[ Thanks to An Anonymous Reader for
this link. ]
“The Linux file system architecture is an interesting example of
abstracting complexity. Using a common set of API functions, a
large variety of file systems can be supported on a large variety
of storage devices. Take, for example, the read function call,
which allows some number of bytes to be read from a given file
descriptor. The read function is unaware of file system types, such
as ext3 or NFS. It is also unaware of the particular storage medium
upon which the file system is mounted, such as AT Attachment Packet
Interface (ATAPI) disk, Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS) disk, or Serial
Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk. Yet, when the read
function is called for an open file, the data is returned as
expected. This article explores how this is done and investigates
the major structures of the Linux file system layer…”