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> when the file system became hierarchical (it had a very different structure early on). This leaves me to wonder, what was the structure early on?
by winstonewert 4y ago
> when the file system became hierarchical (it had a very different structure early on).
This leaves me to wonder, what was the structure early on?
- aap_ 4y agoIt was a general graph. Any directory entry could link to any inode. Standardize ., .. and forbid links to directories other than those and from the directory they're in and you get the classic UNIX file tree.
- xdennis 4y agoMultics, the predecessor to Unix, was the first OS to use a hierarchical file system. Before that, file systems were typically flat: a single long list of files. I don't know how the original Unix was, but presumably flat.
- cryptonector 4y agoIIRC before that Unix had directories, but it wasn't a rooted DAG. I don't recall the specifics, but I suspect you had to know a directory's inode to get to it if you couldn't reach it from where you were.