The last time I looked at the file plugin on the macintosh (a decade  
ago?) sure feels like it. Tim was trying to get it to work as
some way to copy files between a master directory and the build  
directory for the first revision of VMMaker..  Yes?

Anyway Apple didn't actually offer a way to copy files between  
locations until mmm os-x 10.4 came out, shamed into it I think.
Certainly the OS-9 code ran to a hundred pages, aliases, HFS+ servers,  
server aliases, etc etc. Folder/File.

However 10.4 (was it 10.3?) they introduced access control list meta- 
data on files and muttered about an API you could use
that would invoke the same logic as the Finder uses to copy an object  
from one place to another.   We use that in Sophie, so
the bits go, and so do the multiple dates, permissions, meta-data,  
endless list...

Files simple, Yah that would be CP/M

Likely once you did into it the file plugin on unix is *mostly* there,  
but really a better solution would be to use FFI, or OSProcess and
invoke the right shell command.


On Mar 3, 2008, at 10:12 PM, tim Rowledge wrote:

>
> On 3-Mar-08, at 8:01 PM, Bill Schwab wrote:
>>
>> and looking there, I see the vm and some plugins.  Is being in that
>> directory enough, or is there something else I have to do to get it  
>> to
>> see and/or report a plugin's existence?  Are they loaded at startup,
>> only on demand, etc.?
> The best place for plugins to live is somewhat platform dependent,  
> unfortunately. I'm fairly sure that having a plugin file in the same  
> place as the vm will usually be ok though. External plugins load on  
> demand and get bound to the vm. Internal plugins are sort of pre- 
> loaded but they are connected up internally on demand just like the  
> externals. This is part of making it possible to have an external  
> (for updating etc) copy of a plugin that is also internal.
>
> tim
> --
> tim Rowledge; tim at rowledge.org; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
> Fractured Idiom:- FELIX NAVIDAD - Our cat has a boat
>
>
>

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John M. McIntosh <johnmci at smalltalkconsulting.com>
Corporate Smalltalk Consulting Ltd.  http://www.smalltalkconsulting.com
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