Wait... System.Posix.IO.ByteString reads data into a *String*?

[wren ng thornton]

On 2/20/12 12:39 AM, Ryan Newton wrote:
> I belatedly found the below thread when trying to figure out what went down
> with unix-2.5.1.0, and it seems that the impetus for the ".ByteString"
> modules was to change file path representation, not the representation of
> file contents.

It's worth mentioning that the unix-bytestring package grew out of my 
attempts at making System.Posix.IO efficient. Before releasing that 
package I sought inclusion into unix proper, however I was rebuffed 
because (other than the use of ByteStrings) I kept the same API--- but 
it turns out that noone liked the original API! Thus, I spun the package 
off in order to redevelop the API into something nicer; hoping that it 
would be included in the future.

The issue about using ByteStrings for file names came about in a 
separate discussion because of some concerns about roundtripping file 
names on GHC 7.2. Given that the aforementioned unix-bytestring 
discussion happened on this list and in recent memory, I am *very* 
disappointed that the new version of unix has decided to steal the 
namespace that was specifically set aside for unix-bytestring.

-- 
Live well,
~wren