archive filesystem interface

Stephane Popinet (popinet@lmm.jussieu.fr)
Tue, 20 Apr 1999 18:19:37 +0200


Hi,

I'm working at the moment on an extension to the linux filesystems
(supporting hard links). The goal is to provide a library allowing the
association of a unique key number to any file in the filesystems
mounted on a given machine. When this is done, this key can be used to
store data relative to the file in a database. The key is unique and
exists as long as the file (i.e. inode number) exists. This allows
renaming, modifying the contents or moving the file around without
loosing the file/key association.

The idea is to be able to associate information to any file in the
filesystems, without constraint on the directory the file is stored in
or the name it is given. Another goal is to provide a simple mechanism
by which the information stored in a database is maintained up to date
(i.e. can be made sensitive to file/key deletion).

I believe I have quite a clear idea of how to do that but I have two
questions I'd like to ask before starting coding like mad ...

- What do you people think about that? (useful? silly? You can already
do that with XXX?)
- What is the most portable and efficient way to get filename(s) from
inode numbers?

Many thanks

Stephane

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