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Thread: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

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1. April 12th, 2012, 10:34 PM #1

bitwize

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Writing a custom Filesystem Format

There is one thing that I've always wondered about, and yet never seem to find
when searching through google, tutorials, or even looking at programming
textbooks.
The question seems easy enough, but the answer seems elusive.

How do you write your own Filesystem/Format?

I've always wanted to know how to write my own system for the learning
experience.
I've worked on simple ones that read from a flatfile of a defined size, but never
one that was on a fully formatted drive.

Where do I start? Are there any examples/tutorials?

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2. April 13th, 2012, 04:11 AM #2

monarch_dodra

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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

You don't "write" a filesystem format, you define it. That's the "easy" part.

The hard part is getting the OS to recognize it and interface with it. This requires,
either:
- A third party program that accesses the drives directly
- A driver for the OS
- Kernal inclusion

Needless to say, all of the above are far from trivial, even for professionals, and
well outside the scope of plain old C++.

To put things into perspective, NTFS is still not fully supported on linux type
systems. ext2 is supposedly supported on windows with thrid party drivers, but
ext3 and ext4 aren't.

And I can tell you there is a LOT of pressure to get those working.
Is your question related to IO?
Read this C++ FAQ article at parashift by Marshall Cline. In particular points 1-6.
It will explain how to correctly deal with IO, how to validate input, and why you shouldn't count on "while(!in.eof())". And it
always makes for excellent reading.

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3. April 13th, 2012, 02:00 PM #3

 CMalcheski

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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

Actually the problem with NTFS is that the documentation on the spec was never
supposed to become public. Bits and pieces leaked out over the years; whether or
not Microsoft has finally just released the entire format is not something I've kept
up to date on. I had to write code to pull the paging file off the disk (and what I
found in there would make your skin crawl!!!).

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4. April 13th, 2012, 04:08 PM #4

bitwize

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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

Originally Posted by monarch_dodra

You don't "write" a filesystem format, you define it. That's the "easy" part.

The hard part is getting the OS to recognize it and interface with it. This requires,
either:
- A third party program that accesses the drives directly
- A driver for the OS
- Kernal inclusion

Needless to say, all of the above are far from trivial, even for professionals, and
well outside the scope of plain old C++.
 To put things into perspective, NTFS is still not fully supported on linux type
systems. ext2 is supposedly supported on windows with thrid party drivers, but
ext3 and ext4 aren't.

And I can tell you there is a LOT of pressure to get those working.

I'm not referring to the likes of NTFS because, as CMalcheski said, it's a
proprietary Microsoft filesystem that wasn't meant to become public.

I meant something more-or-less basic for testing. I'm just asking mainly about
how to format a drive in a custom format.
I don't mean the OS drive either, just -- for example -- a USB key, or another
partition.

I know it'd require different applications to access/alter/read/write information to

it already.
I'm not saying to entirely incorporate it into the system and make it work with the
basic file manager, I'm saying to build a separate one that will work with the new
partition.

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5.
6. April 13th, 2012, 04:58 PM #5

S_M_A

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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

Go ahead and make something of you own mind but it doesn't matter, you still
have to do what monarch_dodra says.
Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by
definition, not smart enough to debug it.
- Brian W. Kernighan
 To enhance your chance's of getting an answer be sure to read
http://www.codeguru.com/forum/announ...nouncementid=6
and http://www.codeguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366302 before posting

Refresh your memory on formatting tags here

http://www.codeguru.com/forum/misc.php?do=bbcode

Get your free MS compiler here

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs

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7. April 14th, 2012, 12:00 AM #6

bitwize

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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

Originally Posted by S_M_A

Go ahead and make something of you own mind but it doesn't matter, you still
have to do what monarch_dodra says.

I'm not attempting to dispute what he's saying, just trying to understand it, which I
actually get now.
At first I misunderstood what he meant, thinking that drivers would be to integrate
the system into the OS's file manager -- but then I realized that's to recognize the
actually drive/format, and detect how the file system is dealt with before data
manipulation can even be achieved.

I realize that creation of one, in a whole, is not particularly easy by any means --
but it's far from unachievable. I'm just merely trying to learn, that's all. No
disrespect intended.

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8. April 14th, 2012, 12:23 AM #7

bitwize
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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

By chance, searching for how to write my own device driver lead my to the
Windows Driver Kit, which includes a built in API for recognizing file systems.

I wasn't looking specifically for Windows, but I think I'll take a look there.

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9. April 14th, 2012, 01:37 AM #8

aamir121a

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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

At Amazon search for a book Linux kernel development (3rd Edition ) , on page
261 page the book you will find virtual filing system , ( all filing systems under
linux are implemented as such ) Study the interface and implementation
( language C ) after you are mastered this ( you can even submit some patches )
you are then in a position to develop your own. Writing a good filing system as
hard as developing a kernel ( operating system ). Lot of things have to be
mastered , like data structures in C, As you would Digg deep you will find only
the best of developers get to work on these.

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10.
11. April 14th, 2012, 08:23 AM #9

Eri523

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Germany
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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

This may be some interesting related reading too:
http://wiki.osdev.org/File_Systems, including links to more stuf.

I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into
the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

This is a snakeskin jacket! And for me it's a symbol of my individuality, and my

belief... in personal freedom.

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12. April 14th, 2012, 09:22 AM #10

bitwize

Junior Member

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Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

Originally Posted by aamir121a
 At Amazon search for a book Linux kernel development (3rd Edition ) , on page
261 page the book you will find virtual filing system , ( all filing systems under
linux are implemented as such ) Study the interface and implementation
( language C ) after you are mastered this ( you can even submit some patches )
you are then in a position to develop your own. Writing a good filing system as
hard as developing a kernel ( operating system ). Lot of things have to be
mastered , like data structures in C, As you would Digg deep you will find only
the best of developers get to work on these.

Thank you so much for that! Seriously, I wasn't aware of the book's existence, the
only book I really have is Stroustrup's book the C++ Programming Language.

I love learning about kernal/file system development. I much prefer designing and
working on the back end of systems

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13. July 23rd, 2012, 03:45 PM #11

irhiggs

Junior Member

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Jul 2012
Posts
1

Re: Writing a custom Filesystem Format

I signed up to respond to this question...

Check out Fuse. It allows you to slap together your own FS quickly and easily.
http://fuse.sourceforge.net/
Example: http://fuse.sourceforge.net/helloworld.html
You will need to make sure you map your custom functions like so:

Code:

static struct fuse_operations hello_oper = {

.getattr = hello_getattr,
.readdir = hello_readdir,
.open = hello_open,
.read = hello_read,
};
 Also, if you want to get your hands dirty, as aamir121a said, the linux kernel
development is a good place to look. As you have already discovered, there isn't
many web resources for this topic, but if you download the linux kernel source
and look at ../fs/ramfs you will see one of the smallest FSs implemented directly
into the kernel.

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