libsmbclient and browsing: dirents and entry type ...

[Michael Sweet]

Richard Sharpe wrote:
> ...
> OK, but my concern with taking this approach is that it will
> require a different style of programming for dealing with
> directories with libsmbclient than with UNIX-style directories ...
> ...

Developers already have to deal with 3 different directory
structures in common use; IMHO forcing them to use a separate
directory interface for SAMBA shares is a small inconvenience
compared to the mess introduced by using one of 3 existing
interfaces and adding another call to get the attribute
information.

FWIW, another approach might be to support the file: scheme in
libsmb - that way an application can list the contents of a
directory on a local filesystem or remote share?  That would allow
app developers to use the same functions for both local and remote
files.  This would have the happy side-effect of abstracting the
"native" directory interface from the application (so apps that
use libsmb don't have to do the autoconf nonsense to figure out
the right directory stuff to use...)

-- 
______________________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products                  mike at easysw.com
Printing Software for UNIX                       http://www.easysw.com