Extended file system on UNIX 4.2/4.3 BSD

[Ronald P. Hughes]

In response to your inquiry regarding extended file systems under 4.2/4.3:

Here at Integrated Solutions I have implemented TRFS (Transparent Remote File
System) which allows access to remote files.  It is implemented within the
kernel, so that existing programs can make use of it without recompilation
or relinking.  Anywhere you can specify a filename or pathname, you can now
specify a remote pathname of the form "/@machinename/pathname", where
pathname is any arbitrary pathname on the remote machine.  For instance,
you can "cat /@bert/etc/passwd" to look at a remote file, or do something like
"vi /@bert/usr/demo/hello.c" to examine (and/or modify) a particular file.
If you want to browse, you can always "cd /@bert/usr/demo; ls -l; vi *.c".
If you don't like the remote pathname syntax, try "ln -s /@bert /B".  Since the
target of a symbolic link can be a remote pathname, remote filesystem mounting
is not needed.  In fact, there are NO new system calls associated with TRFS.
All the standard protection mechanisms apply.  Remote files can be locked,
and remote devices can be accessed.  One of our customers discovered that
after "ln -s /@bigmachine/dev/rmt0 /dev/rmt0" he could invoke tar in the
conventional manner to extract files from a remote tape drive.

My apologies to those who are offended by any kind of hype on the network.
Further inquiries should be directed to me at pyramid!isieng!ron, and flames
should be directed to /@bert/dev/null.

Ronald P. Hughes  Integrated Solutions  pyramid!isieng!ron  (408)943-1902