andrewingram 4 days ago

These files also generally work in a nested fashion, like .gitignore and the like. So you want something that can be injected into the namespace of any directory in your project with relatively low likelihood of conflicts.

  • verdverm 4 days ago

    Not exactly (or unclear), .gitignore files combine, much like copilot files with glob or other matching. All the instructions are put into the context

    > Agents automatically read the nearest file in the directory tree, so the closest one takes precedence

ceejayoz 4 days ago

That won't save you if you want actual example.com/agents/foo routing and an (say, real estate) agents list at example.com/agents.

  • onion2k 4 days ago

    I feel bad that you're getting downvotes. The reason is that pretty much every modern web stack decouples the URL routing from the source code directory structure these days. It was a nice hack back in the day, but there are so many problems with it no one really does it any more.

    Some frameworks (Laravel, NextJS, etc) map from the directory structure to routes, but that's just a mapping rather than actually exposing the directories on the server. You can have /src/agents accessible as /agents. Or you could have /alice/bob/agents accessible through /agents. It's all just build tooling and web server config at the end of the day.

    • ceejayoz 4 days ago

      That's my point. Having your code in `/src` doesn't mean some of that code doesn't still have routing at `example.com/agents`. It doesn't have to be a real directory.

      A `.agents` directory (or routing pretending to be one) is nice because you are fairly unlikely to ever have user-facing `example.com/.agents` as a URL.

oblio 4 days ago

Or accept the fact that we're in 2025 and not follow Unix conventions from when paper and printer ink were expensive and they were printing out listings, and just name the thing "source".

I've gotten used to it, obviously - as someone with a career in IT for 20 years - but /etc & co. annoy me to no end. I know it will never change, I know why it won't change, I know GoboLinux will be just an interesting experiment, but it's still annoying.

  • von_lohengramm 4 days ago

    Have you considered that there are other metrics people are optimizing for nowadays? Perhaps typeability, screen real estate, familiarity/convention, etc.? Do you really want /User Files/Bob's Files/Coding Projects/Python Projects/Bob's Cool Python Library/Source Code/Model Files/SomeObject.py?

    • Propelloni 4 days ago

      Path length is still a thing in MS Windows, so be careful ;)

      • tracker1 4 days ago

        Depends on the WinAPI used... I still use C:/src instead of C:/Users/MyUser/src for that reason when working in windows all the same though. Too many unixy utils don't leverage the apis with the longer path, not to mention not supporting the internal certificate store and proxy config.

    • oblio 4 days ago

      1. Yes, I have, if you re-read my comment.

      2. I don't want to fight extreme positions which I did not make. Read this:

      https://gobolinux.org/at_a_glance.html

      I didn't say paths have to have spaces, etc. Just be reasonable and <<use full words in the year of our lord 2025>>.

      • eadmund 4 days ago

        Anything with a capital letter requires hitting two keys: Shift and then the desired letter. Thus /Programs requires 10 keystrokes rather than 9. Even worse, since the capital letter is at the beginning of the directory name, I have to type it and am unable to rely on tab-completion.

        /Programs with its ten keystrokes is over twice the keystrokes of /bin and its four. Short names are quicker to type and require less effort. Given that to a first approximation I spend my entire life typing on a keyboard, I very much wish to optimise that experience.

      • jadamson 4 days ago

        The first shell listing starts with `cd` and `ls`, the former being run in `~`. What does that weird `~` mean? Very strange.

        More seriously, their file system is still case-sensitive, and inside /Programs they have `Iptables` and `Fontconfig`, naively capitalized, but also `OpenOffice` and `HTTPD`.

        Not to mention that inside each program folder are `man` and `bin` as usual. I'm going to suggest the point of that article is structure and organization, not naming.

        Nobody reasonable complains about a three-letter abbreviation you can type with one hand. For a path you're either accessing a lot or never at all, it makes complete sense.

      • codedokode 4 days ago

        What's wrong with spaces? Macs support them since 80s. The only problem with spaces is caused by *nix, *nix shells, basically by Linux.

      • HumanOstrich 4 days ago

        I think paths need to have emojis too in order to represent the emotional state of the person who created them in the year of our memelord 2025.

    • animuchan 4 days ago

      While we're at this, let's make it rich text please. I want the important filenames to be in bold italic Comic Sans MS.

      • [removed] 4 days ago
        [deleted]
  • pompous_1234 4 days ago

        $HOME/accept/the/fact/that/were/in/2025/and/not/follow/unix/conventions/from/when/paper/and/printer/ink/were/expensive/and/they/were/printing/out/listings/and/just/name/the/thing/source/main.c
  • wahern 4 days ago

    we're -> we are

    I've -> I have

    & -> and

    co. -> company

    won't -> will not

    it's -> it is

    • Lockal 4 days ago

        /usr -> Program Files (hello spaces my old friends, you've come to break my apps again)
        /var -> ProgramData (but no spaces here)
        /home -> Documents and Settings
        /etc -> Control Panel
      • codedokode 4 days ago

        Spaces break things only in Lnux; Mac and Windows support them since beginning. Why should we write without spaces as if we were in 5th century?

        • jadamson 4 days ago

          Spaces are avoided on base Linux systems because they're clunky for terminals more than fear of outright breaking things. To the extent spaces there do break things, that also happens on Mac and Windows for the same reasons (hence ProgramData being conspicuously space-less).

    • csvm 4 days ago

      What is the point of this? What is this adding to the conversation?

      • jadamson 4 days ago

        What I took out of it is that we are human, and humans use abbreviations to save time and effort, not because printer ink was expensive in the '70s.

  • globular-toast 4 days ago

    Call it whatever you like. I don't care and that clearly wasn't the point of my comment.

    One thing I've learnt, though, is unless you have a very good reason to try to change language you should just talk the same language as everyone else. I don't like the American short billion. It makes no sense and it's less useful. But that's what I use because I speak English and that's what we use now. If I see a src/ directory I know exactly what it is. If I see source/ it will give me pause. Get over it IMO.

    • oblio 4 days ago

      > If I see a src/ directory I know exactly what it is. If I see source/ it will give me pause.

      Pause for what, coffee? How does this even make sense?

      What could possibly be inside source/, if not the exact same thing as in src/?

      • von_lohengramm 4 days ago

        While the meaning of "source" may be intuitively obvious, it's still relatively unfamiliar as "src" is far more prevalent than "source" when referring to source files. While "id est" may be equivalent to "i.e.", you'd still naturally pause when reading text using the former instead of the latter, because the latter is far more prevalent in usage than the former.

  • HumanOstrich 4 days ago

    /Library/System/Applications/Core/Security/Daemons.app/Framework/Version 4.6.2/Let's not go full Apple please.