On Tue, 13 Jul 1999 13:46:21 -0400 (EDT) 
 "Charles M. Hannum" <root@ihack.net> wrote:

 > > For the flag changes, I'd add O_ALT_IO and O_OTHER (other is droppable if
 > > objectionalbe). These flags can be set at open or via F_SETFL. They would
 > > correspond to FALTIO and FOTHER for kernel-internal flags. Add
 > > IO_ALTSEMANTICS and IO_OTHER flags to i/o flags passed to
 > > VOP_READ & VOP_WRITE. vn_read() and vn_write() would set these flags
 > > (respectivly) if the F flags were set for the file.
 > 
 > I see no well-defined meaning for what these flags do.  As such, it
 > seems highly inappropriate to add them.

The ALT_IO case, at least, specifies that "file-system-specific alternate
semantics" are to be used.  Since these are file-system specific, defining
them specifically in a generic header file doesn't even make sense.

        -- Jason R. Thorpe <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov>