[Twisted-Python] twisted.vfs issues - metadata

Andy Gayton andy at thecablelounge.com
Thu Sep 29 08:47:46 EDT 2005


> On Sep 28, 2005, at 3:49 PM, Andy Gayton wrote:
>> There's getMetadata. That let's you return arbitrary attributes.
>> Would that cover what you're thinking?

James Y Knight wrote:
> No -- one problem is that extended metadata can be potentially very  
> large (just as large as the file's normal contents). Another is that  
> there may be potentially a large number of such attributes. 

> I think it may be best to model it as a special kind of child, as it  
> seems as if that's the way people are moving their thinking anyhow.
>  IFileSystemNode.xattrContainer() -> IFileSystemContainer
> 
> That returned object would then allow the use of the same createFile/ 
> child/remove/rename/open/read operations as on normal children. It  
> would have to throw errors if you try doing excessively "interesting"  
> things, like trying to create directories in it, but I think that's  
> probably okay.

How about getMetadata for simple data (size, content-type)  and a
container as you describe for potentially huge its of data?

hrm, .getattrs, .setattrs, .xattrsContainer ?

There definately should be a way to query what metadata a backend can
provide, and to pass which particular data you are requesting for
performance.  Namespaces might be useful to?  It'd be good to see a use
case to show that they are.

I'm keen to just let WebDAV's requirements drive the design here.  None 
of our uses up till now have had a great demand on metadata.

Andy.




More information about the Twisted-Python mailing list