a "logical/psuedo/whatever" directory in the same sense that
> > a "root" directory in a DOS like system would be if we follow Beman's
> > suggestion.  I'm not claiming to agree with this, I'm just trying to
> > follow the logic in the posting.
>
>The problem is simply that there is no such thing as a 'root' directory (in
>a portable world.) Under Windows, you can use \\192.168.0.1\sharename and
>access the whole Internet if you like.

I agree with this. Trying to make drives and UNC names appear like 
directories seems fraught with problems. How about the other approach. 
Instead of a single root, you could introduce the concept of volumes and 
each volume has a root. On UNIX there would only be one volume. On Windows 
there would be, i.e., A:, C:, \\somecomputer\share, etc.

Jason