Frigate: An Object-Oriented File System for Ordinary Users

Vendors cannot provide all the operating system services that users demand. As a result, there has been a persistent desire to make operating systems more exible and customizable. It is natural that object-oriented technology would come to bear on this area. However, many solutions have been disappointing when it comes to ease of use. This paper describes the design and implementation of Frigate, an object-oriented le system. The goal of Frigate is to provide a modular, extensible framework. The framework allows new extensions to be \plugged-in" on the y. Frigate's focus di ers from most other le system designs in that it is targeted for use by ordinary users rather than by sophisticated operating system gurus. Thus, ease of use is a very important concern in the design. Frigate is fully implemented and supports a set of example le system extensions.