Re: [Monotone-devel] namespace-ifying attrs

[Jon Bright]

Nathaniel Smith wrote:
> I'd like to bring up the idea of namespace-ifying file attributes.
> Basically, replacing "execute" with "mtn:execute", and so forth.
>
> The proximal inspiration comes from subversion:
>   http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/ch07s02.html#svn-ch-7-sect-2.1
> which supports a number of built-in "properties" (their equivalent to
> file attributes):
>   http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/ch07s02.html#svn-ch-7-sect-2.3
> and prefixes them all with "svn:", to keep them distinct from any
> custom properties that users might define.
>
> This is similar to how we reserve "MT" and ".mt-*" in the monotone
> working copy namespace for our own use; we would reserve "mtn:" for
> our own use in the attr namespace.

Potential enhancement: anything without a colon is automatically 
prefixed with "mtn:"

> Objections:
>   -- not really necessary, because there are hardly any attributes
>      anyway
>   -- just clutters up the place with unnecessary concepts and
>      punctuation; feels like something a plodding corporation would
>      come up with

With the enhancement, there'd be no clutter.

> Counter-objections:
>   -- better safe than sorry; we don't know whether there will be an
>      explosion of custom attrs or not.

If this is done, I have the feeling that (IETF-style), there should be 
some defined scheme for other people to define their attributes.  That 
said, the only one that springs to mind is something like 
com.siliconcircus:foo, which is... icky.  Maybe this is unnecessary.

--
Jon