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Linux File System Flow

User Process👨‍💻
Application LayerUser Space
System Calls💻
Kernel InterfaceAPI
open()read()write()close()stat()lseek()mkdir()rmdir()unlink()rename()chmod()chown()Physical Storage💿
Storage DevicesData Persistence
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)Solid State Drive (SSD)Network File System (NFS)Linux File System Flow🐧
LinuxFile SystemOperating System
Kernel⚙️
Operating System CoreKernel Space
Virtual File System (VFS)🗄️
Abstraction LayerFile System Interface
File Operations AbstractionUnified Interface for File SystemsHandles File System Specific DetailsName Resolution (Path Translation)Translates User-specified Paths to InodesUses Directory Structure and Inode NumbersAccess Control (Permissions)Enforces File Access RulesUser/Group/Other PermissionsFile Metadata ManagementStores File AttributesSize, Date, Ownership, PermissionsFile Systems💾
Disk ManagementData Storage
Ext4💾
ExtensibleJournaling
Journaling File SystemHigh Performance, ReliabilityCommonly Used in LinuxXFS💾
ScalableHigh Performance
High Performance, ScalabilityUsed for Large File SystemsBtrfs💾
SnapshottingCoW
Copy-on-Write (CoW) TechnologyData Integrity and SnapshotsNTFS💾
Cross-PlatformWindows
Windows-compatible File SystemRead/Write Support in LinuxFAT32💾
SimpleWidely Supported
Simple, Widely SupportedUsed for Removable MediaBlock Device Drivers💿
Device DriversHardware
Interface with Physical StorageHandles Disk RequestsLinux File System Hierarchy📁
File System StructureDirectory Hierarchy
/ (Root)
VFSKernel
The Top Level of the File SystemContains All Other Directories/bin
User Process
Essential Binary FilesAccessible by All Users/boot
Kernel
Bootloader FilesUsed to Load the Kernel/dev
Block Device DriversKernel
Device FilesRepresent Physical and Virtual Devices/etc
Kernel
Configuration FilesSystem Settings/home
User Process
Home Directories for UsersUser-specific Data and Files/lib
User Process
Library FilesShared Libraries Used by Programs/media
VFSFile Systems
Mount Point for Removable MediaUSB Drives, DVDs, etc./mnt
VFSFile Systems
Temporary Mount PointsUsed for Mounting Filesystems/opt
User Process
Optional ApplicationsSoftware Not Included in the Base System/proc
Kernel
Process InformationDynamically Generated Files about Running Processes/root
Kernel
Root User's Home DirectoryContains System-level Files/run
Kernel
Runtime InformationFiles Used by Running Services/sbin
Kernel
System Binary FilesUsed by System Administrators/srv
Kernel
Service DataFiles Used by Services/sys
Kernel
System InformationFiles Related to Hardware and Kernel/tmp
User Process
Temporary FilesFiles Deleted After System Reboot/usr
User Process
User Programs and FilesCommonly Used Applications and Libraries/var
Kernel
Variable DataFiles That Change Frequently (Logs, Caches)

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