directory streams

[Richard M. Stallman <RMS at MIT-AI>]

    Date: 4 January 1982 14:22-EST
    From: Mike McMahon <MMCM at MIT-AI>

    Sorry, it is unacceptable for file servers to have to put "'s around
    all random properties.  Needless to say, most chaosnet servers are not
    lisp machines.
Most chaosnet servers don't allow random properties either; only the
Lisp machines do.  However, if a PDP10 needs to, it is about 10 lines
of code to stick on the quotes and slashify things.
		    It might be reasonable for REMOTE to work that way,
    since it is already restrictive.  But not QFILE.

Let us assume that a user invents a property named FOO and puts a FOO
property of 69 onto a file.  Let us suppose that someone asks for a
directory list, and that it is implemented using a directory stream.
What solution do you propose for enabling the correct value of the FOO
property (69 rather than "69") to appear in the directory list?

Or should file systems not be allowed to permit
values of random properties to be anything but strings?

Or perhaps REMOTE shouldn't use :directory-stream.  Perhaps
only QFILE can use it, and the things that use it should be moved into
CHAOS-PATHNAME.