Virtual file system

A virtual file system (german virtual filesystem, VFS) is an abstraction layer on top of concrete file systems.

A VFS layer provides programs with a uniform API to access different file systems.

This serves as a common interface and covers various local file systems, and access to remote directories and files. The VFS maintains for each open file an entry (v -node)

  • Either the local file descriptor (i -node)
  • Or a global NFS Descriptor (r -node)

The dynamic hooking ( and removal ) of imported Directories is of a special program, the automounter performed.

A VFS layer (also: VFS switch), there are, among other things in Linux, BSD -based operating systems, the KDE desktop ( Kio ), Gnome desktop ( gvfs ) and the Jakarta project of the Apache Software Foundation.

Network File System
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