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_**ODS2 file system for Linux**_
*FAQ*
1. *How do I install ODS2 ?*
2. *Where can I find information about ODS2 file system ?*
3. *Why doesn't ODS2 handle index files?*
4. *Who is Jonas Lindholm ?*
5. *What is ODS2 ?*
6. *When is write capability added ?*
7. *When is ODS2 ready for the 2.6 kernel ?*
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How do I install ODS2 ?
The easy way is to unpack the gzipped tar file into
|/usr/src/linux/fs/ods2| directory (yes you must have the kernel source
code installed) and run |make -f Makefile|.
You should then be able to load the ods2 file system with |insmod ./ods2.o|
If you use AMD you must change/remove the -march=i686 switch
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Where can I find information about ODS2 file system ?
As you might already know you will not find so much about ODS2 file
system on the WEB. What you need is the book VMS File System Internals.
Unfortunately you can not buy this book anymore. Instead you need to
wait for the new OpenVMS File System Internal, ISBN 1555582699
, written by
Brian Schenkenberger. The only bad is that you need to wait until the
first of December 2003 before you can get it.
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Why doesn't ODS2 handle index files ?
Index (ISAM) files on an ODS2 disk can only be read by RMS because the
internal structure of these files are unknown, or at least not well
known, so currently there is no free software to read index files.
I will try to figure out how to read index files but all that logic will
be in a .so file instead of the ODS2 file system driver itself because
of the complexity. By having the code outside of ODS2 will keep the ODS2
small.
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Who is Jonas Lindholm ?
I'm a developer of both kernel and application software for different
operating system.
Currently I work for a company providing software for exchanges world
wide. The company also run exchanges for several small and large
customers around the world.
I've been a Linux users since early -94 when I downloaded Slackware on
floppies and was able to get it to run at my first try. After that I've
been using Linux almost every day, both at home but also at work.
Because I'm developing an ODS2 module for Linux I'm also a big friend of
VMS and have worked with VMS since -84.
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What is ODS2 ?
ODS2 is the online structure used for VMS file systems. Because we have
ODS2 there was/is also an ODS1 version as well as ODS3 & 4 but the
latest version is ODS5 that allow file names to be stored case sensitive
and with characters not allowed by ODS2.
Because ODS5 is starting to be more widely used I'll, as soon I get ODS2
on Linux to run, also create an ODS5 version.
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When is write capability added ?
I'm in the progress (June 2003) to add write capability to the current
code but I don't have any release date for it yet. As soon I have
something that at least can create a file and write to it I will post
the code on this web page.
My goal is to have ODS2 as a partition were everything except the boot
partition can be located, including /dev directory.
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When is ODS2 ready for the 2.6 kernel ?
As soon I've ODS2 with write capability working with kernel 2.4 I'll
create a version for kernel 2.6.
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Copyright © 2003 [Jonas Lindholm]. All rights reserved.
Revised: October 09, 2003 .