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Date: Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:16:48 -0700
From: Tim Kientzle <kientzle@freebsd.org>
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To: Thomas Backman <serenity@exscape.org>,
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Subject: Re: FS utils treates directories as files?
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Thomas Backman wrote:
> FreeBSD 8.0-CURRENT r193521 (Jun 5), bash:
> [root@chaos /usr/ports]# cat /
> �g��=[root@chaos /usr/ports]#
> 
> Mac OS X 10.5, bash:
> serenity@macbookpro ~ $ cat /
> cat: /: Is a directory
> 
> Linux, bash:
> (21:34) serenity@exscape ~ $ cat /
> cat: /: Is a directory
> 
> The same applies to most FS utilities. Is this a feature or not? I find 
> it pretty darn weird.

Back in the old days when file systems were
simpler this was maybe a feature, since you
could fix FS corruption using a hex editor on
the raw directory.  But then again, people
used to kill mammoths with sharpened sticks.

If you have patches, please send them along.
(I would really appreciate a "less" that was
smart enough to generate directory listings.)

Cheers,

Tim