01.03.2006 21:03

User-level filesystems

Unix and Unix-like systems support a large number of filesystems. Recently new solutions have started to appear. They allow a filesystem written in user mode. For user it means no need to compile a new kernel, for programmers -- easier debugging and development.

Examples of such filesystems? Imagine a FTP directory mounted just like a local one. It's possible. Midnight Commander has it. The thing is that the interface was non-standard.

An example of a multi-purpose interface allowing to write a new filesystem easily is FUSE. Sumit Singh from IBM has written an introductionary paper about it.

FUSE is used for: GMailFS, gphoto2-fuse-fs (digital camera filesystem), Cvs-FS, SshFS and many more. You can see the whole list at the project's page.


Posted by Mara | Categories: Software