GSoC 2008: File system access utilities (fs-utils)

It relies on the ukfs library, so as to use the file systems source code from the kernel instead of duplicating it. By doing so, it benefits from the widely tested sources from the kernel. As mentioned by Antti Kantee, the kernel sources can also benefit from the testing and slightly different usage patterns provided by this project.

These programs have been, of course, released under the 2-clause BSD license.

A tarball of the latest cvs version is available here (20080925).

The last tarball of this project as a GSoC project here (20080818)

You can untar it wherever you want.
It requires a userland build from the source from August 2nd (20080802) or newer.
It needs at least read access to the image. There is no need to add specific options in the kernel.

I blog at blog.stacktic.org.

• August 11 - August 17, 2008: Last week
  
  • Improved fsu_mount
  • Added image alias support (read from ~/.fsurc) (idea from Antti)
  • Fixed some bugs


• August 4 - August 10, 2008: 11th week
  
  • Commands can now be called without the fstype
  • Replaced the fsu_fts library by a fsu_utils library
  • "Rewrote" chflags, chmod, chown, du and rm
  • Cleanup


• July 28 - August 3, 2008: 10th week
  
  • RUMP and UKFS are now in the base system
  • Using ukfs_modload


• July 21 - July 27, 2008: 9th week
  
  • Added the fsu_fts library (fts altered to run with ukfs)
  • Replaced ls and du by a modified version of The NetBSD source code
  • Added some tests
  • Fixed some bugs


• July 14 - July 20, 2008: 8th week
  
  • Added a find command
  • Improved console:
    • Added support for lines with more than one command separated by "&&", "||" and ";"
    • Improved support for redirection: ">" and ">>" to redirect the output to a file in the image
    • Fixed to work with filenames containing spaces
    • Added scripting support


• July 7 - July 13, 2008: mid-term week
  
  • Filled the mid-term survey
  • Improved rm
  • Improved this history
  • Added a write command
  • Added the possibility to redirect the output of a command to a file and to run external commands on a file from the image in console


• June 30 - July 6, 2008: mid-term evaluation is approaching
  
  • Updated flist (the library which builds the linked-list of files):
    • Removed the limitation of the path length
    • Added an option to order the list "child-first"
  • Added the du command and corresponding manpage
  • Updated some manpages
  • Sent the latest version of the code on Friday
  • Rewrote this page


• June 23 - June 29, 2008: Fifth week (a month after the official start of coding)
  
  • Most of the must-have components have been written but still need some more testing, clean up and optimisation.
  • The mounting code is now build as a static library
  • The code managing path has been replaced by a static library which builds a linked-list of files
  • The following programs and options have been implemented :
    

    Program	Options
    cat	b, e, n, s, t, v
    chflags	h, R, v
    chmod	h, R, v
    chown	h, R, v
    cp	P, R, v
    diff	(equivalent to diff -q)
    ln	f, h, i, n, s, v
    ls	A, a, c, F, l, n, p, R, r, S, T, t, u
    mkdir	p
    mkfifo	m
    mknod	F, g, R, r, m, u
    mv	i, v
    rm	R, r, v
    rmdir	p
    touch	-



• June 16 - June 22, 2008: Fourth week
  
  • Isolated the code which manages a path
  • Found a way to allow mknod and created a patch for RUMP
  • Added a manpage for each program
  • Sent my code to Antti on Thursday
  • Wrote a proof of concept of the command console tool


• June 9 - June 15, 2008: Third week
  
  • Added mkfifo
  • Tried to import mknod
  • Moved to a new flat


• June 2 - June 8, 2008: Second week
  
  • Added chmod and chown commands
  • Added options to rm and cp (recursion)
  • Oral exams and report week


• May 26 - June 1, 2008: First week
  
  • Added the fsu prefix to each command
  • Written exams week


• April 21 - May 25, 2008: Community Bonding Period
  
  • Lot of thinking about the project
  • Tried to fix RUMP to work with current
  • Replaced read/write by pread/pwrite in the ukfs library
  • Isolated the mounting code
  • Sent proofs of concept to Antti

• _ April 21, 2008: Community Bonding Period -- Students get to know mentors, read documentation, get up to speed to begin working on their projects.
• _ May 26, 2008: Students begin coding for their GSoC projects; Google begins issuing initial student payments
• _ July 7, 2008: Mentors and students can begin submitting mid-term evaluations.
• _ July 14, 2008: Mid-term evaluation deadline; Google begins issuing mid-term student payments provided passing student survey is on file.
• _ August 11, 2008: Suggested 'pencils down' date. Take a week to scrub code, write tests, improve documentation, etc.
• _ August 18, 2008: Firm 'pencils down' date. Mentors, students and organization administrators can begin submitting final evaluations to Google.
• September 1, 2008: Final evaluation deadline; Google begins issuing student and mentoring organization payments provided forms and evaluations are on file.

• cat(1),
• chflags(1),
• chmod(1),
• chown(8),
• cp(1),
• du(1),
• ln(1),
• ls(1),
• mkdir(1),
• mkfifo(1),
• mknod(8),
• mv(1),
• rm(1),
• rmdir(1),
• touch(1).

These tools rely on the ukfs library which uses RUMPs (Runnable Userspace Meta Programs).