Recent discussion on ReiserFS 4 has focused on the advantages and disadvantages of VFS at the kernel level versus the Desktop Environment (DE) level. I believe network locations should be administered by the kernel in a proposed framework called Linux On-Demand Network Access (LODNA), which would achieve seamless network integration regardless (or even in the absence) of DEs, thus increasing usability.
INTRODUCTION: When VFS is implemented at the KDE/GNOME level, we end up with the unfortunate situation where only applications native to that DE can access its VFS files. For example, Mozilla and Firefox (which are GTK-based) can't access network locations set up under KDE (see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=298848). Making an application aware of non-native VFS requires serious amount of work, not only to use the other DE's libraries, but also to embed miniature network clients for every protocol the application supports. The same problem appears in OpenOffice: even though it can use the KDE filepicker, whenever it accesses a file on an SSH network location, a message pops up saying "Protocol 'fish' is supported only partially. Local copy of the file will be created." If Mozilla/Firefox and OpenOffice, which are some of the most popular applications and which have a strong developer base, haven't yet been able to achieve cross-VFS compatibility, you can be certain that other applications are in the same or worse situation. These two examples show why VFS at the DE level is a temporary hack that only hides the need for such functionality in the kernel. This hassle can be completely avoided if the kernel provides standard I/O functions for files in network locations (ssh/webdav/ftp/smb/...) because opening and saving network files would then become completely transparent (i.e. no different from accessing a local file) from the application's point of view. Having this functionality in the kernel would be a huge usability plus: we would solve all these problems in one swish, save application developers a lot of time, and give users the peace of mind to know that they can seamlessly access their network files no matter what application they use. PROPOSAL: Linux On-Demand Network Access (LODNA) Users would be able to mount network locations under directories they own. For example, to create a network location on my home computer pointing to my work computer (via ssh), I would do: mount -t ssh [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~ /home/username/net/remote_computer >From then on, whenever I change directory to /home/username/net/remote_computer, I would be able to see the files in my computer at work as if they were local - no more need for fancy VPN! Similarly, I would also be able to do: mount -t smbfs [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~ /home/username/net/remote_computer mount -t webdav [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~ /home/username/net/remote_computer mount -t ftp [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~ /home/username/net/remote_computer Advantages of LODNA: 1) Network locations would be fixed in the directory tree, rather than float around in a DE abstraction like fish:/ . 2) Remote files would be accessible by all applications, even the shell. 3) LODNA would be independent of Desktop Environments (although if present, they could provide GUIs for things that could otherwise be done from the command line). For example, KDE could use its existing "Add a Network Folder" wizard to help users mount network locations. 4) The user could give or deny other local users access to his remote locations simply by setting the permissions of the mount point (eg. chmod 700 /home/username/net/remote_computer). 5) LODNA would help users who want to access files on their Local Area Network but who don't know the exact name or IP address of the destination computer. Such users could use KDE's Konqueror File Manager (http://www.konqueror.org/) with the Smb4k (http://smb4k.berlios.de/) plugin to discover all the samba servers on their LAN. They could then simply right-click on a server/share and select "Mount", which would take them to the "Add a Network Folder" wizard. 6) LODNA would combine the transparency of NFS with the flexibility of SSH/SMB/WebDav/FTP. 7) LODNA would allow users to build and manage their own VPN client. CONCLUSION: Linux On-Demand Network Access (LODNA) is a proposed kernel-based method for accessing network locations. It would provide transparent, unified network access to all applications and pave the way for highly intuitive GUIs for managing diverse networks. As a built-in, multi-protocol VPN client, LODNA would greatly help employees who work from home, and be a much needed step towards making Linux viable on the desktop. For now, LODNA is only a concept, but the pieces needed to make it happen already exist - they just need to be integrated into the kernel, perhaps as a ReiserFS 4 plugin or by another method. I welcome your suggestions! Cheers, Vlad ____________________________________________________ Sell on Yahoo! Auctions no fees. Bid on great items. http://auctions.yahoo.com/ - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
