implementation of file-related modules

[Alastair Reid]

> For something like path separators, it seems fine to have
> Directory.Windows, Directory.Unix, and Directory.Mac, then have
> Directory.Native bind at compile time.

Note that it is (occasionally) useful to use Directory.Windows on a program 
running on a Unix box.  One example would be a CVS-like application which has 
to translate filenames from one format to another.

> So perhaps we could have
>
> Platform.{Debian,FreeBSD,MacOSX,Windows98,Windows2000}.
>    {configDirectory,fileSeparator,etc}

I find it harder to think why I would want to know where Windows machines 
store their configuration files.

So I think there is value in having multiple versions of file-related modules 
available in each system but I'm much less convinced that having multiple 
configuration file locations available is useful.

--
Alastair