Importance

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Abstract

An apparatus and method for enabling users of a network which have computers running several different operating systems to easily access each others files. In order that files may be referenced and accessed by computers utilizing different operating systems, an algorithm is used to create legitimate, meaningful filenames by combining both a filename from a host computer's 'native' name space and a unique 'inode' number from the host computer's file system assigned for this file. The preliminary information necessary to apply the algorithm is able to be obtained rather easily, since the to host computer's filename and inode number are returned by a well-known UNIX operating system call 'getdents(2)'. Client computers whose operating systems do not support a particular filename would both see and access a particular file via special filename that is computed-on-the-fly, wherein this name is not actually stored on the host computer in either the file system or in a file, thereby eliminating a need for storing any additional information in the system. Using a unique file characteristic such as inode number for computing the mapping of a long filename, rather than the long filename alone, improves the uniqueness of resulting filenames, which is crucial if a client is dealing with large directories of files with similar names.

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First Claim