From owner-freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jun 19 15:16:01 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 79C9E37B401 for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2003 15:16:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail.ic.sunysb.edu (mail.ic.sunysb.edu [129.49.1.4]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DAE943FDD for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2003 15:16:00 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mzubair@ic.sunysb.edu) Received: from postal.ic.sunysb.edu (mail [129.49.1.4]) by mail.ic.sunysb.edu (8.12.9/8.12.9) with SMTP id h5JMFvgh021888 for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:15:59 -0400 (EDT) Received: from smtp.ic.sunysb.edu ([129.49.1.24]) by postal.ic.sunysb.edu (NAVGW 2.5.2.9) with SMTP id M2003061918155831694 for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:15:58 -0400 Received: from sparky.ic.sunysb.edu (sparky.ic.sunysb.edu [129.49.1.3]) by smtp.ic.sunysb.edu (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h5JMFxP4021896 for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:15:59 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (mzubair@localhost) by sparky.ic.sunysb.edu (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h5JMFxD2017897 for ; Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:15:59 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:15:59 -0400 (EDT) From: Mohammad Nayyer Zubair To: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Subject: ideas about a unioning file system X-BeenThere: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Filesystems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 22:16:01 -0000 Hi. We are currently designing a stackable, fan-out file system, similar in principle to the freebsd unionfs filesystem, at the Files and Storage Lab at Stony Brook University. We intend to use the FiST (http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~ezk/research/fist/) stackable templates. Has anyone extensively used freebsd unionfs? From a system/network administrator or from a kernel developer standpoint, what do you like about it and what you dont like about it? How should a unioning filesystem should behave? What specific features would you like it to have? Out of the previous efforts at a unioning file system like the Sun's TFS, 3DFS, Plan 9 and FreeBSD unionfs itself, which fs do you think came close to an ideal unioning file system? I would really appreciate if you can share any thoughts, ideas, comments on designing such a file system. Mohammad Nayyer Zubair