in reply to Re: Perl implementation of Google Filesystem
in thread Perl implementation of Google Filesystem

Gmail filesystem (gmailfs) is actually a type of a filesystem (just like NTFS and ext3). From what I've been able to tell, Google Filesystem seems to be an application which uses FUSE to mount a "drive" which, when written to, simply sends an email with an attachment to Gmail and, when read from, simply retrieves the email and its attachment. In other words it seems to be a filesystem comprized of emails as files or rather inodes. In other words, unless I'm missing something, gmailfs is only a part of what Google Filesystem application does.
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Re^3: Perl implementation of Google Filesystem
by marto (Cardinal) on May 16, 2006 at 13:56 UTC
    gri6507,

    Your reply in confusing to me. You link to a GmailFS tool implemented in Python, then you say you have searched but can't find a Perl equivalent (I suggested a module from Cpan). Perhaps you need to clarify things by reading that page you link to again, finding out what it is and how it works, and if this is what your interested in. Or are you referring to Google File System which is not to be confused with GmailFS. An extract from the wiki:

    "Also it's noteworthy that this filesystem should not be misunderstood as it were GoogleFS, the filesystem created by Google for use in heavyweight servers hard storage, adjusted for performance and large-file handling features."

    Martin
      Thanks Marto. That was my confusion. I'll read the wiki next!
Re^3: Perl implementation of Google Filesystem
by Corion (Patriarch) on May 16, 2006 at 13:46 UTC

    Have you actually read the site you've linked to ? That thing also uses FUSE, and it doesn't work on Win32, for exactly the reasons you cite . It can't work under Windows because FUSE is "just a filesystem like NTFS and ext3", except that it asks a userland process to supply/store the data.

      I have read the cite several times. I also have searched for variations on the "google drive gmail filesystem" keywords and have found a number of other links such as this one which is clearly for windows and, by the sounds of it, is the same implementation (albeit, without FUSE).

        It is quite different. An explorer namespace extension is different from FUSE. It might use similar parts of the code, especially the parts talking to Google. The mechanisms of talking to the operating system are completely different. All of this is no matter of Perl though - both are talking to the operating system at a far lower level.

        If you want something like this in a cross-platform way, you will need to write or to find a module that exposes the same API to both FUSE and an Explorer Namespace Extension - which is not easy, and surely not conveniently done in Perl.