Re: S_IFMT not mentioned in any man page

[Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>>>     No new S_IFMT symbolic names for the file type values of mode_t
>>>     will be defined by POSIX.1-2008; if new file types are
>>>     required, they will only be testable through S_ISxx( ) or
>>>     S_TYPEISxxx( ) macros instead.
>> That strikes me as stupid of them.  You can't [switch on
>> conditionals]
> I think most of the time you're interested in one or two specific
> things.

(a) That's an artifact of the kind of code you're writing/reading.  I'd
    estimate my own code that checks filesystem object types is roughly
    evenly balanced (say, 1/3 to 2/3) between "check one or maybe two
    particular types" and "switch based on type, with at least three
    non-default arms in the switch".

(b) Letting "most of the time" drive decisions in ways that leave the
    rest of the time out in the cold is a Bad Thing.

> As you say, the problem was possibly the direct access to st_mode,

I don't think I said that.  I certainly didn't intend to.

> instead of at some S_FILETYPE(struct stat) or whatever, restricting
> the scope of system library implementors.

It's not much of a restriction; IMO it is outweighed by the things it
allows on the caller side of the API.

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