From 27d13175ccd378e4d3531176276475dd84af5fed Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Thomas Schwinge Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:09:16 +0100 Subject: Move some pages, remove others that are either out of date or whose content is duplicated somewhere else. --- hurd/libstore.mdwn | 6 +- hurd/running/debian/CrossInstall.mdwn | 2 +- hurd/running/debian/after_install.mdwn | 2 +- hurd/running/distrib.mdwn | 4 +- hurd/running/qemu.mdwn | 2 +- hurd/translator.mdwn | 124 +-------------------- hurd/translator/wishlist_1.mdwn | 129 ++++++++++++++++++++++ hurd/translator/wishlist_2.mdwn | 189 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 8 files changed, 332 insertions(+), 126 deletions(-) create mode 100644 hurd/translator/wishlist_1.mdwn create mode 100644 hurd/translator/wishlist_2.mdwn (limited to 'hurd') diff --git a/hurd/libstore.mdwn b/hurd/libstore.mdwn index ab649ebc..6b81691b 100644 --- a/hurd/libstore.mdwn +++ b/hurd/libstore.mdwn @@ -1,4 +1,5 @@ -[[meta copyright="Copyright © 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc."]] +[[meta copyright="Copyright © 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, +Inc."]] [[meta license="""[[toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[toggleable id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this @@ -31,3 +32,6 @@ device node below `/dev`... At you can find some effort to make some crypto store. + +At , another package +can be found. diff --git a/hurd/running/debian/CrossInstall.mdwn b/hurd/running/debian/CrossInstall.mdwn index 9a07424e..1cde150c 100644 --- a/hurd/running/debian/CrossInstall.mdwn +++ b/hurd/running/debian/CrossInstall.mdwn @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Now the program starts retrieving all the necessary base packages. ### Preparing to reboot -When all packages have been extracted we must prepare [[GrubNotes]] for the Hurd when we reboot. Add the below entry to your `/boot/grub/menu.lst` file to boot the Hurd in single user mode (-s). Single user mode is needed only for the two reboots when running the Native Install. +When all packages have been extracted we must prepare [[GRUB]] for the Hurd when we reboot. Add the below entry to your `/boot/grub/menu.lst` file to boot the Hurd in single user mode (-s). Single user mode is needed only for the two reboots when running the Native Install. title GNU (kernel GNUmach 1.3) root (hd0,2) diff --git a/hurd/running/debian/after_install.mdwn b/hurd/running/debian/after_install.mdwn index b795fd2b..4cdcaea9 100644 --- a/hurd/running/debian/after_install.mdwn +++ b/hurd/running/debian/after_install.mdwn @@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ In order to use DHCP, you need to install the `dhcp-client` package and run `dhc You surely want grub to have a nice menu entry able to boot GNU, instead of typing a boring arcane. There are Debian-specific scripts that may help -you. See the [[GrubNotes]] for this. +you. See [[GRUB]]'s page for this. # Setup `apt-get` diff --git a/hurd/running/distrib.mdwn b/hurd/running/distrib.mdwn index b0a6badd..935c0c2d 100644 --- a/hurd/running/distrib.mdwn +++ b/hurd/running/distrib.mdwn @@ -30,8 +30,8 @@
-
[[GrubNotes]]
-
A quick reference and explanation. There's also a topic for the new [[GrubConf]].
+
[[GRUB]]
+
A quick reference and explanation.
diff --git a/hurd/running/qemu.mdwn b/hurd/running/qemu.mdwn index 7e4816f5..f13ef5c8 100644 --- a/hurd/running/qemu.mdwn +++ b/hurd/running/qemu.mdwn @@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ volunteers and may not have been tested extensively. # What is Needed to create a QEMU image 1. First thing is to install [[/QEMU]]. -2. A [grub](http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/) boot disk for the floppy disk image needed for booting. The [0\.97 version](ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/grub/grub-0.97-i386-pc.ext2fs) works fine. I downloaded it an renamed to `floppy.img`. Alternatively, the Debian grub-disk package (up till version 0.97-28) is fine as well. +2. A [[grub]] boot disk for the floppy disk image needed for booting. The [0\.97 version](ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/grub/grub-0.97-i386-pc.ext2fs) works fine. I downloaded it an renamed to `floppy.img`. Alternatively, the Debian grub-disk package (up till version 0.97-28) is fine as well. 3. You will need a [Debian/Hurd installation CD](http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-cd). K16 works fine. diff --git a/hurd/translator.mdwn b/hurd/translator.mdwn index 0823f0db..0cfcc5fa 100644 --- a/hurd/translator.mdwn +++ b/hurd/translator.mdwn @@ -73,123 +73,7 @@ available. * ... -# Translator wishlist - -* [[devfs]] - -* FUSE(fuse.sourceforge.net/) compatilbility library. : just modify FUSE apps a and compile little to work as translator :-) - -* File Finder. (uses find, grep, a combination or a custom command (htdig, mp3 info) - * Files found will be available under one directory and then can be used like a normal directory - * usefull to generate Albums, Share only resulting files over the et, etc.. - * The filefinder can be scheduled or can be connected over some ipc like dbus to the VFS system if any to keep a watch for new files. - -* GNOKII, BitPim and openobex as translators - * grep through your SMSs! - * share your addressbook! - * "Attach" that funny SMS/MMS to your email. - * "svn commit" your joke collection :-D - -* Real Language Translator [[br]] - * cat /usr/translator/de-en/usr/share/doc/something.txt should take /usr/share/doc/something.txt , submit it to google's website and bring back results. - -* Mozilla Bookmarks = del.ici.ous - * Need more explanation ? ;-) - -* - * having a directory structure for a file can allow to "svn commit" the hnb document in a more "node-safe" manner, thus allowing multiple people to work on the same hnb document. - * This must be fairly easy as HNB can already export to XML and XMLfs already exists. - -* DavFS - * Just setup a 'WebDav share' as a directory. The implimentation of the protocol is already available in nautilus and konqueror. - -* Compiled form of your project - * you have your project in /somedir/project with source in /somedir/project/src .. /somedir/project/bin should always have the compiled version.. is it possible? - * The source has to have a MakeFile. - * creating /somedir/project/bin-somearch should aotomatically crosscompile - * Seems feasible for a small project. - -* Report generation FrameWork - an idea to be hugged by app developers..not kernel developers. - * You have financial data in some Spreadsheet like format in /yourFinance directory - * You add report templates to /yourFinance/repTemplates - * Once you save data in /yourFinance the next cat /yourFinance/reports/areportname will give you an uptodate report. - * This will be usefull for any purpose including serving by static page web servers, sharing over samba/nfs/ftp etc.! - * The advantage is any save to the spreadsheet will update the report.. not just from one software. - -* SVN (Subversion suite) - * like [[cvsfs]]. /svndir/version/version-no should automatically have subversion - * I think it is nice to write a generalised version control system framework library which will help in writing version control translators and other tools easily. - -* Flexi-acls - * First of all - Can this be done? : A translator bound to a directory must be able to access the contents of the directory which would have been accessible in the absence of the translator.. - * This will enable to wirte translators that can implement custom "Access Control Lists". Just imagine having advanced ACLs even if underlying FileSystem is dumb! Imagine changing the type of ACLs implemented with Just two commands - one to unattach previous translator and the next to attach a different ACL translator! The ACLs themselves may be stored in a different directory - -* The translator manager! - * Some translators will need to be inserted automatically - like for eg: hardware drivers .. - * Each hardware translator will pubish its capabilities. - * The "top" translator will query the capabilities of different hardware and match capabilities with the "slave" translators. That is it's only Job. - * The control is then handed over to the slave translator. - * The ranking not only looks who can handle the "most" capabilites of the hardware. If it finds that multiple translators can handle the same hardware, It will use other parameters to choose between them.. like may be the size in memory? The revision date? Stability (inferred from version number)? And to go to the extreme, the profiling data of the driver ;-P - * Advantage : The best driver wins! - -* An eg. Skip it if you understood the above :-): - * You have a driver that can handle VGA + SVGA + Super3d acceleration + Particle graphics + Works for nvidea card. - * You have a driver that can handle SVGA + VGA . - * You have a driver that can handle VGA. - * Case 1: Your card: A VGA card with some extra fonts.. - * First the VGA driver will be quireied .. ok can handle essential capability. - * Next SVGA driver: can handle but has extra module.. unnecassary weight . - * The Nvidia driver: can handle , but again unnecassary weight : ruled out. - * Winner : VGA driver: - * Case 2: Your card An SVGA card: - * First the VGA driver will be quireied .. ok can handle one essential capability. - * Next SVGA driver: can handle essential and one extra capability no extra weight.. - * The Nvidia driver: can handle , but unnecassary weight : ruled out. - * Winner : SVGA driver.. - * Case 3 : You have an VGA .. but no VGA driver .. then the SVGA driver would win. - -* Sound Server - * /ahsa - stands for Advanced HURD sound architecture :-) Just a temporary name .. for fun. - * /ahsa/out - directory wich will hold "plug"s where apllications come and join the server .. see below. - * /ahsa/out/mixer - main mixer - * /ahsa/out/nextfree - the file when "cat"ed gives the number of the next free plug - * /ahsa/plugins/ - info about available plugins - * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/ - dynamically generated directories for applications to plug on.. - * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/data this is where you should do a "cat somerawsoundfile>/ahsa/out/`cat /ahsa/nextfree`/data" - * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins - the plugin stack .. volume is also a plugin.. - * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/[1..m]/ - echo "plugin param1 param2 param3" > /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/`cat /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/nextfree`/add - * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/[1..m]/params/{param1.. paramn} - * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/data.out - can be catted to get data processed through the server - * /ahsa/in - similar to /ahsa/out .. with except for an extra file to choose input devices. - * /ahsa/devs/{1..n} - devices detected .. can be dynamic .. there are usb soundcards and and midi devices. - * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/[1..m]/0/params/dev - * Dont get tempted for :/ahsa/out/[1..n]/params/{rate, channels, and other stuff} - * that goes into /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/0/params if /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/0/detected == "headerless audio" - * There are a lot more things I can continue about the "sound server" .. The Ideas simply dont seem to exhaust.. - * Some features/advantages - * set output's translator plugin as ordinary text -- have text to speech conversion done by sound server! - * Create and apply plugin presets by simply copying directories! - * Me getting dizzy thinking of the zillion more advantages. - * If you are really doing some ordinary output , all you need to do is "cat" data into next free "plug" and everything will be autodetected including the format of the data and sent to the final sound "merge"r - * Dizzy ... - -* /usr/share/menu !!!! extension for package management idea .. - * cat mymenuitem.menu >> /usr/share/menu/menu - * cat /usr/share/menu/debian/kde ... :-) - -* Spam/Malware Control - * /usr/antimalware/ - put your mail here.. it will automatically be scanned. when finished it will vanish from here .. - * /usr/antimalware/clean - ... and pop out from here - * /usr/antimalware/malware - or here. - -* NetDevice - * !JustImagine(tm)... settrans -ac /netdevices /hurd/netdevfs - [ host | net ] - * One can access device files remotely - * This could be acheived by allowing translators talk to one another over a network - * This will need translators to catch and handle ioctls (if there is such a thing in HURD). - * The device server which will listen to requests from the translators can be run even on a Linux machine!!! - * !JustImagine(tm)... accessing the crwriter/webcam on that GNU/Linux machine on the network using cdrecord of your local hurd machine! - * !JustImagine(tm)... running GNU/HURD on a minimalistic GNU/Linux(but with all the drivers) through a specially modified and optimised Qemu. The device server runs on the host machine, and the client translators access over the virtual network created by Qemu. You got most of the drivers for free! - -* Emacs File VFS - * I came to know from my Emacs loving friend that there are lots of VFS handlers in Emacs.. I was wondering if there can be translator which can tap into these Emacs VFS handlers. +# Translator Wishlists + + * [[wishlist_1]] + * [[wishlist_2]] diff --git a/hurd/translator/wishlist_1.mdwn b/hurd/translator/wishlist_1.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..6a4d591a --- /dev/null +++ b/hurd/translator/wishlist_1.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,129 @@ +[[meta copyright="Copyright © 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, +Inc."]] + +[[meta license="""[[toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[toggleable +id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this +document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or +any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant +Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license +is included in the section entitled +[[GNU_Free_Documentation_License|/fdl]]."]]"""]] + +* [[devfs]] + +* FUSE(fuse.sourceforge.net/) compatilbility library. : just modify FUSE apps a and compile little to work as translator :-) + +* File Finder. (uses find, grep, a combination or a custom command (htdig, mp3 info) + * Files found will be available under one directory and then can be used like a normal directory + * usefull to generate Albums, Share only resulting files over the et, etc.. + * The filefinder can be scheduled or can be connected over some ipc like dbus to the VFS system if any to keep a watch for new files. + +* GNOKII, BitPim and openobex as translators + * grep through your SMSs! + * share your addressbook! + * "Attach" that funny SMS/MMS to your email. + * "svn commit" your joke collection :-D + +* Real Language Translator [[br]] + * cat /usr/translator/de-en/usr/share/doc/something.txt should take /usr/share/doc/something.txt , submit it to google's website and bring back results. + +* Mozilla Bookmarks = del.ici.ous + * Need more explanation ? ;-) + +* + * having a directory structure for a file can allow to "svn commit" the hnb document in a more "node-safe" manner, thus allowing multiple people to work on the same hnb document. + * This must be fairly easy as HNB can already export to XML and XMLfs already exists. + +* DavFS + * Just setup a 'WebDav share' as a directory. The implimentation of the protocol is already available in nautilus and konqueror. + +* Compiled form of your project + * you have your project in /somedir/project with source in /somedir/project/src .. /somedir/project/bin should always have the compiled version.. is it possible? + * The source has to have a MakeFile. + * creating /somedir/project/bin-somearch should aotomatically crosscompile + * Seems feasible for a small project. + +* Report generation FrameWork - an idea to be hugged by app developers..not kernel developers. + * You have financial data in some Spreadsheet like format in /yourFinance directory + * You add report templates to /yourFinance/repTemplates + * Once you save data in /yourFinance the next cat /yourFinance/reports/areportname will give you an uptodate report. + * This will be usefull for any purpose including serving by static page web servers, sharing over samba/nfs/ftp etc.! + * The advantage is any save to the spreadsheet will update the report.. not just from one software. + +* SVN (Subversion suite) + * like [[cvsfs]]. /svndir/version/version-no should automatically have subversion + * I think it is nice to write a generalised version control system framework library which will help in writing version control translators and other tools easily. + +* Flexi-acls + * First of all - Can this be done? : A translator bound to a directory must be able to access the contents of the directory which would have been accessible in the absence of the translator.. + * This will enable to wirte translators that can implement custom "Access Control Lists". Just imagine having advanced ACLs even if underlying FileSystem is dumb! Imagine changing the type of ACLs implemented with Just two commands - one to unattach previous translator and the next to attach a different ACL translator! The ACLs themselves may be stored in a different directory + +* The translator manager! + * Some translators will need to be inserted automatically - like for eg: hardware drivers .. + * Each hardware translator will pubish its capabilities. + * The "top" translator will query the capabilities of different hardware and match capabilities with the "slave" translators. That is it's only Job. + * The control is then handed over to the slave translator. + * The ranking not only looks who can handle the "most" capabilites of the hardware. If it finds that multiple translators can handle the same hardware, It will use other parameters to choose between them.. like may be the size in memory? The revision date? Stability (inferred from version number)? And to go to the extreme, the profiling data of the driver ;-P + * Advantage : The best driver wins! + +* An eg. Skip it if you understood the above :-): + * You have a driver that can handle VGA + SVGA + Super3d acceleration + Particle graphics + Works for nvidea card. + * You have a driver that can handle SVGA + VGA . + * You have a driver that can handle VGA. + * Case 1: Your card: A VGA card with some extra fonts.. + * First the VGA driver will be quireied .. ok can handle essential capability. + * Next SVGA driver: can handle but has extra module.. unnecassary weight . + * The Nvidia driver: can handle , but again unnecassary weight : ruled out. + * Winner : VGA driver: + * Case 2: Your card An SVGA card: + * First the VGA driver will be quireied .. ok can handle one essential capability. + * Next SVGA driver: can handle essential and one extra capability no extra weight.. + * The Nvidia driver: can handle , but unnecassary weight : ruled out. + * Winner : SVGA driver.. + * Case 3 : You have an VGA .. but no VGA driver .. then the SVGA driver would win. + +* Sound Server + * /ahsa - stands for Advanced HURD sound architecture :-) Just a temporary name .. for fun. + * /ahsa/out - directory wich will hold "plug"s where apllications come and join the server .. see below. + * /ahsa/out/mixer - main mixer + * /ahsa/out/nextfree - the file when "cat"ed gives the number of the next free plug + * /ahsa/plugins/ - info about available plugins + * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/ - dynamically generated directories for applications to plug on.. + * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/data this is where you should do a "cat somerawsoundfile>/ahsa/out/`cat /ahsa/nextfree`/data" + * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins - the plugin stack .. volume is also a plugin.. + * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/[1..m]/ - echo "plugin param1 param2 param3" > /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/`cat /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/nextfree`/add + * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/[1..m]/params/{param1.. paramn} + * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/data.out - can be catted to get data processed through the server + * /ahsa/in - similar to /ahsa/out .. with except for an extra file to choose input devices. + * /ahsa/devs/{1..n} - devices detected .. can be dynamic .. there are usb soundcards and and midi devices. + * /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/[1..m]/0/params/dev + * Dont get tempted for :/ahsa/out/[1..n]/params/{rate, channels, and other stuff} + * that goes into /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/0/params if /ahsa/out/[1..n]/plugins/0/detected == "headerless audio" + * There are a lot more things I can continue about the "sound server" .. The Ideas simply dont seem to exhaust.. + * Some features/advantages + * set output's translator plugin as ordinary text -- have text to speech conversion done by sound server! + * Create and apply plugin presets by simply copying directories! + * Me getting dizzy thinking of the zillion more advantages. + * If you are really doing some ordinary output , all you need to do is "cat" data into next free "plug" and everything will be autodetected including the format of the data and sent to the final sound "merge"r + * Dizzy ... + +* /usr/share/menu !!!! extension for package management idea .. + * cat mymenuitem.menu >> /usr/share/menu/menu + * cat /usr/share/menu/debian/kde ... :-) + +* Spam/Malware Control + * /usr/antimalware/ - put your mail here.. it will automatically be scanned. when finished it will vanish from here .. + * /usr/antimalware/clean - ... and pop out from here + * /usr/antimalware/malware - or here. + +* NetDevice + * !JustImagine(tm)... settrans -ac /netdevices /hurd/netdevfs - [ host | net ] + * One can access device files remotely + * This could be acheived by allowing translators talk to one another over a network + * This will need translators to catch and handle ioctls (if there is such a thing in HURD). + * The device server which will listen to requests from the translators can be run even on a Linux machine!!! + * !JustImagine(tm)... accessing the crwriter/webcam on that GNU/Linux machine on the network using cdrecord of your local hurd machine! + * !JustImagine(tm)... running GNU/HURD on a minimalistic GNU/Linux(but with all the drivers) through a specially modified and optimised Qemu. The device server runs on the host machine, and the client translators access over the virtual network created by Qemu. You got most of the drivers for free! + +* Emacs File VFS + * I came to know from my Emacs loving friend that there are lots of VFS handlers in Emacs.. I was wondering if there can be translator which can tap into these Emacs VFS handlers. diff --git a/hurd/translator/wishlist_2.mdwn b/hurd/translator/wishlist_2.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3ea68999 --- /dev/null +++ b/hurd/translator/wishlist_2.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,189 @@ +## Introduction + +The idea behind file system translators is a powerful concept which hasn't recieved much attention in the mainstream computing world. So here is a list of interesting translators I've been able to dream up. I'm sure there are many more ideas floating around out there, so add them to the list! + +The [ferris project](http://witme.sourceforge.net/libferris.web/features.html) has some great ideas and code in the area of userspace dynamic filesystems, as has the [FUSE project](http://fuse.sourceforge.net/). + +## Audio\_cdfs + +A translator which produces a directory of \*.wav files when you have an audio CD in the drive. + +## Ogg + +This translator could be a sub-directory of the Audio\_cdfs translator and it would translate the \*.wav files into Ogg Vorbis/MP3 format. + +## CDDB + +Of course it would be a lot nicer if the above two translators didn't name their files something worthless like track001.ogg. So we would want a translator which would hook up with a database on the web and produce meaningful file names. + +## Crypto + +A cryptographic/steganographic seem like a nice match with the concept of user-land file systems. I like the idea of something like `settrans -a /secure stegfs --mpeg file001.mpg` + +## Revision control + +All of the empty space on your drive is now being wasted. Why not have a revision control translator which tracks changes to your documents? See also [this guy](http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5976). And then you'd do something like `cd /time-machine/2003/sept/14/` to see what your system looked like on the 14th of septempber 2003. + +## CVSFS + +See [cvsFS for Linux](http://cvsfs.sourceforge.net/). This provides a package which presents the CVS contents as mountable file system. It allows to view the versioned files as like they were ordinary files on a disk. There is also a possibility to check in/out some files for editing. A read-only version has been written by Stefan Siegl and is available at [Berlios](http://cvs.berlios.de/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/cvsfs4hurd/cvsfs/). + +## tar and gzip + +Rumor has it that they are on the way. Actually, a tar + gzip/bzip2 translator does exist (although it hasn't been used much...) : see [the Hurdextras project](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/hurdextras/) on Savannah. + +## ROM + +How about a translator which makes it look like you can write to read only media (like CDs), or change files which I don't have permission to change. This translator would make it seem like you could copy files to places where you normally couldn't. Think about combining this translator with the ftp translator and the tar and gzip translators. (cd /ftp/gnu.org/gnome.tar.gz/writes\_allowed; make install). It could be that unionfs does this very thing. + +## Super\_FIFO + +It's like a named pipe which is smart enough to start a process everytime something new tries to read from it. For example, let's say I have a script that reads in a JPEG image and spits out a smaller thumbnail \*.jpg to STDOUT. With a standard fifo (`mknod -p fifo`) this would almost works (`script big.jpg > fifo`). But what if there are two processes trying to read the fifo at once? Ick. And of course the standard way only works once without rerunning the command. I'm not quite sure what the syntax should look like, but I'm sure someone out there has a great idea waiting to happen. + +## Perl + +Perl is a wonderful language for hacking together something useful in a short amount of time. No concept is complete without being able to use it in a perl one-liner. And that goes for Hurd translators too. Right? + + #!/usr/bin/perl + use Hurd::translator; + + #file named "two" can produce an endless supply of twos, etc. (a la /dev/zero) + my $i=0; + for $filename ([zero one two three four]) + { + $libtrivfsread_codehash{$filename}= + sub{ $num_bytes=shift; my $data=$i; return chr($data) x $num_bytes; }; + #that's a hash of references to closures + $i++; + } + translator_startup(); + +A Perl translator has been started by [John Edwin Tobey](http://john-edwin-tobey.org/Hurd/) (pith). + +## Source code + +Here's a crazy thought. How about a translator for source code. You have a C source file like `hello.c` which is your normal everyday file. But there's a translator sitting underneath, so when you `cd hello.c` you get a directory with files like `main()` which represent the subroutines in `hello.c`. And of course you should be able to edit/remove those and have it modify the original source. + +## Libraries + +Here's an [idea](http://www.circlemud.org/~jelson/software/fusd/docs/node13.html) from the people making [userspace drivers in Linux](http://www.circlemud.org/~jelson/software/fusd/): + +* "One particularly interesting application of FUSD that we've found very useful is as a way to let regular user-space libraries export device file APIs. For example, imagine you had a library which factored large composite numbers. Typically, it might have a C interface--say, a function called `int *factorize(int bignum)`. With FUSD, it's possible to create a device file interface--say, a device called `/dev/factorize` to which clients can `write(2)` a big number, then `read(2)` back its factors. + +* This may sound strange, but device file APIs have at least three advantages over a typical library API. First, it becomes much more language independent--any language that can make system calls can access the factorization library. Second, the factorization code is running in a different address space; if it crashes, it won't crash or corrupt the caller. Third, and most interestingly, it is possible to use `select(2)` to wait for the factorization to complete. `select(2)` would make it easy for a client to factor a large number while remaining responsive to other events that might happen in the meantime. In other words, FUSD allows normal user-space libraries to integrate seamlessly with UNIX's existing, POSIX-standard event notification interface: `select(2)`." + +## Mail + +Am I off my rocker, or does an IMAP/POP translator sound like a good idea? It would make your remote mail servers look like local ones. Or what about a translator that makes a mbox format mail spool look like a directory. Can anyone think of a good use for an SMTP translator? + +## UUEncode + +How about a UUEncode translator for those places you can only store ASCII. Combine this with a NNTP translator and store your data in someone's Usenet archive. Or since, (as far as I know), there are no size limitations on file names in the Hurd, why not have a filesystem translator whose underlying store is a file name. (Now ls becomes cat). + +## Computation + +This is from the revenge of the command-line department. Make a directory translator whose contents are a result of the computation specified in the directory name. Here's an example... + + $ settrans -a /comp /hurd/computationfs + $ cd "/comp/3+4" + $ ls -l + total 0 + -rw-r--r-- 1 nobody users 0 Oct 16 11:41 7 + $ + $ cd "/comp/sqrt(2)" + $ ls -l + total 0 + -rw-r--r-- 1 nobody users 0 Oct 16 11:42 1.4142135623731 + $ + +...etc. Now think about your favorite GUI HTML editor and using File->Open on the following directory name, ``"/comp/for i in $( find / -name *.html ); do ln -s $i `basename $i`;done"`` Which would produce a directory listing with soft links to all of the \*.html files on your system. You could have all of the comforts of the shell from within that little File->Open dialog box. + +## Other + +Just found Wolfgang J�hrling's translator [wishlist](http://www.8ung.at/shell/trans.html). + +## Bochs + +A translator which works with [Bochs](http://bochs.sourceforge.net/) disk images would be nice. + +## Rollover + +A translator that uses a circular buffer to store log files. The translated node only contains the last N (mega,kilo)bytes. + +## Birthday + +A translator that provides an interface into the birthday program. + +You can cat your calendar, eg. bd/calendar/today bd/calendar/this-week or bd/calendar/this-month. + +And you could write new events into files located in bd/events/DATE/event-name. + +DATE is of the format the birthday expects DD/MM/YYYY. + +The contents of the file are any or none of the following birthday options: ann (An anniversary), bd (A birthday), ev (Some other event), wN (Warn N days in advance of date), toDATE (Event lasts until this DATE), forDAYS (Event runs for DAYS). + +You can optionally just edit the bd/birthdays file if you want to edit the configuration file by hand. It might make sense to write changes from bd/birthdays into ~/.birthdays. + + $ settrans -c bd /hurd/birthday -f ~/.birthdays + $ ls bd/ + birthdays calendar events + $ find bd -print + bd + bd/calendar + bd/calendar/daily + bd/calendar/this-week + bd/calendar/this-month + bd/events + bd/birthdays + $ + +## LVM + +A translator to access block devices from Linux's [Logical Volume Management](http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/) would be an useful addition. + + # settrans -cap /dev/VolumeGroup0 /hurd/lvm /dev/PhysicalVolume0 /dev/PhysicalVolume1 ... + # ls /dev/VolumeGroup0/ + home + var + # settrans -cap /home /hurd/ext2fs /dev/VolumeGroup0/home + # settrans -cap /var /hurd/ext2fs /dev/VolumeGroup0/var + +Probably both [LVM2](http://sourceware.org/lvm2/) and the [Device-mapper](http://sourceware.org/dm/) need to be ported. + +## bridging translator + +A [bridging](http://bridge.sourceforge.net/faq.html) translator could improve the Hurd's networking facilities. + + # settrans -cap /dev/br0 /hurd/bridge -i eth0 -i eth1 ... + # settrans -cap /servers/socket/2 /hurd/pfinet -i /dev/br0 -a ... -g ... -m ... + +Perhaps Linux's bridging code and [utilities](http://bridge.sourceforge.net/) can be ported (or glued in) or code from one of the BSDs. + +## SSH translator + +Presenting remote file systems through SSH similar to what gnome-vfs does. + +## SMB translator + +Presenting remote file systems through Samba similar to what gnome-vfs does. Guiseppe Scrivano has worked on this and smbfs is available at [hurdextras](http://savannah.nongnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/hurdextras/smbfs/). + +## Crontab translator + +Presenting a user's crontab in a filesystem where cron entries are files. + +## globlink + +Firmlink to a file according to a filename matching pattern. When a file goes away, the next file that is matched is automatically linked to. + + $ settrans -ac libfoo.so /hurd/globlink '/lib/libfoo*' + +## alphabetfs + +Organize a large group of files by their first letter. Present one subdirectory for each letter in the alphabet. + +## fsysoptsctl + +Send an fsysopts command to a set of translators. When you have a directory full of translators and you want to send each of them the same runtime option, this translator can do it for you. + + $ settrans -ac all /hurd/fsysoptsctl '/tmp/mystuff/*' + $ fsysopts all --update -- cgit v1.2.3