Topic       : The ATARI Compendium
Author      : Scott Sanders / JAY Software
Version     : 1.25 (20/6/2003)
Subject     : Documentation
Nodes       : 1117
Index Size  : 32614
HCP-Version : 6
Compiled on : Atari
@charset    : UTF-8
@lang       : en
@default    : 
@help       : %About
@options    : +g -i -t4 +y +z
@width      : 100
View Ref-File
                           File System Extensions


MiNT provides several new file and directory manipulation functions that
work with TOS and other loadable file systems. The Fcntl() function performs
a large number of file-based tasks many of which apply to special files like
terminal emulators and 'U:\' files. Fxattr() is used to obtain a file's
extended attributes. Some extended attributes are not relevant to the TOS
file system and will not return meaningful values (see the Function
Reference for details).

Fgetchar() and Fputchar() can be used to get and put single characters to
a file. Finstat() and Foutstat() are used to determine the input or output
status of a file. Fselect() is used to select from a group of file handles
those ready to be read from or written to (often used for pipes).

Flink(), Fsymlink(), and Freadlink() are used to create hard and symbolic
links to another file. Links are not supported by all file systems (see
the entries for these functions for more details).

Some file systems may support the concept of file ownership and access
permissions (TOS does not). The Fchown() and Fchmod() calls are used to
adjust the ownership flags and access permissions of a file. Pumask() can
be used to set the minimum access permissions assigned to each subsequently
created file.

Fmidipipe() is used to redirect the file handles used for MIDI input and
output.

MiNT provides four new functions for directory enumeration (they provide
similar functionality to Fsfirst() and Fsnext() with a slightly easier
interface). Dopendir() is used to open a directory for enumeration.
Dreaddir() steps through each entry in a directory. Drewinddir() resets
the file pointer to the beginning of the directory. Dclosedir() closes
a directory.

Dlock() allows disk-formatters and other utilities which require exclusive
access to a drive the ability to lock a physical device from other processes.

Dgetcwd() allows a process to obtain the current GEMDOS working directory
for any process in the system (including itself).

Dcntl() performs device and file-system specific operations (consult the
Function Reference for more details).