On Fri, 02 Sep 2016 12:32:30 +0700, John B. wrote:
>>So, while I don't dispute what you said, something is *creating* these
>>folders, and, in effect, "polluting" my SD card.
>
> As I said, a normal part of the file system :-)
> the file system.
If I had another life to live, I would have asked god to put me in charge
of designing the filesystem structure of Microsoft, Linux, and Android
devices, at the time they were being developed.
For Android, I would have designated a *single* directory (much like
Microsoft tries to do with C:\Windows - but fails overall in doing) where
all the file-system crap would go.
So, if there *must* be a directory on Android, it would be alphabetically
low (so it sorts as last) and hidden most of the time.
Dunno what I'd call it, but something like ".!android" or whatever sorts
low on the list and is hidden.
Then I'd make a rule that *everything* that is autogenerated by the OS must
go there, so that the user only has to deal with one idiotic directory.
> What do you gain by that? An empty file or directory occupies only a
> few bytes and you say that if deleted they reappear in an hour. It
> sounds like an exercise in futility :-)
I'm looking at it from the standpoint of putting files and directories at
the top level - which - because of the indeterminant pollutants - I can't
do because I can never be sure if I created the file or directory by a
program that I care about, or if Android did.
You are not looking at it as a litter pollutant.
To you, it's not an eyesore, and, to you, sorting out what is litter and
what is valuable isn't a problem.
I understand that.
You are looking at it as just an empty directory (just like the makers of
Windows looked at
c:\{boot.ini,boot.bak,cmldr,config.sys,io.sys,msdos.sys,
ntdetect.com,ntldr}
as just a bunch of small files.
But "I" look at it as pollutants of my root directory.
Why on earth couldn't they stick those files in a single directory?
Worse - on Windows for example, your START menu is polluted by every
program you install. So you're forced to create your own menu, which works
perfectly since nothing pollutes it - but that also makes the initial start
menu useless.
The rule should have been, IMHO, from the start, to prevent that. I can
think of a few ways but the vast majority of people are too stupid to
prevent the mess. So they can no longer find anything in their start menu
even though a start menu is a FANTASTIC way to run programs if it's
unpolluted. (My start menu, for example, is perfect.)
Even worse, the Documents and Settings hierarchy is so filled with
pollutants that it's basically almost useless to the user, as a top-level
directory. That's bad for backup purposes and for organizational purposes.
Anyway, Android went the same way as Windows. Same concept of polluting
*everything* it touches, including the SD card (which really, should have
nothing to do, per se, with Android polluting it).
I'm ok with a single point of pollution if they must pollute an SD card.
>>I have been doing similarly on Windows for decades, where I create a data
>>directory and put everything I want in there. That way, I can completely
>>delete the contents of Documents and Settings and I lose zero data that I
>>care about.
>>
>>It's amazing to me how terrible operating system developers are at
>>organizing file systems.
>
> Quite the contrary. They are very good at organizing file systems...
> to fit their needs or notions. The fact that you do not agree doesn't
> make it a bad file system.
I understand your point that, to you, Android littering files and
directories willy nilly all over both the internal and external storage is
"organized" by "their" (horrid) standards.
To me, if they really were "organized", they'd put all their litter in a
single directory, instead of polluting everything everywhere. I'm sure
you've perused the Android file system on the internal sd storage, and you
must be aghast (as I am) at the utter incomprhensible mess that Android
does to the file system.
AM I not right?
I mean, look at slash (/) in the Android file system!
It's a royal mess.
Worse than Windows.
Even worse than Linux (which at least *tried* to be organized!).
Nothing follows any rules.
It should be so simple that anyone can figure it out.
/apps/(all apps *must* install their pollution here)
/data/ (all apps must store their user-saved data here!)
NOTE: User-saved data is not the same as app-pollution data!
(Most app developers can't fathom that there is a distinction!)
/android/ (all android OS crap goes here)