README
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fsp
Package fsp provides client and server implementations for a basic filesystem protocol.
Description
In the modern world of software, especially in system software, there are a huge variety of different protocols for abstracted data transport, communication, and representation. Typically, when a new area of system software is developed, a new form of data transfer is developed (as in the case of Berkeley sockets, which provided a networking interface for programs on Unix).
However, ideally, there should only be one standard abstracted data transport mechanism, which should be as general as possible to accomodate for many use cases. The Unix "everything is a file" concept, typically restricted to the notion of representing devices as files, is a good example of such a general data transport mechanism, which is scalable, simple, and extensible to the vast majority of real life scenarios. In particular, this can be said of the Plan 9 extension of the "everything is a file" model, in which services provide resources as files, using a single filesystem protocol.
In order to facilitate the development of software using the file-centric approach, this package has been created, which provides client and server implementations for a basic filesystem protocol. The package can be used for developing file servers that provide services as files, or adding functionality to existing systems for accessing filesystems using this protocol. Although a client implementation is included, its use for ordinary programs is discouraged - client support should be added to the operating system, which should allow attaching a filesystem provided by a file server to main file hierarchy. Programs should thus rely on the operating system's filesystem support rather than becoming clients themselves.
Documentation
Source Files