Re: Replacing the file system

n8allan@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I am in the dreaming phase of a derivative OS with a non-traditional
file system. Perhaps I am delusional, but the message based
architecture and the fact that the file system is in user mode makes
me wonder if replacing the Minix file system would require less
massive surgery than most other kernels. My primary wonder and
concern centers around bootstrapping and the relationship between the
kernel and the file system for things like paging. Would anybody mind
commenting on this; perhaps a rough guestimate on the effort of such
an undertaking or even a few ideas about possible challenges?

Well, to answer both parts of your concern:

- the boot monitor reads part of the file system in the Minix partition to
find the correct boot image to load. Changing the file system requires
changing the boot monitor. I have no clue how much work this is but the
book states that the boot monitor is quite complex, so it's probably more
than five minutes work.
- Minix does not use paging, so no file system problems there.

Regards,

Jens

--
Jens de Smit
Student Computer Science | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
jfdsmit@xxxxxxxxx | http://www.few.vu.nl/~jfdsmit
"[In the end, people] get furious at IT that the goddamn magic isn't working"
-- Stewart Dean
.

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