Add a file flag for "hidden" files?

[Mark Day]

On Mar 1, 2006, at 10:22 AM, Robert Watson wrote:

> I don't see any problem with this.  The only flag I know of in  
> FreeBSD that might not appear in Mac OS X is the system snapshot  
> flag, which was added to UFS after Apple forked from the FreeBSD  
> source.

Mac OS X is missing both the NOUNLINK and the SNAPSHOT flags.

Since Mac OS X doesn't implement the functionality corresponding to  
either bit, my plan was to leave those #defines commented out in the  
Mac OS X headers, with a comment indicating we don't implement that  
functionality.  I'm a little concerned that an app might see those  
bits defined, try to use the functionality, and be surprised when it  
doesn't work as expected.

> We have talked about adding a flag to hint the presence of extended  
> ACL data also, so that applications know if they should rely solely  
> on stat() for protection information, or also call acl_get_ 
> {fd,file,link}() to receive extended ACL data for ls(1) output.  Is  
> your plan to mask hidden files solely in user space, or to look at  
> masking it in kernel also?

I knew I'd forgotten to mention something. The plan is that this bit  
is purely a hint to user space.  It's up to the application  
(especially a GUI) to decide whether to show a hidden file to the  
user or not.

-Mark