This is just some thoughts of mine, but I'd like to hear comments on
any problems with them that anybody can think of.
Basically, one facility I could use is that of being able to mount two
or more partitions on top of each other and have all the files from
all of the partitions available for reading. This is what I call a
transparent mount.
I don't know much about how the current mounting process works, so I'm
not currently in a position to try implementing this, but I intend to
learn enough to do so. However, I'd like to ensure that there aren't
any serious problems with the whole concept before I start.
Basically, I see it initially working such that for a transparent
mount to succeed, BOTH of the following MUST be true:
1. The partition(s) being mounted over must already be mounted
read-only. There is therefore no problem with where to put
any newly created files on such a system since such can't be
created in the first place.
2. There must not be any name clashes between the contents of
the partition(s) already mounted at that point and that of
the root directory of the partition being transparently
mounted on top of it.
I can see that verifying this second condition would be likely to be
time-consuming on some systems, so for an initial implementation, I
would suggest the following additional condition:
3. The total number of entries in the common directory, when
totalled from all partitions mounted thereon, must not be
such as to require more than one page of storage.
Comments, please?
Best wishes from Riley.
PS: The kernel versions page is now back online at the URL below, and
includes separate sublists both for each kernel series, and for
each year of development.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| There is something frustrating about the quality and speed of Linux |
| development, ie., the quality is too high and the speed is too high, |
| in other words, I can implement this XXXX feature, but I bet someone |
| else has already done so and is just about to release their patch. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* http://www.memalpha.cx/Linux/Kernel/
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