4 ms·

There seems to be no single software solution "out there" for mounting an SQLite DB (or an SQLite archive) as a file system, with or without per-record relative

by euroderf 11mo ago

There seems to be no single software solution "out there" for mounting an SQLite DB (or an SQLite archive) as a file system, with or without per-record relative paths.

spdegabrielle 11mo ago
Is there a software solution to mounting any DB as a filesystem?
forgotpwd16 11mo ago
There's FUSE-using Sqlitefs & WebDAV-using Wddbfs.
- euroderf 11mo ago
  FUSE on Mac seems to be a kernel/permissions mess.
crazygringo 11mo ago
Why would you want to do that?
- euroderf 11mo ago
  Convenience? Not cluttering up a directory with a transient file tree?
  - crazygringo 11mo ago
    But why would you want to use SQLite for that? On a Mac, you'd e.g. use and mount a disk image if you wanted to create a filesystem inside of a file. Windows has virtual hard drives, and you can do that kind of thing on Linux too. I don't understand why you'd ever want to use a relational database for that. It's a completely different paradigm. Although I also don't really understand why you're worried about cluttering up a directory. And if it's transient, it's that when temp dirs are for?
    - euroderf 11mo ago
      > I don't understand why you'd ever want to use a relational database for that. It's a completely different paradigm. Well, it might be a relation DB or else a zipfile. Why couldn't I encapsulate a file tree in a single file ? Maybe it's tens of thousands of quite small files.
      - crazygringo 11mo ago
        You can put tens of thousands of files in a single file lots of ways that are expressly designed for that. You don't need SQLite for that. So why would you want to use SQLite for that is my question? Mounting a database or a table as a filesystem doesn't make much sense to me. There's a very poor fit between the two paradigms. What does a subdirectory mean in a database? What does a foreign key or set of columns mean in a filesystem?
        euroderf 11mo ago
        Maybe you misunderstand the scenario. An SQLite DB can have records where each record contains a path. This column can be used to emulate a hierarchical tree-type filesystem. There's a few different ways to represent the path information, and the parent-child connectivity among records.
        crazygringo 11mo ago
        Ok. Again, why? Why would you want to use a relational database as a filesystem rather than a file format explicitly designed for that, for mounting?
        euroderf 11mo ago
        If you mean (for example) a zipfile, AFAICT there's not a whole lot of difference between them when used in this capacity.
        11mo ago

There seems to be no single software solution "out there" for mounting an SQLite DB (or an SQLite archive) as a file system, with or without per-record relative paths.

spdegabrielle 11mo ago

Is there a software solution to mounting any DB as a filesystem?

forgotpwd16 11mo ago

There's FUSE-using Sqlitefs & WebDAV-using Wddbfs.

euroderf 11mo ago
FUSE on Mac seems to be a kernel/permissions mess.

crazygringo 11mo ago

Why would you want to do that?

euroderf 11mo ago
Convenience? Not cluttering up a directory with a transient file tree?
- crazygringo 11mo ago
  But why would you want to use SQLite for that? On a Mac, you'd e.g. use and mount a disk image if you wanted to create a filesystem inside of a file. Windows has virtual hard drives, and you can do that kind of thing on Linux too. I don't understand why you'd ever want to use a relational database for that. It's a completely different paradigm. Although I also don't really understand why you're worried about cluttering up a directory. And if it's transient, it's that when temp dirs are for?
  - euroderf 11mo ago
    > I don't understand why you'd ever want to use a relational database for that. It's a completely different paradigm. Well, it might be a relation DB or else a zipfile. Why couldn't I encapsulate a file tree in a single file ? Maybe it's tens of thousands of quite small files.
    - crazygringo 11mo ago
      You can put tens of thousands of files in a single file lots of ways that are expressly designed for that. You don't need SQLite for that. So why would you want to use SQLite for that is my question? Mounting a database or a table as a filesystem doesn't make much sense to me. There's a very poor fit between the two paradigms. What does a subdirectory mean in a database? What does a foreign key or set of columns mean in a filesystem?
      - euroderf 11mo ago
        Maybe you misunderstand the scenario. An SQLite DB can have records where each record contains a path. This column can be used to emulate a hierarchical tree-type filesystem. There's a few different ways to represent the path information, and the parent-child connectivity among records.
        crazygringo 11mo ago
        Ok. Again, why? Why would you want to use a relational database as a filesystem rather than a file format explicitly designed for that, for mounting?
        euroderf 11mo ago
        If you mean (for example) a zipfile, AFAICT there's not a whole lot of difference between them when used in this capacity.
        11mo ago