About Files and the FileList in 3.8 (and beyond...)

Dan Ingalls Dan at SqueakLand.org
Thu Jan 27 03:15:42 UTC 2005


Folks -

There is a problem with the FileList in Squeak 3.9 which I consider to be serious.  My reason for writing this is not to complain, but just to make sure that *in addition* to welcoming extended character sets into Squeak, we *remain committed* to the value of simplicity and generality in the FileList.

>From the beginning, the FileList has been a vital tool, and I cannot remember when a flaw in it would be tolerated for more than a few hours.  It is the one way for a quantum mechanic to examine exactly what is in a file (normal as well as hex views), to patch broken files, to copy textual or binary data from one place to another, and so on.  The FileList worked *identically* on local files as well as remote files.  Moreover it worked identically on Windows, Mac, and Unix and, for a Squeaker in a foreign land, it was often the *only* way to get something done simply and accurately.

Beginning with 3.8, most of this rock-solid simplicity seems to be broken.  For instance, I just tried to copy the contents of one file to another by the usual select-all / copy / select-all / paste sequence, and it did not work.  This has *always* worked on every file system, local or remote and, if it's broken it is often not clear what tool will do the job, and how to get at it.

As another example, selection is broken in the FileList in the presence of binary data, making it nearly impossible to do some patches.  I think this is just a problem of character widths in the font being used, but I'm not sure.

This is just a plea that we not give up on the FileList as a rock-solid tool, while embracing the importance of international character support.  The FileList never was a document editor;  it never displayed RTF, and it doesn't need to display international characters.  If we want it to do that, then it must be as an option that leaves inviolate the ability to perform reliable file surgery when necessary.

Besides just raising the issue I'm willing to help out -- anyone working on this is welcome to write me to pursue the matter farther.

	- Dan



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