From: torvalds@transmeta.com (Linus Torvalds) To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: PROPOSAL: dot-proc interface [was: /proc stuff] Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2001 19:07:53 +0000 (UTC) In article <20011104172742Z16629-26013+37@humbolt.nl.linux.org>, Daniel Phillips <phillips@bonn-fries.net> wrote: >On November 4, 2001 05:45 pm, Tim Jansen wrote: >> > The dot-proc file is basically a binary encoding of Lisp (or XML), e.g. it >> > is a list of elements, wherein an element can itself be a list (or a >> >> Why would anybody want a binary encoding? > >Because they have a computer? That's a stupid argument. The computer can parse anything. It's us _humans_ that are limited at parsing. We like text interfaces, because that's how we are brought up. We aren't good at binary, and we're not good at non-linear, "structured" interfaces. In contrast, a program can be taught to parse the ascii files quite well, and does not have the inherent limitations we humans have. Sure, it has _other_ limitations, but /proc being ASCII is sure as hell not one of them. In short: /proc is ASCII, and will so remain while I maintain a kernel. Anything else is stupid. Handling spaces and newlines is easy enough - see the patches from Al Viro, for example. Linus - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/