Hello
Readers,
Welcome
to FilesystemsForYou (FFY). In this journal we shall explore the
world of file systems which is made out to be one of the most complex
sub systems of an operating system. It is rich with varieties of file
systems varying in their complexity, performance, reliabilty,
popularity, and the target devices they are deployed on, to name a
few differentiators.
This
journal is primarity meant to serve fellow platform enthusiasts like
myself to start learning this file systems from absolute basics. So I
intend to cover this subject by building a strong base and not
attaching the sub system to a particular operating system but
understand file system alone as a independent sub system trying to a
solve a particular problem. However, once the basic understanding is
obtained, I wish to delve into operating system specific nuances of
the file system and I choose linux as a case study for the following
reasons.
1.
Linux has and will continue to support all the file systems. File
systems are just too many in numbers. Each with a distinct advantage
and trade offs. There is not a single file system that is suitable
for all purposes. Linux has been designed to plug in any file system.
Thus studying file systems under the linux umbrella will help
appreciate the breadth the file system and it's varying requirements.
2.
Linux frame work is completely object oriented. The
framework abstracts lower level variations and complexities of the
file systems through a layer called virtual file system. This
abstrastion maximises user experience.No matter what filesystems are
used underneath, for a linux user it seems there is no difference.
There are many such abstractions in linux that makes it the reliable,
fast, secure and easy to use operating system.
3.
Linux evolves and evolves at a very fast rate. Thanks to the
developer community that is helping us in this evolution by
constantly updating and adapting the operating to system to cater to
users accross the globe. A chance to study such a project will be
exciting.
4.
The application areas of linux is vast. Right from consumer front to
research community, everyone these days is using linux. Study
of file systems under linux enables us to see what makes linux so
friendly.
This
project is supposed to build file systems knowledge of a person
ground up. So please read the journal from chapter one through the
end. However if you have had some prior knowledge and are looking to
study a particular aspect of file systems or something specific to
linux file systems, you shall do so by jumping to the particular
chapter by referring to the index. I will try my best to keep the
chapters more cohesive and less coupled and provide hyperlinks as
much as possible so that browsing the journal would be easy.
In
the coming chapters we shall approach a particular engineering
problem and solve it through the files systems. Let's start.
Continue
to next post.
