Re: ::scr tell me why you're using OSX, you big geek

[Chris Ball <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Dec 06, 2001 at 12:53:35AM +0000, Paul Mison wrote:
> Apple's aliases (in System 7 and later) point to the HFS equivalent of
> an inode; you can move the file around (as long as it sticks to the
> same partition) and the alias always resolves. They're nifty. I like
> 'em.
> 
> In OS X, there are *also* standard Unix style symlinks; they're known
> in the Apple literature as 'brittle' links, as they point at a path,
> not a real file, and the path can break.

That's not even the best part.  The permissions model for all of the
above is entirely broken with regard to removable media.  You can use
the Finder to say that a file is owned by you, and read-only by your
kid, or whatever.

.. what happens when they eject the disk and move it to another
computer?  Well, the new computer isn't going to have the same {u,g}id
map as the first; it would break to have the permissions the same.  So,
it forgets about them.  Got a file on a removable hard drive that you
don't have permissions on?  Go and put it in another machine.  :-)

Next week on how OS X breaks Unix: choosing a microkernel design, and
then putting your graphics subsystem in kernelspace.

- ~C, in need of sleep and ranting.
-- 
$a="printf.net"; Chris Ball | chris@void.$a | www.$a | finger: chris@$a
As to luck, there's the old miners' proverb: Gold is where you find it.