[GoLUG] A blast from the past

[Kyle Terrien]

On 10/20/23 23:39, Jonathan Drews wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Here's an article I wrote 6 years ago:
>> https://sysdfree.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/112/
>>
> Thanks Steve:
> 
>   This article was spot on. I think there are a lot of unnecessary idditions
> in computer operating ysystems.
> 
>   One of the best books I have read on UNIX is "UNIX: A History and a
> Memoir" by Brian W Kernighan. He refers to the UNIX view point that
> software should do one or two things well

On a side note, we are steadily inventing Plan 9 again very slowly.  So 
far, Linux has copied filesystem in userspace (FUSE), process ID 
namespacing, mount namespacing, and so on from Plan 9.

One thing that lags behind is the use of tiny virtual filesystems for 
everything.  Plan 9 used mountable filesystems for 
everything--mailspools, ftp servers, etc..  All the HTTP RPC APIs 
(falsely called REST), which are so common in modern software projects, 
are just begging for file system wrappers around them.  I.e. a GET would 
be sent by reading a file, a POST would be sent by updating it, etc.  In 
Plan 9, everything was a file, except much more so than Unix.  Imagine 
how much simpler it would be to utilize the filesystem API instead of 
the hideous application specific HTTP APIs we have now.

Sadly, we seem to have rejected the concept of the filesystem as the 
nexus of information exchange in a computer system.  Android hides the 
filesystem from you.  The iPhone won't let you touch it.  Windows hides 
your home directory behind special folders.  MacOS also hides your home 
directory.  The state of things is very sad, and if there is an argument 
for demonic activity, I think looking at the cancerous state of computer 
software "development" provides some supporting evidence.

I don't think we are going to return to sanity soon, because the powers 
involved are stronger than any of us.  However, when we do, I look 
forward to an elegant coherent system again.  At that point, we will 
happily throw out our books about systemd, dbus, modern web, mongodb, 
RHEL, and plenty of other ugly technologies.

--Kyle Terrien

-- 
[*] Kyle Terrien
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