Finding where to store application data portably

[Ron Adam]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:

> On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 19:09:28 +0400, en.karpachov wrote:
> 
> 
>>There is an other way around: look at your home dir as if it is your
>>"settings" dir and don't clutter it with files other than application
>>config dot-files.  Just make ~/files/, ~/bin/ ~/lib/ etc. for it.
> 
> 
> Do you put everything into /etc (/etc/bin, /etc/var, /etc/usr, /etc/mnt,
> and so forth)? If your home directory is for settings, why would you store
> files and binaries inside your settings directory?
> 
> I understand the historical reasons for why ~/ is treated as a
> structureless grab-bag of everything and anything. That made sense back in
> the distant past when users used dumb terminals and they had perhaps half
> a dozen dot files. But at the point your home directory has three times as
> many dot files as regular files, the time has come to stop doing things
> just because that's the way they have always been done.

Yes, it's all pretty much historical isn't it.  Someones needs to start 
form scratch I think as far as file storage systems go.

Personally I'd love a cross platform intelligent file storage device 
that managed security and user accounts independent of the operating 
system. (With it's own internal CPU and firmware.)

A few thoughts ...

It should be built on concepts of 'Responsibility', 'Authority', and 
'Delegation',  So you could call it.. RADOS or RAD for short, or just 
use my initials. RA.. (just kidding) ;-)

Also note that an application is just another user by proxy.  And it all 
comes down to private and shared user data. In other words, organize all 
files by who's "Responsible" for them.

You would "Delegate Authority" by using file links with private keys in 
them. Giving a file link to someone else wouldn't work since it would 
need to be ran from your user account to be valid.  These file links is 
how you would access other files in other users file space.

Anyway... such a system would mean that when an application accesses the 
Internet, (has Authority), to update it's own files, (Responsibility), 
it does so in it's own user space and can't access any other users (or 
applications) files.  Virus's would find this very limiting.

Every user account would be a complete unit which can be backed up and 
restored independently of the OS.  If something went wrong you could 
always find out which user (or application developer) was responsible.

Anyway... just wishful thinking.  I'm sure there are a lot of problems 
that would need to be worked out.  ;-)

Cheers,
Ron Adam