[FIX] primRename:toBe: on MacFileDirectory

Tom tmb at lumo.com
Tue Apr 10 18:36:49 UTC 2001


On Tue, Apr 10, 2001 at 01:52:05PM -0400, Andy Stoffel wrote:
> - In most Unix variants (this includes Linux) mv (move) is
>   used to move a file but can also be used to rename a file
>   at the same time when it is being moved to the directory
>   it already exists in.
> 
> - In MacOS (versions previous to X, which is really a Unix 
>   variant) renaming a file does JUST that while a move
>   does only that.

The behavior of "mv" is a convenience feature implemented by the user
program; the kernel has link/unlink, rename, and open/read/write.  

"mv" tries to behave transparently in both cases because in UNIX, file
systems can be mounted anywhere, transparent to the user.  In Windows
and MacOS this is less of an issue because the OS makes it painfully
obvious when your data resides on different file systems.

Tom





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