As adoption ramps up, the pressure to make filesystem access "easier" will increase. I just hope they hold it off, as isolation is the key feature of the platform.
As adoption ramps up, the pressure to make filesystem access "easier" will increase. I just hope they hold it off, as isolation is the key feature of the platform.
Not sure where this worry even comes from? Browsers have never let anything (not even JS) have raw access to the host FS, so not sure why Wasm would be different.
Edit: Ah, I realize now you might be thinking about running Wasm outside of browsers, via some other runtime. If so, I'd understand the concern as most desktop technologies allow unfettered access to FS and more.
The design of the WASM vm seems to preclude escapes, unless people get sloppy and make ladders that can be climbed out of. That's where my concern comes from.
I'm not sure what you mean by "raw access", but the File System Access API certainly allows web applications to do a lot of things.
> The File System Access API (formerly known as Native File System API and prior to that it was called Writeable Files API) enables developers to build powerful web apps that interact with files on the user's local device, like IDEs, photo and video editors, text editors, and more.
https://web.dev/file-system-access/
> After a user grants a web app access, this API allows the app to read or save changes directly to files and folders on the user’s device. Beyond reading and writing files, this API provides the ability to open a directory and enumerate its contents. Additionally, web apps can use this API to store references to files and directories they’ve been given access to, allowing the web apps to later regain access to the same content without requiring the user to select the same file again.
> Additionally this API also makes it possible for websites to get access to some directory without having to first prompt the user for access.
https://wicg.github.io/file-system-access/
It's not just a draft, it's been part of Chrome since version 78 in 2019.
> After a user grants access, this API allows web apps to read or save changes directly to files and folders on the user's device. It does all this by invoking the platform's own open and save dialog boxes.
https://blog.chromium.org/2019/09/chrome-78-beta-new-houdini...
Discussion at the time:
I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this one sticks .. oh and, please make WASM run in a browser without JS :)