Re: FTP in the Finder
Re: FTP in the Finder
- Subject: Re: FTP in the Finder
- From: Wade Tregaskis <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 09:16:20 +1100
I still argue that it does not matter that FTP is not a file system. I
have
not analyzed this closely, but I never heard a complete argument, either.
I
think a Foreign File System Plugin (or whatever OSX calls it) can be
implemented for FTP.
The biggest problem I see with FTP as a file system is that it doesn't
support byte range reads. So, to read 5 bytes form the middle of a 100
MB file, you have to download the entire file. That's going to introduce
file opening latencies that really mess up applications, like the Finder,
which expect to be able to open files quickly.
My memory needs refreshing maybe, but I seem to recall you can set the
starting point of an ftp stream to any offset. So that's half your
problem done. The other side, the ending offset, I also have a feeling
you can set - although it's probably not supported by all too many ftp
servers.
You could implement a local cache which would speed up performance after
the first read of each file. That'd solve your range/block reads, too -
you could remap them to the local cache, and when they go out of range you'
d block them while you download more of the file to cache.
True, on slow connections this might hurt apps which don't expect to wait,
like the Finder. It'd be like running OS X in less than 256 meg of ram
all over again....*shudder*
But if you're on a company or university network, you've likely got very
high bandwidth and very low latencies, so with a good ftp server you'll
probably be able to work through at least as much data as from a local
disk. These are the environments where mounting ftp paths directly into
the file system would be most useful, because you're most likely to be
transferring lots of data frequently. e.g. Over a dialup connection, for
instance, a tiny 20 meg file's going to take you at least an hour, so it's
no big deal to spend 10 seconds opening an ftp client...when 20 meg takes
3 seconds over a LAN, opening an ftp client makes the whole process over 4
times longer.
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