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In this paper we describe an architecture for extensible file systems. The architecture enables the extension of file system functionality by composing (or stacking) new file systems on top of existing file systems. A file system that is stacked on top of an existing file system can access the existing file system's files via a well-defined naming interface and can share the same underlying file data in a coherent manner. We describe extending file systems in the context of the Spring operating system. Composing file systems in Spring is facilitated by basic Spring features such as its virtual memory architecture, its strongly-typed well-defined interfaces, its location-independent object invocation mechanism, and its flexible naming architecture. File systems in Spring can reside in the kernel, in user-mode, or on remote machines, and composing them can be done in a very flexible manner.
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