More generally, I skimmed through this thread but still not sure I understand the scope. Is this julep expected to accomodate stuff like remote paths?
Current Julia filesystem API makes it kinda-possible to define the Base FS interface for remotes, so that users can write functions that work with either local or remote files. But it definitely requires some care.
One example is my package to work with OSF.io: GitHub - JuliaAPlavin/OpenScienceFramework.jl.
Would be great not to lose this ability at least, and make it more principled and convenient at best.