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• MetaFS 0.1.5 is here

  After six long months, MetaFS 0.1.5 is here. This release has two major new features: services, and root plugins. Services are alternate ways of looking at a file or directory -- for example, viewing a tarball as though it were a directory. Root plugins allow MetaFS to get its filesystem data from whatever source you choose; you are no longer limited to using a standard directory tree somewhere in your filesystem. This release may be downloaded from the SourceForge release page: https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=125786&package_id=137581&release_id=377418 PLEASE NOTE that MetaFS 0.1.5 contains some configuration file changes that are incompatible with 0.1.4. The metafs.conf.example file has been updated to reflect these changes, which are fairly straightforward. Also, please review the NEWS file for more specific information about what has changed in this release. The biggest new feature in 0.1.5 is the support for services. Services are different ways to look at a file or directory. The typical hypothetical example is a tarball -- a MetaFS plugin might provide a service that allows you to look at the contents of that tarball as though it were just another directory in the filesystem. A more exciting example (which is planned for MetaFS 0.2) is saved searches. You create a file describing the search you want to perform, and then you can look at the search results through a MetaFS service as though they just another directory. Right now, there is only one plugin (the 'metameta' plugin) that provides any services, but more are planned. (You can write your own, too.) The other major feature is the support for "root plugins". This allows MetaFS to draw its filesystem data from somewhere other than your "real" filesystem. For example, one could write a root plugin that stores its data on a standard SQL database server. MetaFS includes two root plugins -- realfs, which serves normal filesystem trees, and memfs, which serves a filesystem that exists only in RAM, similar to Linux's tmpfs. For more information about MetaFS, please see the homepage at: http://metafs.sf.net/

  posted by condordes 1456 days ago

• File released: /metafs/0.1.5/metafs-0.1.5.tar.gz

  posted 1456 days ago

• metafs 0.1.5 file released: metafs-0.1.5.tar.gz

  ========================= 0.1.5 -- 11 December 2005 ========================= This is a PRE-ALPHA release of MetaFS. It's been almost six months since the last release, and for that I apologize. (I've been trying to keep to a monthly or bi-monthly release schedule.) This release includes a number of new features, listed below. The API is in close-to-final shape for plugin developers -- it shouldn't change too much, at least for a while. :) (Don't get me wrong, there will still be incompatible changes, just not as many of them. At this point in development, I prefer a good API to one that's stable.) PLEASE NOTE: The options MetaFS expects in its configuration file have changed incompatibly. However, it shouldn't be too difficult to update -- please review the doc/metafs.conf.example file to get an idea of what you'll need to change. ALSO NOTE: The 'custom' plugin has been removed, and its functionality has been incorporated into the 'realfs' plugin (see below). NEW/UPDATED FEATURES - MetaFS now requires a "root plugin", which is a plugin that provides the normal filesystem tree. Thus, metafsd can serve normal filesystem trees ('realfs'), filesystems that exist only in memory ('memfs'), or anything else you care to write a plugin for. Most users (especially those upgrading from 0.1.4) will want the realfs plugin -- memfs exists primarily for testing purposes. - MetaFS now supports the notion of 'services', which are alternate ways of viewing a file or directory. (The canonical example of this is a 'tar' service which allows you to view the contents of a tarball as if it were just another directory in the filesystem.) Currently, the only plugin that provides any services is the 'metameta' plugin. It provides two services: - xattrs -- View the extended attributes of a file/directory as though they themselves were regular files. - services -- Provides symlinks to all the available services for a specific file/directory. For example, if you want to view the extended attributes of a file 'report.tex', you could do it like this: $ cd report.tex#xattrs $ ls user.blah user.some-other-attribute $ more user.blah This is the value of the 'user.blah' attribute. $ - The search path for plugins is now configurable in metafs.conf. INCOMPATIBILITIES WITH 0.1.4 - The functionality of the 'custom' plugin (which allowed you to set extended attributes on files, even when the underlying filesystem didn't have xattr support) has been moved into the 'realfs' plugin. - MetaFS now makes use of FUSE 2.4's low-level interface. This is more efficient, simpler, and less error-prone than the standard path-based FUSE interface. However, FUSE 2.4 or later is now required to run MetaFS. - The libmetafs API has been simplified and cleaned up, as follows: - libmetafsd is now called libmetafs. - Methods which need to return inodes now actually return InodeRefs, instead of accepting pointers-to-InodeRefs and setting them. - mknod()/mkdir()/symlink() now return the newly-created Inode objects, so an API user doesn't have to do a separate lookup() to find the object they just created. - metafs::Directory now has a creat() convenience function which calls mknod() with the appropriate parameters. - The API now uses exceptions to report errors, so error handling should be easier. - The documentation has been updated and extended. BUGFIXES - Plugins should now cleanly unload at exit (without segfaulting metafsd). - Permission handling is closer to the UNIX standard. - Several minor extended attribute bugs have been fixed. - Fixed a deadlock in metafs::Inode::plugin_data(). - Several locking bugs (including one deadlock) have been fixed. - MetaFS is more accurate with its reference counting. KNOWN ISSUES - The init.d script provided with the Gentoo ebuild does not properly shut down MetaFS. To properly shut down the daemon, you should unmount the MetaFS filesystem.

  posted 1456 days ago

• MetaFS 0.1.4 -- Finally!

  MetaFS is an enhanced filesystem layer for Linux. It provides additional information (such as MP3 tags) to the user through standard filesystem interfaces (such as extended attributes). It also provides more flexible file management, by building search or other such services into the filesystem itself. MetaFS 0.1.4 focuses mainly on improving its interface to more closely match that of a standard UNIX filesystem. As a result, 0.1.4 is the first version of MetaFS that can successfully serve home directories to KDE users. Specific highlights of this release include: - Reduced memory usage - Better handling of hard links and renames - Better support for setgid directories - Proper ownership of symlinks - New API features; for example, Inodes now know about their parents - API changes to improve consistency and efficiency Users should also read the NEWS file included in the MetaFS distribution for more information and a list of known issues.

  posted by condordes 1620 days ago

• File released: /metafs/0.1.4/metafs-0.1.4.tar.gz

  posted 1620 days ago

• metafs 0.1.4 file released: metafs-0.1.4.tar.gz

  posted 1620 days ago

• MetaFS 0.1.3 Released

  MetaFS allows users to access information about their files (such as MP3 tags or JPEG EXIF tags) easily and consistently using extended attributes. It also allows them to perform fast searches using this information. It can be easily extended by writing plugins to support new types of metadata and uses the FUSE library to act as a layer between user programs and the filesystem, which allows indexes to be kept up-to-date in realtime, and eliminates the need for a specialized metadata API. Version 0.1.3 of MetaFS contains mostly changes that are not directly visible to the user. However, there are a few updates worth noting: - The plugin system has been completely redesigned and is now more flexible. -- The MetaFS API reference has been extensively updated. It now also covers the new plugin system. -- There are several bugfixes which should lead to greater stability and correctness. Users should also read the NEWS file included in the MetaFS distribution for more information and a list of known issues.

  posted by condordes 1687 days ago

• File released: /metafs/0.1.3/metafs-0.1.3.tar.gz

  posted 1687 days ago

• metafs 0.1.3 file released: metafs-0.1.3.tar.gz

  posted 1687 days ago

• MetaFS Development Update

  It's been well over a month since the last MetaFS release, so I think some kind of progress report is in order. I setup a Trac environment (link below) to help me track (no pun ;P) my progress and To-Do items on MetaFS. The 0.1.3 release is pretty close now. All that remains are some hooks to add, some cleanups to do, and some documentation to finish. I can't promise a specific date, unfortunately, because school has started again. :-/ I should note there will be one incompatible change from 0.1.2: MetaFS will require the Boost C++ libraries. I did this because Boost has some useful threading and function primitives that have saved me a fair amount of development time (and kept the codebase cleaner). The past month has seen me working only in very sporadic spurts, through finals (which were in mid-March). The bulk of that work has gone towards refactoring the plugin system, and the rest of it has been directed towards cleaning up and bugfixing in general. The next release should be more stable than 0.1.2. For those of you who want to develop plugins for MetaFS, please take a look at the upcoming 0.1.3 release. I am especially interested in feedback on the documentation, and on how to improve the plugin system. The Trac site (temporarily): https://svn.condordes.net/metafs/trac.cgi Documentation (regenerated nightly, but again, temporarily): http://www.condordes.net/metafs/doc/html/ Boost libraries: http://www.boost.org/ Be aware that both condordes.net links are on my home (DSL) server, so please be gentle. Also note that the documentation still isn't complete, but edits on what's there are welcome.

  posted by condordes 1712 days ago