uploading attachments as a node

Hi,

My site has a need to host hundreds of PDF files. Some of them are referenced/linked from multiple web pages.

I would like to be able to play around with attachments like we can using the Attach Node module with images, that is, I would like to be able to upload a file as a node. For example, uploading a file called 'new textfile.txt' might create a node called: node/123 I could then display a link in other content nodes ideally using the tag: [node:123].

This would give me the flexibility of having one master file, visible on many nodes (pages). If I updates 'node/123', then all the other links referencing the node would be updated as well. Of course it would be nice to be able to alter the file title and toggle the ability to display the file size, i.e. [node:123,title="large file",size="on"] This would display a link called 'large file 412KB' and then the size of the file: '412KB'

If it can't be done using the word 'node', perhaps 'file' might be appropriate i.e. [file:123, title="small file",size="off"] This would display a link called 'small file' with the displaying of the file size text turned off.

This should work inside a 'Tablemanager' table.

Currently as I understand it, I have to upload (using the upload module), each attachment inside each page that requires a link to the file.

As of the 13th Sept. 2006, the maintainer of the Attachment and the Filemanager modules isn't looking to move these to Drupal 5.0. Therefore I am hesitant in relying on these modules. I have also investigated using the cck module however, that didn't appear to allow uploading files as a new content type.

Am I missing something here, or is there something else being built in the wings of the Drupal stage? Or is there another way or at least something similar to do what I would like to do.