Usenet 1994 January/usenetsourcesnewsgroupsinfomagicjanuary1994.iso/sources/std_unix/volume.21/text0143.txt

Text File | 1990-10-26 | 1.5 KB | 31 lines

Submitted-by: [e-mail] (John F. Haugh II)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Earl H. Kinmonth) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Cazier) writes:
>>Since UNIX can support different filesystems, why wouldn't it be possible
>>to either define another file structure that would allow UNIX to read/write
>>DOS filesystems, or create some device driver that would interface with
>>/dev/DOS to read/write DOS files and directories?
>
>It not only can be done, it has been done.  SCO Xenix, for example,
>allows reading/writing to a DOS partition.  There is also a set of
>tools for doing this on other systems.

I believe what is being referred to is use of the file system switch
to support MS/DOS filesystems without the use of special tools or
emulators.  SCO Xenix has a collection of commands which are
intimately familiar with the format of MS/DOS file systems.  Thus,
to edit a file on a MS/DOS partition, I must first copy the file off
of the partition and into a Xenix file.  Then I can edit it, and so
on.  Using the System V file system switch (or vnodes, or xyznodes
or whatever ...) would allow any utility to operate on any MS/DOS
file on the MS/DOS partition without the need for copying.
--
John F. Haugh II                             UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
Ma Bell: [phone]                           Domain: [e-mail]
"SCCS, the source motel!  Programs check in and never check out!"
        -- Ken Thompson

Volume-Number: Volume 21, Number 143