Installable File System Mechanism

The OS/2 Installable File System (IFS) Mechanism supports the following:

Coexistence of multiple, active file systems in a single PC

Multiple logical volumes (partitions)

Multiple and different storage devices

Redirection or connection to remote file systems

File system flexibility in managing its data and I/O for optimal performance

Transparency at both the user and application level

Standard set of File I/O API

Existing logical file and directory structure

Existing naming conventions

File system doing its own buffer management

File system doing file I/O without intermediate buffering

Extensions to the Standard File I/O API (FSCTL)

Extensions to the existing naming conventions

IOCTL type of communication between a file system and a device driver

Installable File System Overview

Extended Attributes

FSD File Image

FSD Initialization

IFS Commands

File System Function Calls

FSD System Interfaces

FSD Calling Conventions and Requirements