[SAGA-RG] Semantics of the ns_entry constructor

[Mathijs den Burger]

Hi all,

The specification of the constructor of ns_entry confuses me a bit.
What happens if the provided URL points to an existing directory?

At page 205, the SAGA spec says:
- the default flags are ’None’ (0)
- the constructor performs an open of the entry 
- all notes to the respective open call (on namespace_directory) apply.

But at page 233, the first note of ns_directory.open() says:
- a ’BadParameter’ exception is thrown if ’name’ points to a directory,
or is an invalid entry name.

Together, these notes imply that the constructor of ns_entry should
throw a 'BadParameter' exception if it gets a URL that points to a
directory. The Java SAGA implementation of the Vrije Universiteit indeed
checks this case explicitly. I'm not sure what the other implementations
do.

However, if no ns_entry object can point to a directory, the method
ns_entry.is_dir() will always return false and is therefore pointless.

Either way, the spec seems to contain an inconsistency...
Or am I missing something?

Mathijs