Solaris pseudo file systems
pseudo-file systems to most users appear as a standard file system, they are actually a method whereby various system and process data can be accessed. They are used to represent information like processes, network sockets, device drivers, and FIFOs (first-in-first-out structures).
recently under Solaris the /proc file system is the greatest example. It allows us to access details of running processes through pseudo-file-system abstraction. Here is a list of current pseudo-file-systems as of writing (there may be more in years to come), but these are the ones I know of and work with ;-)
| File System | Desription |
|---|---|
| NFS | Network File System (commonly known as the remote file system or remote UFS) |
| cachefs | Localised disk-based caching for NFS file systems |
| autofs | the standardised method of mounting via NFS* |
| specfs | not a common pseudo-device but generally used to access device drivers in /dev |
| procfs | the industry standard method to access running processes and kernel structures |
| sockfs | access to network sockets |
| fifofs | the ability to access FIFO stuctures |
| lofs | LOOPBACK file system; a method to crete an alternate path to existing files |