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Date:      Wed, 1 Mar 2006 10:32:37 -0800
From:      Mark Day <mday@apple.com>
To:        Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.org>
Cc:        freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Add a file flag for "hidden" files?
Message-ID:  <5D13DC0E-0ABB-4A3C-B760-18BC2E978DB0@apple.com>
In-Reply-To: <20060301182001.W40707@fledge.watson.org>
References:  <DBD69E00-A9CB-45BA-8398-2A662D18D781@apple.com> <20060301182001.W40707@fledge.watson.org>

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On Mar 1, 2006, at 10:22 AM, Robert Watson wrote:

> I don't see any problem with this.  The only flag I know of in  
> FreeBSD that might not appear in Mac OS X is the system snapshot  
> flag, which was added to UFS after Apple forked from the FreeBSD  
> source.

Mac OS X is missing both the NOUNLINK and the SNAPSHOT flags.

Since Mac OS X doesn't implement the functionality corresponding to  
either bit, my plan was to leave those #defines commented out in the  
Mac OS X headers, with a comment indicating we don't implement that  
functionality.  I'm a little concerned that an app might see those  
bits defined, try to use the functionality, and be surprised when it  
doesn't work as expected.

> We have talked about adding a flag to hint the presence of extended  
> ACL data also, so that applications know if they should rely solely  
> on stat() for protection information, or also call acl_get_ 
> {fd,file,link}() to receive extended ACL data for ls(1) output.  Is  
> your plan to mask hidden files solely in user space, or to look at  
> masking it in kernel also?

I knew I'd forgotten to mention something. The plan is that this bit  
is purely a hint to user space.  It's up to the application  
(especially a GUI) to decide whether to show a hidden file to the  
user or not.

-Mark



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