> Wouldn't the better thing to do be adding flags, not mode bits?

Why?  I think the mode bit semantics actually make more sense.  Other
than the permission bits, mode bits represent internal filesystem goo
- is this file a directory, is this file a device special file, et
cetera.  Flags are more like things that userland and the general part
of the kernel cares about - is this file mutable, has it been backed
up by a userland program, should it be backed up, et cetera.

			       _MelloN_