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Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 00:32:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Sean Eric Fagan <sef@Kithrup.COM>
Message-Id: <199709160732.AAA28609@kithrup.com>
To: bugs@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: kern/4550
Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd.
Sender: owner-freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

In article <199709160639.QAA20844.kithrup.freebsd.bugs@godzilla.zeta.org.au> you write:
>>The size is intentionally 0.
>The bug is that "regular" files are irregular.

If csd/bsd files were handled on a per-filesystem basis, I would have made
the pseudofiles that.  Or possibly named pipes.

But they aren't, so I couldn't do that.

At some point, it may be worthwhile adding a new filetype -- "pseudofile".
Not quite a normal file, not quite a pipe or csd or bsd file.

But, for now, they need to remain normal files with a zero length.

Note that any program which assumes that a file doesn't change length while
it's being read (or written ;)) should probably be considered broken.  I
believe ftp is one of these; so is rcp.