[Python-Dev] zipfile.py, file system abstractions

[Guido van Rossum]

[Fred, proposing filesystem.py]

I think we should discuss the desired interface here a bit more before
talking about specific implementations.  This class wants to look like
the os module, except that instead of an open method (which returns an
integer filedescriptor) it has a fopen method, similar to the built-in
open function (which returns a file-like object).

The implementation you post would confuse people because it has some
specific hooks to deal with subsetting an existing filesystem (sort-of
like chroot, but enforced by path algebra).  This would be usable in
an rexec environment, but not when dealing with a zipfile or a remote
filesystem.

If we define an API that's a subset of the os module (including
os.path), maybe we can make the os module conform to the same API; I
think all that's needed is to make a list of methods that are part of
the interface, and add os.fopen as an alias for __builtin__.open.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)