xml-dev - Re: Security/Privacy & Storage

[Jack Rusher <jar@integratus.com>]

Matt Sergeant wrote:
> 
> USENET is a write-only database, no updates. No concurrency to worry
> about.

  That's funny, I thought articles expired.  Removal == write, doesn't
it?  Seriously, how many web sites are there?  How many of them store
the files that represent the pages in a filesystem?  To use the UNIX
parlance, the kernel namei() call is just a key/value lookup and a file
system block is just a database BLOB in disguise.

  There are different levels of capability built into different
filesystems (just like any other database).  If you want versioning,
look at Berkeley LFS or Elephant for good examples of how this can be
accomplished through a VFS layer.

  I would like to see an XML-aware database that allows filesystem
semantics.  Arguing over whether to call this a database or a filesystem
is like arguing over whether a song is in C major or A minor; they are
actually two names for the same thing.

-- 
Jack Rusher, Senior Engineer | mailto:jar@integratus.com
Integratus, Inc.             | http://www.integratus.com