Extended file system on UNIX 4.2/4.3 BSD

[Chuq Von Rospach]

> Has any one done any work on a UNIX extended file system ??
> The minimal `feature' of such a file system, would
> be to allow individual file access, via pathnames.
> 
> For example; from machine A, one would cat a file on machine B
> with:
> 	cat A:/usr/jon/.login
> or
> 	cat /dev/net/A/usr/jon/.login

The purdue people put together something called ibis that moved the
<host>:<file> down to the library level. It was slow and relatively flakey,
but I think someone was looking at moving it into the kernel. 

On more transparent access issues, you can look at the Newcastle connection
(V7 based) which uses a superroot scheme or NFS, which was developed by Sun
and is spreading out into the rest of the world. NFS is transparent -- you
mount remote directories onto the local system with the 'mount' call and from
then on you don't care where it comes from. Since I work on NFS at sun I don't
want to turn this into a commercial -- if you're interested in learning more,
drop me a line. 

chuq
-- 
:From catacombs of Castle Tarot:        Chuq Von Rospach 
sun!chuq at decwrl.DEC.COM                 {hplabs,ihnp4,nsc,pyramid}!sun!chuq

Power ennobles. Absolute power ennobles absolutely.