File System API - History

History

Some early operating systems were capable of handling only tape and disk file systems. These provided the most basic of interfaces with:

  • Write, read and position

More coordination such as device allocation and deallocation required the addition of:

  • Open and close

As file systems provided more services, more interfaces were defined:

  • Metadata management
  • File system maintenance

As additional file system types, hierarchy structure and supported media increased, additional features needed some specialized functions:

  • Directory management
  • Data structure management
  • Record management
  • Non-data operations

Multi-user systems required APIs for:

  • Sharing
  • Restricting access
  • Encryption

Read more about this topic:  File System API

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