On Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 02:35:18PM -0400, Paul Abrahams wrote:
Here's a message I sent to the editor of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. Any comments?
Paul
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The description of the root filesystem in the version 2.2 final Filesystem Hierarchy Standard doesn't seem to account for the very common and useful practice of providing mount points for devices in the root directory. The most common ones are /cdrom and /floppy. These are, of course, empty directories until something is mounted to them, but they normally exist in the root directory even when nothing is mounted to them. Another example is /net, used by Linux automounting software as an access point for remote filesystems.
An oddity in the description is that the Rationale contains a very strong statement that software must never create or require special files or subdirectories in the root directory, but that statement is not repeated outside of the Rationale. Presumably nothing in the Rationale is normative; its only purpose is to provide motivation for the rest of the text.
Here's a rough cut at some text you might want to include:
The root directory may also contain directories and subdirectories intended to be used for mount points of devices, e.g., /cdrom and /floppy. These directories and subdirectories must not contain ordinary files. Aside from these, the root directory must not contain any files or directories not enumerated here.
Paul Abrahams
Mmm..isn't there this mysterious /media directory/mount-point that popped it's head up in 7(.1 .2 ??) .. I believe that is mount for "removable" media .. -- Regards Cliff