(no subject)

[nibot]

One of my current computer-related projects is to write a Linux filesystem module ('ToyFS') and then try to implement a 'union' filesystem (like in Plan 9). Anyone else interested in this? If I'm successful I'll try to write a 'linux filesystem module how-to'.

Comments

[kaolinfire.livejournal.com]

hmm. I'm interested. :)

More interested in maybe doing so for freebsd. but I don't know how much one would relate to the other, so linux is as good a place to start as anywhere...

Toy stand for anything?

what is a "union" filesystem?

[nibot.livejournal.com]

Linux and FreeBSD both implement a Virtual Filesystem (http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/rgooch/linux/docs/vfs.txt) interface, so I think it will be very similar in each. I don't have the canonical BSD reference (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201549794/splorgdotorg/), but I do have a decent book about the linux kernel (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596002130/splorgdotorg/). Do you by any chance have a campus account (i.e. ocf or csua) by which you could access campus newsgroups? I think we'll be discussing this project mainly at ucb.org.xcf (news:ucb.org.xcf).

Toy = something fun to play with

Union FS = a meta-fs that lets you take two directory trees, rooted at A and B respectively, and form their "union", which will be mounted at C and will appear to contain all those files in A *and* those in B. For an idea of what I'd like to mess with, see the Plan 9 documents (http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/index.html).

[kaolinfire.livejournal.com]

I once had an ocf account. I think it's dead (they tend to expire). I have a csua account but lost the password many, many years ago (I don't know if I ever logged in) but the account still seems to exist. I need to get it reseeded or something.

Toy should stand for something, regardless. ;)

union sounds pretty nifty. huh. are there fs hooks for things like that? or would one have to make it an "add it as a library and recompile" sort of thing?

I'm going to be incommunicado for almost a week, but when I get back... :)

[nibot.livejournal.com]

Neither OCF nor CSUA accounts expire. If go to Heller Lounge (OCF) or Soda Hall (CSUA) you can get the password changed.

I'm sure we could find a good backronym for `toy'.

Additional filesystems can be written entirely as modules, so that you compile them, then just type "insmod toyfs", and presto-magico, the filesystem is installed.

The way Plan 9 uses the filesystem namespace is incredibly cool. For instance, rio, the windowing environment (equivalent to X), opens up /dev/console, dev/mouse, etc, and it presents exactly the same interface inside each of its windows. So, you can actually run rio inside of a rio window, ad infinitim. it's very cool.

Vacation?

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

I don't know what this means.

You should meet inuy, because you two are the only ones that post in Swedish on my friends page, and because both of your lj names are your first names backwards.

And she has a great description of some Swedish(?) practice called "Hundpolo" in her latest post.